Overheating of the transmission is very dangerous and it is important for motorists to know in which cases they risk destroying expensive units. Experts from Za Rulem, the oldest and most authoritative automotive publication in Russia, Alexey Revin and Mikhail Kolodochkin explains under which circumstances overheating is possible.
The torque converter is the main source of heat in both the CVT and automatic transmission. Constant intensive mixing and pumping of the working fluid raises the temperature to very dangerous values. Especially if the driver prefers a pseudo-sporty driving mode with sharp accelerations.
But this does not happen at a constant uniform speed of the car: the blocked torque converter in this case gives off almost no heat, and here the variator is equal to the automatic one. Another thing is the city with its ragged rhythm of movement.
While driving in town or off-road, the CVT and automatic transmission can overheat, leading to costly repairs. Therefore, it is worth choosing a transmission yourself or knowing about the features of its operation.
Both in theory and in practice it has been proven that the variator heats up less than an automatic hydromechanical gearbox. The multi-speed gearbox shifts up and down continuously. In this case, friction clutches are involved and you know that all mechanisms that work on friction turn mechanical work into heat.
Unlike automatic transmissions, there are no gears in the variator, only the belt runs along the pulleys. But it also generates heat during friction, although not as much as the clutches of automatic transmissions. Therefore, it is easier to overheat the machine than the CVT.