Question: skip shift eliminator

[dhare]

I want to get rid of the annoying skip shift on my 6 speed. Is a skip shift eliminator from one of the mail order houses required or can you just disconnect a wire on the transmission - or is there another alternative?

 

[bowtie911]

There may be another alternative, but I think for the money the Skip Shift Eliminator from one of the major parts companies is your best bet. Easy to install, takes about five minutes.

 

[Hib Halverson]

With a 99, to eliminate skip shift, you can't just disonnect the solenoid like you could with 89-95. The reason is that for 96, Federal emissions control regulations required incorporating the "Computer Aided Gear Selection" or "CAGS" system into emissions controls diagnostics. So, on 96-up if you just "pull the wire", the check engine light comes on.

To eliminate skip shift on any 96 or later Vette, you have to do one of two things: either install one of the several "skip shift eliminator" devices or have a tuner reprogram your ECM to eliminate the feature in the engine controls calibration.

A third choice is to learn to properly drive a car with a manual. If you do that, you'll almost never activate skip shift.

If you short shift out of first at part throttle or you are trying some kind of strange "hypermileage" driving technique are about the only times skip shift wil enables. Neither are the best way to drive a manual.

 

[dhare]

Thanks for the info but don't need shifting advice - been doing that right on 3 corvettes 1 Porsche over 30 years. Some driving conditions require throttle handling that make the skip mandatory from the car's point of view. I will go with the eliminator.

Thanks

 

[zagger]

Install the skip shift eliminator and be done with it. It's probably the simplest thing one can do to improve the driveability of a C5.
The CAGS intent was never to improve any manual driving habit, it is a simple way to get around EPA and gas guzzler tax and for someone to tell you that you should learn to drive manual properly because you wish to disable it is :crazy.

 

[Hib Halverson]

Thanks for the info but don't need shifting advice - been doing that right on 3 corvettes 1 Porsche over 30 years. Some driving conditions require throttle handling that make the skip mandatory from the car's point of view. I will go with the eliminator.

Thanks

Sorry, but I'm not buying.
I've owned five Vettes in 35 years and driven them in every condition you can imagine, from racetracks and road tests to gravel and snow-covered roads and I've yet to find a "throttle handing" issue that made the skip mandatory. Besides, if you understood how skip shift worked, you could defeat it just with your "throttle handing" and shifting, but... I have a hunch that, in this case, explaining the proper way to operate the system is a battle I'm not going to win.

Suffice to say that there are numerous sources (MidAmerica, Corvette Central, CAC-sponsor Zip Products, etc.) for skip shift eliminators and one is required on C5 or....you have to change the cal, thus: the eliminator is by far the cheapest and easiest way.

My own cars?
My 95 has it eliminated in the cal.
My 04 has the feature in place but I can't remember the last time I had it enable.

As for this...

it is a simple way to get around EPA and gas guzzler tax and for someone to tell you that you should learn to drive manual properly because you wish to disable it is...

...is what?

The idea that skip shift exists for exhaust emissions ("EPA") or guzzler tax (CAFE) is urban legend. Skip shift was designed in the mid-80s for the 1989 model year as a way to "beat" the Federal pass-by noise standard. At the time, the test required the driver to start out in first gear, then shift to the next highest gear and go by the microphones at wide open throttle. When GM began development of the 2nd Gen ZR1, it became obvious that, with an exhaust system that allowed the engine to make adequate power, they'd flunk the test, big time. An engineer named Jim Ingle (now retired) came up with the idea of preventing an upshift to second using an electro-mechanical device in the transmission controlled by the ECM which made fourth gear temporarily the next highest gear after first. This forced the driver to go by the microphones during the pass-by test at WOT, low rpm in fourth--and quieter--rather than at high-rpm in second--and louder.

Skip shift has continued, with numerous calibration tweaks, to this day as a hedge against pass-by noise. It is possible that it contributes to fuel economy as well, but I doubt it. EPA mileage ratings are based on a specific drive cycle and I've never heard that skip shift contributes to that with any significance.

When you learn the conditions under which the feature enables (some FSMs discuss that), it's easy to drive around it and there is no performance driving situation--as long as you are properly driving the transmission--where you'll get skip shift.

The vast majority of drivers who have trouble with it are part-throttle, short-shifting out of first....hardly the way a Vette, a Porsche or any manual trans car should be driven.

You can duplicate the pass-by noise test by starting out in first in a manner that meets skip shifts requirements, then, once you in fourth, go to WOT and accelerate. Have someone stand about 50 back from the road and listen. I guarantee they'll see, uh....hear the advantage of skip shift.

