# Does spinning wheels in snow damage the automatic transmission?

**URL:** <https://community.cartalk.com/t/does-spinning-wheels-in-snow-damage-the-automatic-transmission/24520>\
**Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\
**Created:** [January 7, 2009, 2:31am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/does-spinning-wheels-in-snow-damage-the-automatic-transmission/24520 "2009-01-07T02:31:38Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 7

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ericheptin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f475e1/32.png) [@ericheptin](https://community.cartalk.com/u/ericheptin)\
**Post date:** [January 7, 2009, 6:33am UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/does-spinning-wheels-in-snow-damage-the-automatic-transmission/24520/7 "2009-01-07T06:33:47Z")

</div>

Ok, this is more complex than I thought, so I’ll describe exactly what happened. The car is a 2006 Subaru Outback AWD. With good traction, most of the power goes to the front, but the transmission will also send power to the rear as needed. I was turning around in a parking lot, and got stuck (wheels spinning) in an area where the snow was a little deeper. I gave it a lot of gas (whech reved the engine) and was free within seconds. Total time for everything was well under a minute, and I never tried rocking the car. But just after freeing the car, I noticed a slight burning smell. Today, the car is driving fine, as if nothing happened.

---

_[View the full topic](https://community.cartalk.com/t/does-spinning-wheels-in-snow-damage-the-automatic-transmission/24520)._