Question: shifting

[bartfly]

I have had my 2004 for 7 years and it is a low mileage car at 58,000 miles but it always felt different shifting from 1st to 2nd. A month ago I missed a shift at high rpm and ground it bad. It took chevy 2 weeks and $4700 to fix. My question is with the trans in the rear and a long driveshaft is this harder on syncros in the tranny? Has anyone else had manual transmission issues at less than 100,000 miles?

I don't drive a lot on the highway so it has been shifted a lot but I thought a manual trans would last 200,000 miles.
Looks like I will be shifting slower in the future. Still love my car and plan on keeping it forever.

Bart

 

[Hib Halverson]

You miss a shift like you describe and even a new transmissioin will fail.

As for the long driveshaft, as far as load on the synchros, while the charateristics of the load may be different with a rear trans car, a rear drive car has a long driveshaft, too.

There are many C5 manuals that will last 100,000 miles given normal driving, periodic lubricant changes, once or twice checking the shifter adjustement and keeping the hydraulic clutch working properly, but there are not that many which will go 200,000.

If you're looking for 100,000+ miles from your freshly rebuilt trans, I'd change the trans lube to Driven STF or Red Line MTL and I'd change the lube every 36,000-40,000 miles and I'd be careful with those fast shifts. All it takes to miss a shift like that is to mis-time your shifter and clutch movments or have the hydraulic clutch not fully releasing because of its need to be bled.

 

[bartfly]

thanks for the reply. I do maintain my baby but I am hard on her also. I have been autocrossing monthly for all 7 years. It is amazing how tough a
c5s is in many ways. I have very sticky tires on it and it corners real hard yet I have no wheel or bearing problems yet. I have gotten 25-30000 miles out of brakes but again no failures just wear. Track days are very hard on brakes and I have done a few of those. I live near Spring Mountain Motorsports park and could not resist running with the Porshe club.
From now on no more fast shifts and I will change the trans fluid and rear end every few years. I have been sucking out the clutch fluid and putting in new every year. Too hard to reach the bleeder to bleed right like I do the brakes.
I sure love this car and hope if I do have to replace it, it is with a C6 or C7.

 

[Hib Halverson]

So you've got a track car eh, well I have different recommendations for autocrossing and those occasional fun outings at Pahrump...

Use a better engine oil: Red Line or Driven Racing Oil 10W30 in your engine. Use Red Line Superlight Shockproof Gear Lubricant in your trans and Red Line Heavy Shockproof Gear Lube in your drive axle. Those two gear lubes are excellent choices for severe duty.

That's what I run in my '04 and '12 Z06es.

The SLSP has shift effort that's a little high when the gearbox is cold but once it warms to 100° or so, it shifts like knife though hot butter.