Stop-and-go is the hard part
Most transmission wear doesn’t come from the open highway. It comes from traffic: crawling on I-5 at rush hour, stopping and starting around the Town Center, shifting between first and second over and over. All that shifting makes heat, and heat is what breaks down transmission fluid.
Carmakers have a name for this kind of driving: severe service. If your commute looks like that, your transmission fluid is probably due sooner than the normal schedule says. We’ll check its condition and tell you honestly whether it needs a service now.
Close enough to catch it early
When a transmission starts acting up, the best advice is to drive it as little as possible. From Mountlake Terrace the drive to us is short, so there’s no reason to put it off. Caught early, a slipping or harsh-shifting transmission often needs a fluid service, a leak fixed or a single part, not a rebuild.
If the car isn’t safe to drive, don’t risk it. Have it towed to our shop and call to let us know it’s coming.
Symptoms worth a call
- Slipping, or revs that climb without the car speeding up
- Hard, late or jerky shifts
- A delay or a clunk going into drive or reverse
- A shudder at low speed
- Red fluid under the car
- A burning smell
What we do
- Fluid service and leak repair
- Automatic transmission repair, rebuilds and replacements
- Manual transmission and clutch repair
- CVTs and today’s 8- to 10-speed automatics
- Differential and transfer case service
How it works
Bring it by and we’ll road test it, scan it with the latest computerized equipment and check the fluid. Then we let you know what repairs are needed and what it will cost. Nothing is done until you’ve approved the estimate, and we back our workmanship for 2 years or 24,000 miles.
Our main transmission repair page has the complete list of services and warning signs. For everything else your car needs, see auto repair for Mountlake Terrace.