If you want your vehicle to remain reliable well into the future, you need to take the time to care for its transmission. The transmission plays a critical role in helping your vehicle shift from one gear to another, and the transmission also helps to distribute power to your vehicle's driveline. When your transmission falls into disrepair, your vehicle could be rendered useless.

Here are three simple tips that you can keep in mind to help you properly care for your transmission in the future.

1. Avoid overloading your vehicle.

It's important that you know exactly how much weight your vehicle is rated to carry at any given time. Loading your car or truck down with too much weight can easily cause irreparable damage to its transmission.

Added weight places added strain on a vehicle's transmission. The transmission is equipped to create the additional power needed to tow a certain amount of weight, and exceeding that weight limit could cause serious damage. Check your manufacturer's recommendations when determining how much weight your vehicle can safely accommodate in order to protect your transmission from damage.

2. Never change gears while your car is in motion.

One of the easiest things that you can do to protect your vehicle's transmission from serious damage is to change the way you shift from one gear to another. Many drivers will shift from reverse to drive (and vice versa) before their vehicle comes to a complete stop.

Shifting while your vehicle is still in motion will cause the delicate moving parts within the vehicle's transmission to grind against one another. This could compromise the performance of your transmission, causing the transmission to fail prematurely. Be sure that you bring your car to a complete stop before shifting gears if you want to extend the life of your transmission in the future.

3. Regularly check the quality of your transmission fluid.

Because there are moving parts within your vehicle's transmission, it needs access to fluid to help maintain proper lubrication and prevent overheating. You should be carefully monitoring the quality of your transmission fluid if you want to protect your transmission from damage.

Watch for leaks by checking for red fluid stains underneath your parked vehicle, and have these leaks repaired as quickly as possible to avoid low fluid levels within your transmission. You should also have a mechanic check the viscosity of your transmission fluid at each oil change. Invest in regular transmission fluid flushes to prevent old or contaminated fluid from damaging your vehicle's transmission.

Being able to properly care for your vehicle's transmission will allow you to extend the life of your vehicle well into the future. For more information, contact a transmission repair shop like Mr Transmission.