Transmission Repair Caused by Car Battery Corrosion

Car Battery Service for Corrosion and Transmission repair - AAMCO MinnesotaThere are a ton of problems that can lead to a vehicle requiring a transmission repair service. When you start to notice problems with the car’s transmission, the battery may be the issue. If the car battery is not clean, causing bigger issues, there can be any easy fix.

What is Battery Corrosion?

When you lift up your car hood, the battery is easily visible in most cases. The battery is a black box that has two terminals on it, each covered by a plastic covering. One is typically red for positive and the other is black for negative. The battery is essential to your car and supplies electrical energy to keep your car running. In many cases, batteries can wear out and die, leaving you stranded on the side of the road. When this happens, you need jumper cables to restart the car, as long as the battery hasn’t died completely and needs to be replaced. To avoid it from dying, you need to take care of the car battery, keeping it clean.

When the battery is not clean, there will be visible build up that appears green or like white fluff, which is acid corrosion. This build up piles around the terminals and cables. Not only will this corrosion cause your battery issues, but it can also cause you transmission problems, leading to larger a transmission repair. You can clean the battery off yourself with a wire brush, however, it is smart to bring it in to a professional so you don’t cause any further problems by disconnecting the cables accidentally. 

Transmission and Car Batteries Work Together

The car battery is one of the electrical components in your vehicle. The transmission is also operated electronically by a computer system. The battery gives the electrical and computer systems power internally. Even if there is a lot of corrosion build up causing bad connections, the car can still get enough current to the circuit to start up.  However, since there is such a low amount of voltage, this can create issues for the transmission. The car transmission solenoids only need a small amount of current, but without it, the transmission won’t operate correctly.

Once you clean the battery acid off the terminals, the voltage will be able to get through better, allowing for the transmission to function properly. While it may be a quick fix, you need to be careful with the battery. The battery connects to several parts of your car’s electronics. If the battery is disconnected, it is disconnected from the computer system, which may cause more issues. For example, the radio will be disconnected and in several cases, it will be reset, needing a manufacturer’s code to get it working again.

Problems Battery Corrosion Cause on Transmission

When the corrosion gets bad enough on the outside of the battery, you will notice the transmission start to malfunction in different ways. Many times, the problems will happen intermittently because of how the electrical system works. So the transmission will show signs of problems and then will work fine, making it hard to know that your transmission could be failing if the battery isn’t taken care of.

Some signs to notice in your transmission include the gears being missed completely when you shift or the shift being delayed. This means that at certain moments, the corroded battery terminals are causing the transmission to not get the amount of power it needs. When the transmission does not shift smooth or you have a hard time getting it into gear, make sure you check the battery. Bring the car in to be checked out as soon as possible so you don’t cause larger damage to the transmission.

When you notice transmission problems, visit your local AAMCO Minnesota near you to have an Auto Battery Service done on your vehicle. Schedule an Appointment now if the battery has gotten bad enough and you need a transmission repair.

The information contained in this website, or any of our content, videos, and publications is for general information purposes only. Learn more about our information disclaimer »