Welcome to the Corvette Forums at the Corvette Action Center!

6-Speed Question

J

JimRLV

Guest
I have a 2002 coupe (LS1) with the 6-speed manual transmission. On six occasions the tansmission has jumped out of first gear with a loud bang when leaving a stop light. The Corvette is two months old and has 3000 miles on it, mostly highway miles. Has anyone else had a simular experience? Do I need to have the dealer adjust the shifter? I thought that I may have not been shifting fully into first gear when approching the stop, so I paid particular attention to this, but it has jumped out of first gear once since then. All other gears work correctly. This is my third Corvette and all have been manual shift cars.

JimRLV
 
I would definitely get to the dealer and have the service department check it out ASAP. That shouldn't do that. With any luck it could be just an adjustment to the shifter linkage. I would also ask the service writer if they think any damage was done to the syncronizer rings and/or sliders, and possiblity of problems showing up later down the road , so to speak.
vettepilot
 
Hi there,
Also, please be aware, that it may take as long as 7500 miles for the syncronizers to correctly bed in.
You have a carbon composition triple coned syncronizer for your first gear. This takes a while to correctly bed in, and become more fluid when engaging.
While a shifter adjustment, as stated above, is always the first course of action, I suggest that it may take a while for it to become easier to obtain correct first gear engagement.
Besttoyou, and please keep us posted, c4c5:hb
 
And make sure your getting it all the way in gear before you take off . I'm not being a smart alec , I know that there has been times I didn't get mine fully engaged . Cliff
 
i have had the same thing happen with my '99 6 speed. i think it is just that i didn't get it in gear well. it hasn't really happened recently, so i think maybe i have just gotten used to putting it in gear better without thinking. but if it's something unusual and important, i would be interested to find out what it is as well.
 
6 Speed

I have a '98 that is doing the same thing. I recently took possession of the car from my girlfriend, who just purchased a 2002. The problem is pretty bad at times and not so bad at others. I have been trying to think "inside the trans" to get a feel for what is going on. On my vette, when the stick is difficult to push into first gear, it will almost always pop out. It will have a stiff not fully engaged feeling. I have been experimenting with going into third and then into first and other various combinations to get that clean, all the way in gear feeling. I will also seem to have the same stiff, not in gear, something is wrong feeling in second gear at times.

I have been around the car since the day it way purchased but have been overseas much of the time. So, it is difficult to know how long this has been developing. It has an extended warranty and I will be taking it in soon.

Please keep us/me updated on your problem and eventual solution. I also encourage anyone who has had or is familiar with this problem to post your thoughts or information or to email me.
 
This is an old truckers trick, try releasing the cluch in neutral and then pressing it again just before engaging into 1st. This allows for the gears to syncronize better.
Paul
 
As a followup to my original post, I took my Corvette to the dealer and had them look at it. They took it for a drive, could not duplicate the problem and decided that there was nothing to fix. The warranty paid for the road test. I did not think to ask them if they checked the fluid level. I am due for an oil change and will see to it that the fluid level is checked at that time. The transmission has not jumped out of gear since my first post.
 
I've seen several mentions of this elsewhere, so you're not alone, and searches may yield more info. I don't know if the oem shifter has stops that might be involved like some of the aftermarket ones do, but c4c5specialist's certainly familiar with the situation.
 
Gear Shift Problem

I've experienced similar trouble with the first gear and reverse. I noticed that it depends on if I am parked on a slight incline with or without the emergency brake engaged. If you do not use the brake, the weight of the car is resting on the gear, and it will be hard to shift into first or reverse until you relieve that pressure by moving the car, clutch engaged by gravity. If you don't get it all the way in gear, it may pop out of gear.
 
Thats a great thing, having the 85mph --> 165mph conversion, thats cool, and for that price....local speedo shop wants $200. thing is they do it in a couple of days....
Paul
 
Inferno,
I think somehow you managed to post on the wrong thread. I had the same thing happen to me a couple of months ago, and I had no idea it happened until I recieved an e-mail reply from another thread. I still don't know how I managed to do that.
vettepilot :L
 
Here is the latest on my 6 speed poping out of gear and being tough to shift into 1st & 2nd gear.

I had the vette in for an oil change today and also have the trans checked. Bad news. The Corvette specialist and the transmission mech both agree. The problem is most likely the synchronizers in 1st & 2nd. The trans will have to come out, be torn apart, wait for an inspector from my extended warranty supplier to check it out and then rebuilt with new gears and synchros. Total down time at least 2 weeks. Total cost, about $3000. Luckly I have an extended warranty. Just hope the carrier will honor the warranty without problems.

At rebuild I plan to have Red Line Transmission Fluid. If you haven't checked out Red Line products, you might find their website interesting reading. GoTo www.redlineoil.com

I will keep this thread posted on how things proceed in the next few weeks and provide any useful info I come up with along the way.
OwOwLauLau
 
Here's an update on my transmission problems. The car is in the shop since last Wednesday (6/12/03). Everything from the clutch to the rear end in on the floor or on the bench. Looks pretty sad! The transmission is completely disassembled right down to the last piece. A couple of the gears were broken as well as the special tools, in the process or getting the gears off the shaft. Here is the scarry part. First and second gears were chipped. At least one gear was rusted to the shaft, making it so hard to get off that further breakage occured in addition to tearing up the tools.

The inspector from the extended warranty company was supposed to come on Friday but didn't show. He didn't show today (Monday 6/15/02) either. The dealer has put in a very serious request for him to show tomorrow. At this point they may be considering a new trans, a rebuilt trans, or a complete rebuild on this one. I have been reassured that the warranty will "probably" cover this. I sure hope so! I signed a repair estimate for $3000. A new trans is over $4000 before install.

While I was standing under the car, it occured to me that it might be a good idea to replace the clutch and throwout bearing while everything is opened up. The car has 57,000 miles. Anyone have any suggestions/reccommendations??

The dealer is of course in favor of a replacement. I agree it might be a good idea while everything is opened up. Seems the clutch and flywheel come as one assembly and every thing gets replaced at once or they can replace the clutch and machine the flywheel. If anyone has any knowledge here, now would be a great time to share some of it with me.

More to come in the next few days as things pan out.
 
I would replace the clutch and flywheel while everything is opened up. Even if I had to foot that bill myself. If I understand you correctly the old clutch assy is already out of the car? You should pay only for the parts since the old assy is out of the car anyway. This will save having to open everything up later, and save a bundle on labor charges. JMHO
vettepilot
 
Similar Problem

My 98' will occasionally pop out of gear like is discussed in this thread. I spoke to one of the mech's at the dealer and he offered a couple of suggestions.

First he suggested that I make sure I am fully shifting, said the shifter is a bit stiff sometimes and I may not have fully engaged the shifter, possible I suppose.

Second, problem with the skip-shift option. As my problem has occured most frequently when coming out of 1st. He suggested I consider installing the "skip-shift eliminator" gadget and was even kind enough to give me one.

Haven't had a chance to install it yet, but once I do, I'll post a follow up with the results.

If anyone has an opinion on this, would like to hear it.

Rick
 

Corvette Forums

Not a member of the Corvette Action Center?  Join now!  It's free!

Help support the Corvette Action Center!

Supporting Vendors

Dealers:

MacMulkin Chevrolet - The Second Largest Corvette Dealer in the Country!

Advertise with the Corvette Action Center!

Double Your Chances!

Our Partners

Back
Top Bottom