Hard shifting into second

Ahhh, booze, the culprit behind life's best, and worst decisions.

When ever I have a problem with a vehicle I always break it down to two choices if it is not something that is broken, but something that is off and it might break.

1. Leave it alone.
But, I have to decide if I can live with it acting this way and if I am willing to risk being stranded some time in the future.

2. Fix it right away.
But, there may not be something really wrong and it may last for years.

Result, 90% of the time, the only difference between doing it now or waiting until it breaks/needs repair is the cost of a tow.

Where I applied this? My truck's tranny was on the way out according to a tranny specialist. I figure it's going to be $1500 to rebuild it now or $1500 to rebuild later. I decided on the later and 8 years since the advice, the tranny has been fine.

So you can fix your car now which will cost money now, or wait to see if it gets worse and breaks, which will cost you money later...as long as it just breaks and leaves you stranded and doesn't lock up on the highway or at the track.
 
cnd_beancounter said:
Took her for a drive today... the problem only seems to be prevalent when the car is cold... does that make sense?
Click to expand...

Mine has done that from the time i bought it 2 years ago, once car is warm 2nd works great. Then put it in competitive mode and hang some gears.lol
 
Hi all, new to the board. I have the same problem with my '98 roadster with 78 000km. Same issues, where sometimes it is fussy to get into second and other times it is as smooth as shifting into the other gears.

I too, wondered if it was just the car or something else. This is my first Corvette and I have never driven a car with a performance 6 spd tranny, so with nothing to compare it to, it's hard to figure out how it's supposed to feel.

I was going to get it checked out, thinking it was linkages or something.

Thanks!
 
Semis57 said:
Hi all, new to the board. I have the same problem with my '98 roadster with 78 000km. Same issues, where sometimes it is fussy to get into second and other times it is as smooth as shifting into the other gears.

I too, wondered if it was just the car or something else. This is my first Corvette and I have never driven a car with a performance 6 spd tranny, so with nothing to compare it to, it's hard to figure out how it's supposed to feel.

I was going to get it checked out, thinking it was linkages or something.

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Welcome to the forum! If you do get it checked out, keep us posted. It would be nice to get to the bottom of this issue.
 
Well, just took 'er for a rip tonite, and I definitely gotta throw muscle into when driving hard. The harder the acceleration, the harder it is to shift 1-2. Take it easy, shift from 1-2 is pretty easy. I contacted the previous owner, and he had the car at a tranny shop, which said all is well with the synchros. I can live with it but it would be nice to have consistency between all the gears.
 
You're in Sherwood Park too!! We'll have to hook up for a cruise this summer!! Anyhow, I would tend to say that you've got the likely hood of an issue. It all depends what you're willing to live with and what you're willing to spend to correct the problem. A rebuild tranny/clutch (might as well)/machined flywheel is in the $3+k range.
 
Yes, Sherwood Park is where the car (and me for a long while) now lives. I looked at an '01 Z06, and the funny thing is both me and my brother thought it would be the better choice- performance over the stock roadster. But, since the car was a gift for my wife, all the ladies I asked said, "Go for the convertible!". I have no regrets, it is a really fun car to drive. Easy to get in with the top down too! Which leads to lot's of "topless" jokes as well.

I will live with the tranny for now unless it gives me more trouble. Summer is too short around here and I want to be able to drive it without waiting weeks for it in the shop. Thanks guys, for your help and advice!
 
I figured out the problem I think.

I'm fairly new to manual transmissions so bare with me...

The problem seems to be when I am at too low rpm in 1st when I switch to 2nd and the engine rpm drops before I make the shift.

I drove more aggressively and the 1-2 shift is smooth as silk.... for these cars anyways.

Problem perhaps due to driver retardation?

What is there in the tranny that makes it easier or harder to shift based on engine rpm and/or vehicle speed? ie downshifting for a corner... the car likes the rpm to be higher before it allows a downshift.
 
That's the synchro... It might just be complaining at low rpm (for now). From what I know about your issue, it should be easier to shift at higher rpm because your doing more of the rev matching that the synchro itself does for you at higher rpm. I personally don't think its the driver... Bu then again LOL...
[mob][/mob]
 
So in normal manual cars you can move it into any gear no matter the rpm/speed of vehicle?

Well if i'm say going 10km/hr for example it resists going into 1st if the engine rpms are low... say I was coasting in neutral with clutch depressed anticipating a red light... its hard to go into say 1st at 10km/hr with engine idling than it is when stopped or really slow.

Is this normal?
 
Sort of, at 10km/h you should be near idle rpm and it "should" go into first. (Sometimes first gears are cut differently than the others to make them stronger put less friendly to shift into).

For fun, when you are at 20km/h in first, notice what your rpm's are (say, 2100). If you are coasting at 20km/h in neutral at engine idle, push in the clutch and try to put it in first, not so easy. Now bring the rpm up to 2100 and then push in the clutch and it should slide right in. In fact, if you were right on the correct rpm for that gear and road speed, you wouldn't even need the clutch (but I don't recommend trying that). Any velocity that you are traveling has a corresponding rpm that the engine will run at for each gear.

How it works:

You can basically split up the tranny into two parts, input and output. (The input shaft, power input from the engine, and the output shaft, power going to the rear end). To be able to have the car in gear, the input rpm has to be the same as the output rpm. Say you are driving in 4th at 2500 rpm. At that same speed, if you were in 3rd, you would be doing 3200rpm. Since the output shaft is mechanically linked to the rear end, it's rpm is based on your vehicles road speed. So, to switch to a lower gear from 4th, you have to raise the rpm of the input part of the tranny. You can do this by increasing the rpm of the engine with the clutch out and when the rpm of the input part and output part of the transmission are the same then the shifter will slide into 3rd locking the input and output together allowing you to accelerate, etc. The other way to get the input part to speed up is with the clutch in and to put pressure on the shifter. The syncros speed up input part of the transmission to the output part allowing the shifter to go into the selected gear, such as 3rd, (locking the input and output together) then you can let the clutch out and the engine rpm comes up to match the newly increased input shaft speed. That is why it is harder to shift from say 4th to 2nd than 4th to 3rd because the syncros have to speed the input shaft rpm of the tranny way higher and that takes more time/force on the shifter to accomplish this and when you let the clutch back out, who knows where your engine rpm will be at (You could over-speed the engine despite a rev limiter). This is also why it is easier to shift up gears because everything naturally wants to slow down, such as the engine and input part of the transmission (which have to slow down to match the output part which remember is mechanically linked to the rear end). This is also why it is easier to shift up gears without the clutch than to shift down.

Long story short. You can be in any gear you want at any speed, I just would not recommend any that lug the engine or over rev it.
 
Another related note... Ever since I road sport bikes, I've been heel and toe'ing in all the manual trans cars I've owned. From that perspective, the vette's pedals are in absolutely perfect locations to accomodate this!!! By doing this I find that the car goes into each lower gear with the greatest of ease. To put to practice what Riley eloquently described... I think this practice is also easier on the tranny/clutch and rear end.
[mob][/mob]
 
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