 

[vett boy]

Thanks for the info but don't need shifting advice - been doing that right on 3 corvettes 1 Porsche over 30 years. Some driving conditions require throttle handling that make the skip mandatory from the car's point of view. I will go with the eliminator.

Thanks

Sorry ,Hib lacks table manners, AGAIN .:eyerole

 

[dhare]

CEE FIVE said it all 6 years ago, "Sometimes in heavy traffic you are forced with the choice of running the revs up in first and staying there for a block or so or going to second where you should be. Hard to drive it "like you should" when there are cars 10 feet in front of you"

 

[Mr. Lucky]

Sorry ,Hib lacks table manners, AGAIN .:eyerole

AMEN to that! He's a wealth of information but his attitude is condescending and uncalled for. :bash

There are lot's of good reasons for short shifting. One that comes to mind is keeping peace with the neighbors when you have a loud exhaust.

 

[Red Vette]

AMEN to that! He's a wealth of information but his attitude is condescending and uncalled for. :bash

There are lot's of good reasons for short shifting. One that comes to mind is keeping peace with the neighbors when you have a loud exhaust.

I disagree with the comment about Hib being condescending and uncalled for. I find his posts to be right on target and he does not flame anyone. He is entitled to his opinion without trying to be politically correct. I am not posting this in order to start an argument or dialogue with any of the CACers. I read all his posts with the idea that some may disagree, but they are very informative and I learn something new. Someday I would like to meet him personally; I'll put this on my bucket list.
Barrett

 

[Hib Halverson]

Ok.
With the CAC's "Miss Manners" squad--that be "vett boy" and "Mr. Lucky"--suddenly interested in this thread, I need to explain CAGS a little more in depth.

Let's look at how the system works. Follows are the criteria for the system to enable on an '04. Now, it's a little different in the earlier years and may be a little different on later years, but generally, skip shift has worked the same from MY89 to MY09.

The system enables if the following requirements are met:

vehicle speed between 15-19 mph
ECT above 170°F
BARO above 76kPa
accelerator position less than 23%

...that is, you're driving easy.


What I said earlier is that you'll never get skip shift if your driving a manual properly. What I didn't say that "properly" meant "always aggressively" or "always like your on a racetrack."

All that stuff about being in traffic and not wanting to hold it in first because you have a noisy exhaust that'll piss off your neighbors is B.S. intended to cloud the issue such that complaints about my post above carry more weight.

All you gotta do to avoid skip shift is not try shifting out of first if you're in that 3 mph range at less than 1/4 throttle. Going 12 mph or going 20 mph to "skip" skip shift is not going to make the car any louder or difficult to drive in traffic...gimme a break.

And if you're worried about traffic or your noisy exhaust offending neighbors, just continue short shifting but do it even sooner, ie at 14 mph or less.

But, in the end, "dhare" should just buy a freakin' skip shift eliminator and forget all this stuff about how to drive the car.

 

[gmc_kurt@yahoo.com]

learn to shift, its really easy

i agree, just learn to shift, i get that light on my dash when ever i let my 20 yr old son drive it, i use it as a excuse that he cant use the car without me there...:L

 

[zagger]

My apologies for spreading urban legend, please allow me to rephrase it:

Install the skip shift eliminator and be done with it. It's probably the simplest thing one can do to improve the driveability of a C5.
The CAGS intent was never to improve any manual driving habit, it is a simple way to "beat" the Federal pass-by noise standard and for someone to tell you that you should learn to drive manual properly because you wish to disable it is :crazy.

 

[Dads C5]

My C5 already had the skip shift eliminator on it when I purchased it but I still wondered about the details behind it. Thanks for taking the time to explain all that. I've learned alot from this forum.

 

[Hib Halverson]

i agree, just learn to shift, i get that light on my dash when ever i let my 20 yr old son drive it, i use it as a excuse that he cant use the car without me there...:L

never thought about skip shift in that way.

 

[napacruzerC5]

I've never installed an "eliminator" on my '01 M6 and learned early on to avoid the skip shift. It doesn't take much throttle to get past the point when the CAGS forces you into 4th. And until recently I drove it frequently in HEAVY traffic. One day my 50 min commute from Napa to Pt Richmond, CA took 2-1/2 hours and I don't recall that the CAGS became an issue on that commute. I autocross my C5 and frquently short shift to 2nd on some courses to avoid spinning the rears in first. I agree with Hib; learn to drive your Corvette.