Am I hurting my VX transmission?

[Lease-V-cross]

Sometimes when I am cruising along and I am coming down a steep hill, I downshift to 3, then 2 and possibly 1st gear.
Therefore saving my brakes.
This is a good thing, correct?
I never sit at a red light in 1st gear and race anyone, taking my VX up thru all the gears. I don't think that's a wise thing to do anyway.
Also, does anyone else's VX make a "clunk" when changing gears? I think it happens mostly when I go from Drive to Park... or Park to Reverse.
What is that noise? Is my transmission going?

thanks!

[WyrreJ]

No. compression braking was a good thing like 20 years ago. Modern brakes are a lot longer-lived than they used to be, so now compression braking does more harm than it does good.

As for sitting in 1st at a red light, that's where you ought to be anytime you are stopped unless you've got unusual conditions like a really icy road. If you leave it on automatic that's where the AT will go on its own.

The VX is my first and only automatic, but I really see no reason to manually shift during normal operation.

[thebear54]

I have always used 3rd and 2nd downshifts when I cruise down a steep hill in every imaginable vehicle and have never had any tranny problems. Like you said it saves on the brakes.
The clunking you are hearing when you shift from park could be weak U-joints. When was the last time you greased them? Grease them up and you might hear a big difference. There are three fittings on the VX drive line so it doesn't take very long.
John

[Lease-V-cross]

I'm not much of a mechanic....where are these "U joints" you speak of ? (sounding like a cave-man )

[Moncha]

Looking under your VX, the long tubular thing that runs the length of the vehicle is the drive shaft. The U-Joints are at the points like where the driveshaft meets the transmission, the rear axle and in the middle.

[MZ-N10]

well...if u look in the vx manual they acutally tell u to down shift down hill, i think it was called engine braking.