Maintaining your vehicles transmission fluid might be more important than you realize. Transmissions are complex mechanisms housing a plethora of moving gears, cogs, and parts each constantly and intricately interacting, engaging, anddisengaging -all the while managing enormous forces and torques. The transmission is a critical system of your vehicles overall mechanical functioning, and when the fluid that keeps the transmission properly lubricated loses its integrity from age, heat, and wear, serious internal transmission wear will occur resulting in unpleasant accelerating, shifting, and some potentially very expensive repercussions down the line.

All vehicle manufactures differ in the type of transmission fluid required and intervals between changes. For example, VW recommends a transmission fluid change every 30,000 miles, and on the opposite end of the spectrum, some Ford vehicles recommend transmission fluid change every 100,000 miles. It’s important that you know your vehicles transmission fluid specifications and abide by them punctually, otherwise you could be wearing down the transmission prematurely and ultimately increasing the cost of ownership.

Furthermore, vehicles that are driven under higher stress conditions need their transmission fluids changed sooner than normal vehicles. For example, trucks used for snowplowing, high performance sports cars, or vehicles that often encounter long stints of stop and go traffic all experience more wear on their transmission and thus need transmission fluid changes more frequently. Your vehicle manufacturer will have recommendations as to fluid changes in these particular cases too, so make sure to comply with your vehicles specifications.

Lastly, try to stay away from cheap lube changing stations. They will be more than happy to change your fluids even before they need changing, draining the high quality fluid you previously had with cheaper generic fluids they provide. Make sure you are aware of your cars specifications and when you do need a transmission fluid change, go to a reputable and reliable mechanic. When you need a mechanic shop specializing in German and European vehicles, you can feel at ease coming to the expertise and know-how of German Auto Sport, where quality is the priority.