Transmission maintenance is definitely not a miracle cure for the transmission. However, each alarm in transmission may not yet be related to malfunction, but may also be caused by outdated oil. Correct maintenance can alleviate the abnormalities caused by the oil itself or the wear of the transmission.
Thus, it is of utmost importance that the transmission condition is assessed before the oil change to ensure that the transmission is still in mechanical condition (i.e., can withstand the load, operate within the entire set temperature range).
Evaluation of the transmission's condition
The truth is that evaluating the condition of the transmission may not be as easy as it seems at first glance. Often, people do not even realize that their transmission is actually spoiled or damaged. Reading error codes will give 10% of the information in good case, which is why regular service often misses the evaluation.
In order to assess the condition of the transmission it is necessary to test it in different modes and temperatures that most services do not make before the oil change, but maintenance of a broken transmission is a waste of money. Perhaps the only justification for this is to postpone repairs in the hope that the new oil will stop the intensive wear process.
Hõbenool's statistics
The statistics of Hõbenool 5000 vehicles show that, depending on the model, 5-7% of vehicles (3-13 years old) entering service need no longer have automatic transmission maintenance, but rather a repair.
This means that the maintenance is already hopelessly overdue. In this case, changing the oil is throwing money into the wind and does not produce any effect. Since vehicles with more than average problems will probably come to the oil change, one could assume that 3-5% of the cars running on Estonian roads with automatic gearboxes are actually 3-5% already damaged. As mentioned above, the last thing to do in this case is to waste money on transmission maintenance.
That’s why we absolutely check the transmission of every vehicle in Hõbenool and perform the necessary maintenance only if we do not notice any malfunction in the transmission.
