CAGS bypass or not?

[froggy47]

New LT4 owner - me - has been trying to make the 1 - 4 light come on by driving very sloooow & easy, but it never comes on. I suspect the cags bypass is already installed but what does it look like (pics?) & where does it go.

Thanks.

 

[vetahlk]

Just installed the CAGS eliminator today on my 93. You'll have to jack up the front end and you'll find the CAGS harness on the drivers side of the trans, near the bottom(The harness is blue, white and grey). If it has the CAGS eliminator there will be caps on either end of the harness. To connect the CAGS just take the caps off the ends and plug the harness back together. Good luck.
John

 

[CKA_Racing]

It could be just disconnected also and not have a CAGS eliminator installed. I unplugged mine and it works fine as is.

 

[froggy47]

So you just unplug it? Is the eliminator just a fitting to plug in the two loose ends?

 

[yellow_2002_germany]

Yes...the CAGS bypass is just a plug for the connectors. However, it does keep dirt and corrosion out.

 

[wx briefer]

I have the 'store bought' cags eliminator installed. However, my panel indicator light still comes on even though the solenoid for the shift is bypassed. I do not know why your light is not coming on. My comes on regularly with simple in town driving, you should not have to trick it into coming on by driving slowly.

 

[lt4 gs]

This is a good thing..............if it ain't there don't worry about it. You don't really need the General........ tellin you it's time to play with the linkage.....as always, IMHO!

He may have put in a new puter......I did this........ and dumped the cag from there. But it has been so long I can barely remember doing it.

 

[froggy47]

Thanks all,

I don't think either of the previous owners put in a new computer - this one is verrrrry stock. When it stops raining I'll jack it up & take a peak.


I'm not going to mess w/ the cags, it's off, no light, I'm happy. It might be interesting to plug it back in & confirm it's operation. Or maybe have it on when I let my 16 yr old son take the beast out.

 

[lt4 gs]

It won't help your 16 yr. old at all! If the kid puts his foot down it won't matter.........all the cag does is force 4th if you are driving like a ??????????

 

[Vettelt193]

If the light comes on, and you can still shift to 2nd, the eliminator is installed, or the CAGS is unplugged.... Just about all of these cars have had this mod, just to get rid of the annoyance!

 

[froggy47]

Tha cags light DOES NOT come on, that's why I suspect it has the bypass, just haven't jacked it up yet. Also the backup lights work so its not a fuse pulled.

 

[Vettelt193]

1) The bulb could be burned out.
2) you may not have hit the correct parameters for it to engage.

The light should come on if you have the skip shift eliminated.

 

[froggy47]

I'll be damned it the light DID come on last night. Maybe the other times I tried to make it come on it was daylight (harder to see the 1-4 shift) or I just did not have the right combo of throttle etc.

HERE's THE WEIRD PART. I don't "feel" anything different at the shifter. What is it supposed to feel like when the cags tells you to 1-4 shift?

Thanks!

Reread your prev post.

So the eliminator does NOT eliminate the light , it only eliminates the "feeling" in the shifter???

Please describe the "feeling" when cags IS working.

 

[Vettelt193]

The feeling is terrible! (slight joke) On a '96, it will not let you get into any other gear besides 4th. You will be in mid shift like normal, but it just won't go in... it also won't let you go back to 1st (something they updated from earlier years, my '93 would let me back into 1st) It is an almost scary feeling at times, because you aren't expecting it, and you may need to be in a gear to get moving (like pulling out onto a road) anyway, glad to hear your light is working, and even more glad to hear your CAGS has been eliminated, afterall, we didn't buy manual transmissioned cars to have a computer tell us what to do!

 

[vetahlk]

Like Vettelt193 says the feeling is terrible. When I first got my 93 I knew nothing about the CAGS. It had been a few years since I had driven a manual trans and had never driven a vette with a manual trans. So the joke was on me I couldn't figure out for the first few days why I kept missing second gear. :duh I fianally figured it out when I read the manuel.
John

 

[bbw]

come on by driving very sloooow & easy, ...

Driving too slowly and/or "easily" will also prevent the lockout. Think about it, if you are driving too slowly, you need second gear. On the other hand, if you are driving too aggressively, you want second gear. The CAGS feature attempts to satisfy both the "need" and the "want" while doing its job.

It is especially annoying for me, though (though I'll leave mine connected), the last lite to my house from town is on a flat at the base of a hill. At the precise time I want to shift, I have reached the base of the hill, so the lockout damn near causes an engine stall as I try to start the hill in 4th.

Consider my options.

1) Come out a little stronger in 1st to prevent the lockout. This is undesirable since there is a sharp left turn just 30 feet into the hill. I don't fancy racing through that turn!

2) Ride first gear out longer (not stronger). This is undesirable as I don't like to maintain the high RPMs at such a low speed.

3) Shift fast out of 1st. This has the same stalling potential since the base of the hill arrives quickly and I would have to perform the shift early, flirting with a 2nd gear stall.

All in all, the CAGS is a major pain for me!

 

[froggy47]

I'm going to "try" to drive the Vette like my son's Corolla and see if 1-4 lights up more. I've absolutely GOT the bypass now that you guys have described the feeling. When mine lights up there is NO different feel or problem getting into 2 or 3 or any gear.Thanks!

 

[Skant]

To my understanding, it works like this...

When the car is warmed up... and you're starting from a stop in 1st gear... and the throttle is at 22% or less... and your speed is between 15-19 mph... the 1st to 4th light will come on and CAGS will engage if you try to shift.

While this sounds like meeting all those requirements is hard to do, it's not. It's exactly where you land when you're driving 'normal' or "softly" (ie. no lead foot).

When the CAGS system engages, it puts a mechanical gate on the shifter that forces it to the right as the shifter reaches the center neutral when it's pulled back. It feels like a round channel that guides it to the right. The idea is that if you simply pull the shifter backward without forcing it left or right, you will magically land in 4th gear rather than 1st gear.

The reality, however, is that you'll end up fighting it because it's trying to force the shift lever where you didn't want to go. I thougt my transmission was broken the first time it happened.

I consider the system to be dangerous in heavy traffic. If you pull out slowly and then need to move more quickly, you'll find that you can't. The car can barely move starting from 15mph in 4th gear. And you get left moving at a crawl while you're in harm's way. I nearly had an accident at least once because of this.


I believe that if you just disconnect the CAGS connector, the 1st to 4th light won't come on anymore. Various CAGS eliminator harnesses will still allow the light to come on, but won't force you to actually shift to 4th. They apply a restistor to the lines so that the computer thinks the CAGS is operational. I think it may also prevent the computer from throwing a service code.

Note that simply disconnecting the CAGS harness will leave the internal contacts exposed to the weather and corrode them over time. CAGS eliminator kits insultate both ends to prevent this. And they're cheap and easy to install... they just plug in.

The engineers placed the CAGS harness at the bottom of the transmission and left an opening around it so that it was easy to disconnect. It's a stupid federal requirement and everyone knows it.

- Skant

 

[cgtarga1]

It's a stupid federal requirement and everyone knows it.

It was for gas mileage numbers.

The 'feeling' is: When yuo pull the shift down towards 2nd, there is a 'gate' that pushes the shifter over a bit as you pull down. As you continue to pull down the shifter is pushed by the gate to the right slightly and you end up in 4th instead of 2nd.

 

[vette ed]

I have the CAGS by-pass (installed at the dealership GM) and
my 1 - 4 shift light still comes on - however - I am still able to shift into 2nd gear