Help! New member - advice needed for a 95 manual base model

[sillyredrabbit]

Hello,
I got a hand me down 1995 Corvette, it is a base model with 6 speed tranny. previous owner is my uncle who is deceased. so I have no records on the car.
The car is stock with no visible modifications. always been garage.
Engine sound normal, transmission seems to be normal except one problem:
Shifting from 1st gear to 2nd gear seems to be difficult from time to time (doesn't matter if the car is cold or warm). all other gears are shifting fine.
I'm suspecting it could be the shift gate (if there is such a thing) may need replacement?
I shift normally between 2500 RPM to 3000 RPM when going from 1st to 2nd, the rest are pretty much at or around 3000 RPM.
oh and the tires seems to leak air (very slowly) which I think may need to be replaced.
Is this vette worth keeping? Any advice is welcome.
Thank you for reading my post.

 

[Toms007]

Well, Red, Welcome to CAC! I believe what you are experiencing is the CAGS (Computer Assisted Gear Selection, IIRC) It was put in to help the gas mileage for EPA ratings. If you are just 'putting around' the CAGS kicks in and forces you to shift from first to fourth gear. If you 'get on it', then it should allow you to shift 'normally' from first to second. I'd say give it a try and see if you are able to shift normally. Now with that said, there are ways around the CAGS. There are "skip shift eliminators" available which are plug and play. You may have to do some research to find one that works with the C4 ZF transmission.

 

[sillyredrabbit]

Well, Red, Welcome to CAC! I believe what you are experiencing is the CAGS (Computer Assisted Gear Selection, IIRC) It was put in to help the gas mileage for EPA ratings. If you are just 'putting around' (as in lower RPM???) the CAGS kicks in and forces you to shift from first to fourth gear. If you 'get on it' (higher RPM???), then it should allow you to shift 'normally' from first to second. I'd say give it a try and see if you are able to shift normally. Now with that said, there are ways around the CAGS. There are "skip shift eliminators" available which are plug and play. You may have to do some research to find one that works with the C4 ZF transmission.

Thanks for the reply Tom.

Like I said, I'm a newbie to the Corvette. but I have driven manual shift before and never experience this problem.
The way I get around it is: shift back to neutral then shift back to 2nd gear again. or I would rev up the RPM and shift to 3rd gear instead.
I'll search around for the "skip shift eliminator" thingy.

 

[Toms007]

Like, don't 'grandpa" it off the line...put your foot in it a bit. I bought a CAGS eliminator for 007, and I never have a problem how I take off, I can always shift from 1 -> 2.

 

[sillyredrabbit]

Like, don't 'grandpa" it off the line...put your foot in it a bit. I bought a CAGS eliminator for 007, and I never have a problem how I take off, I can always shift from 1 -> 2.

Thanks Tom, found the CAGS eliminator on Amazon for $13. order it, will probably try to install it this weekend.

Thanks for your help.

 

[Hib Halverson]

If the problem is occurring at 2500-3000 rpm, its not skip-shift because at that rpm you are above the engine speeds where skip-shift enables.

Skip shift locks out second gear and forces a 1-to-4 shift. It occurs only at low rpm, low speed and low throttle opening.

Skip-shift has always created controversy but, when you review the conditions under which it enables, it's easy to see that people who get skip-shift often enough to want a skip-shift eliminator just need to learn how to drive their manual transmission properly. If you drive a six-speed right, you'll almost never get skip-shift, but, I digress...

There are a number of reasons why the 1-2 shift can be a problem.

First thing to do is verify your clutch and clutch hydraulics are working properly. It is common for a clutch problem to cause hard shifting, missed shifts or shifter hang ups.

There is no "gate" in a ZF S6-40. The trans uses a rail shift mechanism.

 

[Vis Croceus]

Thanks Tom, found the CAGS eliminator on Amazon for $13. order it, will probably try to install it this weekend.

Thanks for your help.

Not needed. Just unplug it.

 

[Hib Halverson]

Yep. He's right.

You can just disconnect the CAGS solenoid on the side of the trans. 95 is the last year you can do that. In 96, the skip-shift is a monitored part of OBD2 diagnostics

 

[sillyredrabbit]

Yep. He's right.

You can just disconnect the CAGS solenoid on the side of the trans. 95 is the last year you can do that. In 96, the skip-shift is a monitored part of OBD2 diagnostics

Thank you guys.

 

[sillyredrabbit]

Smog question

so I took the vette for smog check:

1st test failed with NOx MEAS @ 735, CO @ 0.00 / 0.00

pour in a bottle of techron and marvel mystery oil and drive until empty, then pour in another bottle of techron, filled up, drove to smog station for 2nd test (waited about 5 minutes), I did try to open air box but one of the plastic cap/screw is loose and can not be unscrew. the other 2 screws were screw back tightly. Engine was running rought while idling.

2nd test failed with NOx GP @ 99, CO MEAS @ 1.96 / 2.07

I guess my question will be, will a tune up fix this or should I plan on spending a few hundred to get this fix?

Anybody has comments on Valaya Auto in San Jose as I plan to bring my vette there for smog repair.