Going back and forth, in a futile effort to unstuck myself from the snow... bad for tranny?

Maintenance/Repairs
1

Car: 2007 Corolla CE, automatic transmission.



last night, I was stuck in the snow and must’ve reversed and forwarded 100 times, to no avail, finally decided to park the car in the nearest possible spot…





do you think I did any damage or excessive wear/tear to my car?

2

Rocking a vehicle back and forth trying to get unstuck with automatic transmission pretty much burns up the tranny fluid.

Tester

3

100 times? Wow.

If it doesn’t work the first 10 times or so, give up. You’re not getting out.

I suggest you have the transmission fluid replaced ASAP.

Then cross your fingers.

4

all right!!

i’m going to do a drain and refill of the tranny fluid…

thank you to both.

5

If a drain and refill doesn’t remove all the burnt tranny fluid, don’t bother.

Here’s why http://www.tomorrowstechnician.com/Article/1571/transmission_fluid_exchange.aspx

Tester

6

I remember looking at the sales brochure for the 1953 Chevrolet. It listed one of the advantages of the PowerGlide transmission was that “low” and “reverse” were right next to each other on the shift quadrant – the sequence was “park” “neutral” “drive” “low”
“reverse”–making it easy to rock the car if it became stuck. I guess Chevrolet was desparate to sell PowerGlide transmissions.

7

Unless you lost your cool and were spinning the wheels at a high RPMs qnd there was definite lurching felt between D and R when you shifted, my guess is that you are OK and I for one would just let it go at that.

8

I never had that problem as long as I had a shovel with me. I had one all Winter unless I had four wheel drive.

9

as i high-rev’d in reverse, there was definite lurching!! that’s why i was so concerned!! you figured it out!!!

10

If you did it 10 times, probably not. If you did it 100 times, it’s quite possible. Rocking a car like this makes the engine and every part of the transmission work very hard. It will overheat a transmission in no time flat. I would get the fluid at least inspected, probably changed. If the fluid looks OK, I would at least go with the ‘severe’ maintenance schedule in the manual and get it changed at that recommended mileage.

I remember doing this many years ago to a 1979 Chrysler Newport I had. When I was a teen, this was my pizza delivery car. I have no idea how many times I went from reverse to drive, but was astounded to see the temp gauge almost pegged when I finally got free. There was a little puddle of transmission fluid where I’d been, probably spewed from the vent tube. The car didn’t seem any worse for wear from it, but that car had a very simple and durable powertrain compared to cars of today. (A V8 and 727 Torqueflite for those that care)