Taking Care Of Your Car's Transmission

In order to maintain you car in a good shape, to offer you the safety as well the performances it was designed for in the first place, taking care of your vehicle's transmission is a vital thing you should take care of. Modern cars have very complex drive trains, and the transmission being one of the most important elements of it, repairing it because of the in-proper use can be very costly. The most serious operations on a car's drive train can only be executed in specialized shops, but the casual maintenance operations you can make them yourself.

The biggest enemy of the vehicle's transmission is heat. There are many causes for the heating of the transmission's elements, and many are related to operating your car under difficult conditions. Racing with your vehicle, towing a load, or repeatedly putting it in drive and reverse for exiting heavy snow or mud can contribute to the overheating of its ensembles.

If you often are forced to operate your car under these circumstances, you can benefit greatly from adding additional cooling to your transmission. Such a cooler will be mounted on the radiator and it will cool the transmission fluid. Because many SUV owners use them to tow heavy vehicles, they came equipped from the factory with such auxiliary transmission coolers.

In the following paragraph you will find a series of tips about properly maintaining your car's transmission. The most important aspect is to have your transmission fluid checked on a regular basis. Also check for its color. It should be red. If it had turned brown or it has a burnt smell should be changed at once. Before buying transmission fluid, check with your car's owner's manual to se the exact type the manufacturer recommends. Never mix two different types of fluid of fluids coming from different manufacturers. The recommended period to replace it is every 2 years or every 24,000 miles, which ever condition occurs first. When you want to put your car in reverse, come to a complete stop first. Changing from drive to reverse while the vehicle is still moving will harm your transmission. In order to protect vital transmission elements, put the cark into park after you have pressed the brake pedal and pull the emergency brake. By doing this, less stress is applied to the drive train. Always change gears from park to drive only when your engine is at idle.

When towing a very heavy load or when you are climbing abrupt terrain, be sure to disengage the overdrive feature, if your car is equipped with such a option, as it will prevent the car from repeatedly changing gears from and to overdrive. Overdrive is the highest gear in the transmission and it used to allow that vehicle to run at highway cruising speeds with a reduced revs, in order to mainly save fuel and reduce noise. If the automatic gear in your car has a 4-speed transmission with overdrive, the overdrive refers to the 4th gear. The same is with cars with 5-gear automated transmission with overdrive. There is the possibility to have a smaller car, with a 4 or 5 way automated transmission, but without the overdrive function.

By Dennis J James

Car Theft

By Dennis J James

With all the advancement in auto anti-theft technology you would believe that the theft of vehicles would be less than ever before, however, that statement is farther from the truth than you can imagine. A matter of fact, automobile theft is still a booming business. All anti-theft systems can only do so much to aid against car theft.

The National Insurance Crime Bureau recently reported that the vehicle theft rate has risen to nearly 1,260 million vehicles an increase of 14,000 over the previous year. With this report, it shows that car thefts have increased consecutively over the last four years. They also provide suggestions to help every car owner protect their cars from thieves. Anti-theft systems cost quite a bit of money and many car insurance companies do give discounts on your insurance if you have some types of anti-theft devices on your car.

The NICB reported that the total loss for owners and insurance companies due to car theft is more than $8 billion a year, which is a figure that is getting larger each year as vehicles cost more and more. Auto theft costs all drivers with higher insurance rates.

The NICB also reports that where you live also plays a major factor. According to their report, owners living in a port city, an urban area in general, or a town, which is on the border with Mexico or Canada, should take into consideration some extra protection. The NICB lists the top 10 cities, including their surrounding areas, with the highest vehicle thefts from highest to lowest: Modesto, CA.; Phoenix-Mesa, AZ.; Stockton-Lodi, CA.; Las Vegas, NV.; Sacramento, CA.; Fresno, CA.; Oakland, CA.; Miami, FL; San Diego, CA.; and Detroit, MI.

The vehicle you drive even affects its chances of finding itself in the hands of auto thieves. The NICB listed the following vehicles as the most stolen vehicles in 2003 starting with the most stolen, the 2000 Honda Civic, 1989 Toyota Camry, 1991 Honda Accord, 1994 Chevrolet 1500 pickup, 1994 Dodge Caravan, 1997 Ford F-150 pickup, 1986 Toyota Truck, 1995 Acura Integra, 1987 Nissan Sentra and 1986 Oldsmobile Cutlass.

A few helpful tips for protecting your vehicles from car thieves include:

• Never leave your keys in your car; even if you think you have hidden them well, car thieves know all the hiding places.
• Never leave valuables in plain sight - this is too tempting.
• Never leave personal information in your car such as ID’s – this is just asking to become a victim of identity theft.
• Never leave the car title or registration in the car it makes it too easy to sale.
• Always park in well-lit areas.
• Most car thieves tow cars; always leave a standard vehicle in gear and with an automatic use your emergency brakes.
• If you put your car in the garage, lock all windows and doors in the garage.
• Do not believe your car is old so no thief would want it; age doesn’t stop a car thief.
• Even though, nothing can totally protect you against car thieves many could have been avoided with just a few precautions.