steven mack

I took a test drive in a 91 six speed today.I was going to buy but noticed a problem with second gear. If I drove it slow it would shift into second O.K. but if I took off fast it did not want to go into second. Any ideas of what the problem could be?The car was in real good condition and the price was good.The clutch seemed to grab at the proper take up.

cv67

CAGS may still be hooked up.

silver86

I thought those dynamics were reversed if the CAGS was still enabled?

steven mack

Thanks for the replies. What does the cags system do?

Linkstar07

computer aided gear selector. Prevents 1st to 2nd gear shift when certain conditions are met.

steven mack

Thanks Linkstar. So does that mean if I try to force it it will grind gears?

BrianCunningham

skip shift, it forces you from 1st to 4th
GM put it in there for gas mileage.
It can be disabled.

anesthes

How much is the '91?

-- Joe

steven mack

$6995,And it's in real nice shape.Been looking for a long time for one this nice I could afford.

anesthes

Hrmm. That's a lot of money. I hope it's a nice car. I've been seeing a lot of LT1 cars for sale around here with low miles and nice interiors for around 6k.

'91 is my favorite year C4, but common sense tells me to "buy the newest vette you can afford in the best condition".

In 2005 when I was looking to buy a C4 (was a fbody man) I couldn't touch a '91 for under 9k unless it was a rag. Talk about a failing market?!
I lost my shirt on my car and it's still not "right".

-- Joe

steven mack

I understand what your saying Joe.I just don't like the Optispark.I can work on the first gen small blocks with no problem.I wanted to make a 383 or 427 out of the 91 vette.

tshirttom

Mid-American sells an easy fix for the CAGS problem. I installed it on my 91 and it shifts perfect now.

Linkstar07

Unfortunately, under the driving conditions you describe, it doesn't sound like the CAGS. CAGS prevents 1st to 2nd under light loads and light rpms. When you get on it or up the revs it should allow 1st to 2nd shifts. I'd be concerned about this if your description is accurate.

mseven

yep, same here bought mine in the begining of 04, and looked for a long time to find this one w/48k and ended up paying 9500....that was a good deal then.
to the OP, if you like the car and the rest looks real good, ask the owner if you can have either a local wrench look it over or a dealer and pay for the hour time. This will answer all your questions, and if the owner is straight he shouldn't have any problem w/this.

Sweet 90

You should also see the idiot light flash "one to four" on your dash

Jim

jrp

I tend to agree as well. I never bothered to disable CAGS, because it normally gets in the way only when the car in front of me pulls away from a light more slowly than usual. Otherwise, it's easy to avoid.

Edit - CAGS is still an idea worth checking out, especially if you're new to the 6 speed. Drive it again, keeping in mind the conditions which trigger it; IIRC those are <20% throttle and <2000rpm or thereabouts. I'll check at home later if someone doesn't beat me to it.

GREGGPENN

I agree. One of the conditions is what rpm you shift. If you're not high enough for 4th gear to pull reasonably, it won't force you over to 4th gear.

When you say driven quickly vs slowly, does that mean briskly vs slowly -- or near WOT vs quickly?

When/if you drive it again, try different shift points and throttle openings. I have the feeling it is CAGS -- since it will shift into 2nd.

Note: The defeat kit sold by MidAmer (or other vette specialists) is a dummy "slug" that fits between the stock plug. The CAGS plug only needs to be unplugged to defeat it's operation. The slug just keeps it clean in case you want to reuse that POS someday. Ducktape will work too.

CAGS is an electronic switching mechanism that blocks the path to 2nd gear. Any other gear can be selected when it activates. For example, you could shift from 1st to 3rd gear. It's supposed to make it slide easily over to 4th when you pull straight back.

I hate it. Mine's defeated. The plug is on the side of the transmission and is very easy to unplug.

RandyJ75

The car could have issues w/ the trans needing new fluid, or the clutch hydraulics going south. Be sure to check them out, they are both easy to fix.

Randy

steven mack

Thanks for the replies guys.I thought it could be the hydraulics or maybe the way I was driving it.I had the salesman drive it and he was scared of the grinding also. He said he would have it checked out and get back to me .No word yet, I did find a site on the Internet of a company that rebuilds these for a living,he seemed to think it was the second gear synchros.He suggested that if I really liked the car to offer them a lower price to cover the trans problem.He said I could buy a brand new trans on E-bay for $1400.GM sold off all their unused stock of ZF6 spds.Sure enough I found them for that price.Just got to decide what I want to do.

GREGGPENN

Grinding!?

Where was that description above? Did I miss it?

Definitely not CAGS. Either 2nd sychro or clutch hydraulics. If fluid is present and other gears don't grind, probably not hydraulics though.

Check clutch pedal travel. If you SLOWLY let the clutch out/in, does the engagement point change? IOW, is the system bleeding pressure as you use clutch?

Check fluid level (located on firewall near battery).


(I did notice new ZF's going for $1,500ish on eBay. NOS too. And, with new stick too. Not a bad deal. Major bargaining chip on price too. Ask them to quote their cost for replacement!)