| By :
Steve Tarini
Did you know more transmissions are rebuilt due to damage caused by overheating? The good news is this rather common problem is easily fixed. What's even more surprising is most mechanics don't explore the benefits of synthetic lubricants. Choosing the right lubricant can be the biggest difference in the performance of your transmission. When 92% of all transmission failures can be traced to the ATF getting too hot it only makes sense to start experimenting. Here's a great experiment you can try without spending a lot of money or actually putting the ATF in your transmission. Go buy a quart of your favorite brand of transmission fluid and then pick up a bottle of synthetic transmission fluid. There are very few good synthetic oils on the market and I will recommend a good one at the end of this article. Pour about 2-3 ounces of your favorite fluid onto a metal surface that can withstand the heat from a blowtorch. Watch how long it takes to start smoking and possibly catch on fire. If you don't think your transmission is subjected to this type of heat think again. And if you tow then you can imagine the massive amount of heat your transmission is producing. Now do the same thing with a quality synthetic oil and you should notice it won't catch on fire like the petroleum oil did. Some very good synthetic transmission fluids can withstand temperatures up to 50 degrees hotter than what petroleum will withstand. The other benefit to using a high quality synthetic ATF is the longer drain intervals. With some synthetic ATF's on the market you can achieve drain intervals that exceed 100,000 miles. The argument that synthetic cost too much is really a mute point anymore. With 100,000 miles intervals the high cost are easily justified. Would it really matter how much more synthetic ATF cost if you knew there was a nearly 0% chance of replacing or rebuilding your transmission. Spend the money, it's the cheapest insurance you can buy. Last, but not least is the affect a high quality synthetic oil will do for your fuel mileage. In most cases I have seen an increase of up to 2 more mpg. Imagine if you only had two gas stations to choose from where you live. If one of the gas stations always sold their gas for 3 cents less every single day, which one would you go to? Initially you wouldn't think 3 cents would make much of a difference, but it clearly does. So the next time your transmission comes up for service, which should be around 30,000-40,000 miles for most vehicles consider switching out your fluid to a high quality synthetic oil. Don't be fooled by the imitation synthetic oils on the market, do your homework and talk to experts about what fluids work best.
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