My automatic transmission failed and the shop insist on also replacing the battery cables. They said bad cables caused the failure, is this possible?
Transient grounds from bad battery cables can quite easily destroy a transmission. If the engine ground cable is not capable of returning the current used by the starter to the battery, it will find another path. This is sometimes through the transmission, out through the axles and back through the body ground. New or properly repaired cables are very good insurance if there is evidence of such a problem. For even more information on batteries and cables, see our Detailed Topics article, Replacing battery terminals.
