Regardless of whether you own a vehicle with an automatic transmission or one with a manual transmission, you need to make sure you do your part to take care of it to the best of your ability. While more and more people are turning to automatic transmissions in their rides today, there are still plenty of individuals with manual transmissions driving around town.
For some, they prefer to shift the gears on their own. Others simply like the way a stickshift rides. Whatever the case may be, you want to avoid making one of these three costly mistakes:
Avoid downshifting when braking.
When you downshift your vehicle, you are essentially slowing down the pace of your ride. The engine will start getting louder and louder. Unfortunately, downshifting will end up causing your transmission to go through a lot more stress than what it needs to. If you continue to do this time and time again, it is going to cause your transmission to end up wearing out far quicker than what your brakes will if you simply apply the brakes when trying to come to a stop. Replace the brake pads, not the transmission.
Shift the right way.
If you are driving forward, you don't want to slam your vehicle into reverse. If you don't shift through the gears the proper way, you will hear your vehicle make a horrible grinding noise. Operate with your vehicle. Don't fight against it. Only shift your vehicle into reverse if you are at a complete stop. Just like you wouldn't throw your vehicle into reverse when driving down the expressway with an automatic transmission, you shouldn't do it with a manual transmission either.
Avoid riding the clutch.
Even though you are going to shift through the gears quite frequently when driving a stickshift, you still need to make sure you are doing it the right way. Whenever you shift from one gear to another, you need to take your foot off the clutch all the way. If you continue to put pressure on your clutch or simply let your foot sit on the pedal, you are going to cause the clutch to end up wearing out before its time.
By not making one of the mistakes identified above, you can make sure your transmission lasts for quite some time. You don't want to spend a fortune on transmission repair when you can prevent it with proper care and maintenance.
Share19 June 2015
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