Thursday, October 17, 2013
Auto Transmission Information
A cars automatic transmission is at the back of the engine and takes power from the engine and delivers it to the cars drive wheels. Automatic transmissions are complicated pieces of machinery that combine several systems into one.
Components
A typical automatic transmission contains computer controls, hydraulic systems, electrical systems and mechanical systems, combining each component into one piece of machinery that provides a car with necessary power. Within each automatic transmission are sets of gears, seals, gaskets, bands and clutches which have specific functions in the operation.
Function
Car engines perform best when kept in a certain rotations per minute (RPM) range. An automatic transmission is designed to not only provide power to the cars drive wheels, but to keep the engine operating within its optimal RPM range. This is accomplished through several gears, each designed for different engine speeds.
Gears
In most automatic transmissions, there are four forward-moving gears, a neutral gear and a reverse gear. In first gear, the drive wheels turn at a slower rate than the engine while in each successively higher gear, the drive wheels turn more quickly while the engine turns slower. In neutral gear, the drive wheels are disconnected from the engine and in reverse gear, the transmission causes the drive wheels to move in the opposite direction.
