Rick's Free Auto Repair Advice

How to get unstuck in snow without damaging your transmission

Stuck in snow? How to get unstuck in snow without damaging your transmission

Lots of internal transmisison parts have to engage/disengage every time you switch from drive to reverse and that creates a lot of internal friction and excessive heat that can damage your transmission. This article shows you the how to get unstuck in snow without damaging your transmission in the process.

The most common way to get unstuck in snow is also the best way to damage your transmission

Shifting back and forth between Drive and Reverse is the WRONG way to get unstuck

When you switch between Drive and Reverse you’re forcing the transmission to engage clutch packs and bands, speed up, and then immediately release those clutch packs and bands while they’re still spinning while the transmission must apply other bands and clutches. Every time you change gears, there’s a small amount of clutch slip and that creates heat. Then you slam it back into reverse and repeat the process.

All that heat and friction chews up your clutches and bands. You’ll create the damage in winter, but the symptoms usually don’t appear until Spring. That’s when you’ll start to notice late shifts, missing shifts, “shift flare,” and even slipping. That kind of transmission damage can easily cost upwards of $4,000 to repair.

So trying to get your car unstuck by rocking between Drive and Reverse can cost you 26X more than the cost of a tow. Not smart.

The correct way to get a car unstuck in snow without damaging your transmission.

You can avoid transmission damage and still attempt to extricate yourself from a ditch. Here’s how.

• If you have a traction control feature; place the vehicle in park and turn OFF the traction control. Traction control is designed to gain traction when the vehicle is moving. But it will actually prevent you from getting unstuck in snow. Turn it off.
• Straighten your wheels stuck in snow
• If you have a shovel, shovel a path in front of each wheel
• Place the transmission in LOW gear.
• Accelerate until the vehicle starts to move forward.
• Then let off the gas and allow the car to roll backward.
• As soon as it reaches maximum backwards roll, apply just enough gas to force it forward again.

I’m not talking “gunning” it here. Just enough to use the vehicle’s momentum to get you out. This method keeps the transmission in one gear and eliminates all the shifting and extra heat buildup. It works as long as you use just the minimum amount of gas to move the vehicle.

© 2012 Rick Muscoplat

Posted on by Rick Muscoplat



Custom Wordpress Website created by Wizzy Wig Web Design, Minneapolis MN