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How is the car battery connected to the transmission system? And how can a weak battery cause transmission problems? If you’ve got any of these questions in your mind, this article details everything you need to know about car batteries and the transmission system in modern cars.
However, on a quiet note, car batteries are part of the electrical system of every car, and they play an important role. It is the battery that powers a car engine to start working after a stop. If your car battery is weak, you may experience hard starting, or your car won’t start at all.
Talking about transmissions, a weak battery can cause transmission problems because the transmission system is electrically powered.
What’s the Connection Between Car Batteries and Transmission System?
The battery has a way of affecting the functions of your car’s transmission system because it is an electrical component and transmissions need electricity to function. Well, a car battery is not directly connected to the transmission.
Here’s how the two work!
A battery provides electrical energy to power the engine, when the engine starts, it powers the internal computers in the car; these computers send out electrical signals to various components, including the transmission, so that your car can start moving.
Read Also: Can You Jumpstart a Car With a Bad Alternator?
So, when a car battery is weak, it will fail to produce sufficient voltage to power the engine and internal computers, and that might as well affect the transmission. This explains the connection between car batteries and transmission systems in modern vehicles.
Can a Weak Battery Cause Transmission Problems?
From the explanation above, it is quite obvious that a weak or bad battery can cause transmission problems due to the insufficient current being passed across the electrical components. In some vehicles, a weak battery can push the transmission into “Fail Safe Mode.”
Also, a weak battery can cause your auto transmission to shift incoherently due to voltage fluctuations.
Since the battery is the main electrical component of every vehicle, if it develops a fault or becomes weak, anything that has to do with electricity would be affected, and sadly, virtually all car components use electricity.
Furthermore, it is important to note that a weak battery can cause several weird problems you could never imagine a battery would trigger. So, once you experience an issue relating to electricity supply, the first thing to check or troubleshoot is your car battery.
What Makes a Car Battery Weak?
There are several factors that can make a car battery weak or unable to hold current. These factors include:
- A bad or faulty alternator
- Using too many external appliances that require electrical power to function (ex. Mini refrigerators).
- Corrosion on the battery terminals, which prevents the alternator to charge the battery properly.
- The battery is too old.
The four factors above are the common reasons why car batteries become weak and unable to hold power. A faulty alternator won’t charge your battery; thus, the battery would run with its remaining current until it dies off completely and won’t be able to power your engine.
More so, when you connect too many add-on appliances, they may overwhelm the battery capacity; thus, causing it to drain too quickly. Of course, if the battery terminals are corroded, the battery won’t charge properly.
Read Also: Is My Car Battery Dead?
What More?
Can a weak battery cause transmission problems? Apparently, it can. When you start seeing signs that your car battery is failing, it is advisable to act quickly and replace the battery or change the alternator (if that is the culprit).
As a tip, always inspect your battery terminals at intervals to detect when they start corroding so you can fix it immediately before it becomes a complex issue.