No car owner wants to hear that the problem the car is having is in the transmission. Transmissions are one of the most expensive parts that a car owner might have to replace – if the car is old enough, it sometimes makes more sense to replace the car entirely than to replace the transmission. But I’ve found that there are ways to save when you need transmission work! Not only are there ways to save money on a new or rebuilt transmission, there are also ways to locate transmission problems and have them fixed before they become too serious. This blog is designed to help you take better care of your transmission, and avoid paying too much for transmission repairs.
So many weird things can happen with an auto's transmission. Some of them are scary too, such as those moments when your transmission gets stuck only on overdrive/drive and you cannot step on the brakes in order to shift it into park. The transmission can also get stuck in reverse, leaving you with no choice but to pull over (backwards, mind you) and park the car until a tow truck can pick you up. If you have ever wondered how your car can get stuck in reverse--or stuck in any gear for that matter--and how to fix it, the following information should help you out.
Stuck in One Gear
Any car, including manual shift transmissions, have forward, reverse, park and neutral gears. Additional gears for city driving (first and second drive) are rarely used, so they are rarely affected by the problem of getting stuck in one gear. When your car gets stuck in one gear, (for example reverse) then your clutch that controls forward gear has dropped out and is no longer working. The transmission has reverted to the one gear that makes the car move while the engine is still on, even if it is in the wrong direction. No matter what you try to do, you will not be able to make forward gear work because it is damaged and in need of auto transmissions repair.
How You Can Fix It
You cannot fix this problem on your own. You absolutely need an auto mechanic's help. If you are out driving around and suddenly find that you have lost forward or reverse gear, try and find a way to get off the road safely. (If you lose both reverse and forward gear, you will probably get stuck in neutral, which is not so bad because you can at least push the car to a safe spot.) Call a tow truck right away and then call your mechanic to let him or her know what happened and that your car is coming into the shop.
Once your car is in the shop, your mechanic will examine the damage to your transmission. You may luck out and only have to replace the clutch in a manual shift vehicle, or the shift connections between the stick shift and the transmission in an automatic shift vehicle. The worst case scenario will force you to replace the entire transmission, which is extremely expensive.
Share19 August 2015
