Today's heavy duty trucks may easily go 300,000 miles or more. Not all of us, however, are as fortunate. Your transmission could develop issues even with a strict maintenance regimen. You may watch out for a few indicators that indicate your heavy duty truck's gearbox is having issues. Here are seven warning signals to watch out for if you think your transmission may be having issues.
1. Hearing strange noises
Have you heard any strange noises coming from your heavy duty truck that you have never heard before? This is not encouraging. If you hear humming, buzzing, or clunking, the transmission has to be checked out. You run the danger of doing more harm if you don't. When the heavy duty truck tries to change from one gear to another, there is another clunking sound. The gearbox just clunks, thuds, or drops into the next gear instead of shifting smoothly.
2. A burning odor
No matter what you are doing, a burning scent is never nice. When it comes from your heavy duty truck, this is particularly true. The most typical cause of that scent is overheated transmission fluid; however, it might also be an indication of many other problems. Although you shouldn't be alarmed by the stench, you should schedule a checkup anyway.
3. Grinding gears
Depending on whether you have an automatic or manual transmission, this symptom will signify various things. If you have a manual transmission, your clutch may just need to be replaced. Wear occurs on the clutch when you shift. The clutch "slips" over time due to wear. An audible or physical grinding sensation when shifting will alert you to this.
Additionally, it implies that as you are moving through one gear, your transmission "slips," and you find yourself in a different one. Other than your engine groaning or sounding sluggish, there is no warning. Any number of reasons might be the cause of this jerky shifting if you drive an automatic. The synchronizers in the gearbox will first be checked by your technician to make sure they are tuned correctly.
4. A slow or nonexistent response
When you need it to, your heavy duty truck's gearbox should be quick to shift ratios. It's time for a once-over if you find that your transmission isn't reacting swiftly. Put your heavy duty truck in park to make it the simplest to observe whether this is taking place. then put the heavy duty truck in drive. When you let off the brake, does the heavy duty truck instantly begin to move? If not, and there is any latency, there is an issue.
5. There are fluid leaks
After driving, you park your heavy duty truck, and it sits there for a while. Then, as you start your heavy duty truck to drive once again, you see a pool of liquid has collected below it. That liquid may not be a huge concern if your air conditioner has been running. Investigate, however, if you have any reason to believe that it is anything more severe. It is a closed system, the transmission system. Hence, there is no leakage while it is functioning correctly.
In order to collect the liquid, start by putting a piece of cardboard beneath your heavy duty truck. The cardboard may then be examined to see what the liquid is and its source. Your air conditioning system will produce a transparent liquid that resembles water. However, there is cause for alarm if the liquid is crimson or brown. Your technician will be able to pinpoint the issue with the use of this information.
6. You see check engine light on
The simplest indication that you need to get your heavy duty truck looked up is if the engine service light is on. The presence of this signal may not always indicate that your transmission is having problems. It does indicate that there is a problem with your heavy duty truck, however. To prevent further harm to your heavy duty truck, get the light looked thoroughly. Your heavy duty truck's software may be connected to by a mechanic, who can then read the output code. When they obtain the error code, they may work out what has to be fixed.
7. Transmission isn’t quiet
Put your heavy duty truck in drive and start it. Any banging or other sounds that you can hear? Your heavy duty truck should have an engine that runs quietly. Change the transmission fluid if you hear "additional" sounds that weren't there before. This can resolve the most typical problems. If you opt to do this yourself, use caution since overfilling your transmission fluid might result in much more harm. By checking the manufacturing specs, you can determine how much to add. You should take your heavy duty truck in to get checked out if the sounds are not remedied.
Final words
Your transmission repair might cost as little as $150 to fix a faulty solenoid or as much as $2,500 to replace the complete gearbox, depending on the issue. As you can see, there is a large variation in both the problem's severity and expense. Bringing your heavy duty truck in for maintenance and repairs is the only way to determine which end of the spectrum you fall on. Ignoring the issue will simply encourage you to make more costly fixes. Whatever is incorrect will cause more things to go wrong and more components to be harmed if you ignore it.
