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[Z06] Difficult shifting.

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Old Apr 25, 2005 | 07:37 AM
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Default Difficult shifting.

My Z has 3000 miles on it. I've noticed that the shifting effort is great, especially when downshifting from 4th to 3rd. Downshifting in general isn't easy. Sometimes even going into first from a stop can be require some effort. The trans rattles quite a bit sometimes, and sometimes it's barely noticable. The rattle goes away when you depress the clutch, as it would when the internals of the tranny stop spinning. That takes the release bearing out of the picture.. In general, the clutch seems to be disengaging fine and not binding. This whole thing seems to get worse when the trans fluid heats up.


I started a thread about different tranny fluids, and I've decided to try Royal Purple Syncromax. Has anyone tried this fluid with any luck?

Are these cars just hard to shift, or is it my particualar car?

Thanx, Rick.
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Old Apr 25, 2005 | 08:57 AM
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Please forgive me for stating the obvious, but you ARE depressing the clutch all the way to the floor, right??
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Old Apr 25, 2005 | 09:39 AM
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Originally Posted by southern_son
Please forgive me for stating the obvious, but you ARE depressing the clutch all the way to the floor, right??




Yes
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Old Apr 25, 2005 | 01:03 PM
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The stock shifter has to be bullied around the box but I'd say it was not entirely working with you rather than a problem. If your shifter is merely stiff and requires quite strenuous movements to row it about, I'd say that was normal. If it's more a mechanical problem, then you need to get it checked. Try another Corvette for comparison.

I thought the stock shifter so obstructive, I fitted a BPP shifter and it's like driving a different car. Still quite stiff and notchy but shift and you're there.

There is a rattle problem when turning the car off which is cured by putting the car in reverse before shutting off.
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Old Apr 25, 2005 | 05:48 PM
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Originally Posted by LuS1fer
The stock shifter has to be bullied around the box but I'd say it was not entirely working with you rather than a problem. If your shifter is merely stiff and requires quite strenuous movements to row it about, I'd say that was normal. If it's more a mechanical problem, then you need to get it checked. Try another Corvette for comparison.

I thought the stock shifter so obstructive, I fitted a BPP shifter and it's like driving a different car. Still quite stiff and notchy but shift and you're there.

There is a rattle problem when turning the car off which is cured by putting the car in reverse before shutting off.
The rattle is pretty much all of the time, but it gets worse when the fluid heats up. It goes away when you depress the clutch.

I have the most trouble downshifting from 4th to 3rd. No grinding, just very stiff.
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Old Apr 26, 2005 | 12:21 AM
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All C5 Corvettes with the M6 or M12 manual transmission have a rattle when in neutral. Some however are more noticable than others. The rattle is the throwout bearing, or at least that's what the Corvette tech at my dealership explained to me, and it's completely normal. When you depress the clutch the bearing stops turning which is why the noise goes away. I have driven several different C5s with six speeds and the noise was apparent in all.
To answer your question about the shift difficulty I am not sure but I also have difficulty with the shift to first from neutral and sometimes reverse is hard to. I do know that if you have a problem with one of the two gears you should try the other. Like if you are having a problem with first try to put it in reverse. It seems to align the syncros and makes it much easier to put in gear. I hope this helps.

Greg
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Old Apr 26, 2005 | 07:34 AM
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Originally Posted by electronbluec5
All C5 Corvettes with the M6 or M12 manual transmission have a rattle when in neutral. Some however are more noticable than others. The rattle is the throwout bearing, or at least that's what the Corvette tech at my dealership explained to me, and it's completely normal. When you depress the clutch the bearing stops turning which is why the noise goes away. I have driven several different C5s with six speeds and the noise was apparent in all.
To answer your question about the shift difficulty I am not sure but I also have difficulty with the shift to first from neutral and sometimes reverse is hard to. I do know that if you have a problem with one of the two gears you should try the other. Like if you are having a problem with first try to put it in reverse. It seems to align the syncros and makes it much easier to put in gear. I hope this helps.

Greg
Thank-you Greg. At least I am not alone

BTW, when you press the clutch pedal, it is then that the release bearing starts to spin. When your foot is off the clutch, the bearing does nothing. Even the techs at the stealership are clueless it seems .

What happens when you press the clutch in is that the release bearing presses against the pressure plate diaphram and disengages the clutch. At that point, the internals of the transmission stop turning and the rattle from the gear cluster goes away. The noise is not the release bearing at all. If it were, the noise would occur when you were pressing the pedal. This has always been a big misconseption, and I am always expalining this to my customers that come it with clutch issues.

My point is that the rattle is a little too loud for a 50K car, but I guess I'll have to deal with it. I'm hoping that changing the oil to something more exotic will help with the shifting aspect of this transmission.

Last edited by Innovator; Apr 26, 2005 at 07:37 AM.
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Old Apr 26, 2005 | 08:31 PM
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Originally Posted by electronbluec5
All C5 Corvettes with the M6 or M12 manual transmission have a rattle when in neutral. Some however are more noticable than others. The rattle is the throwout bearing, or at least that's what the Corvette tech at my dealership explained to me, and it's completely normal. When you depress the clutch the bearing stops turning which is why the noise goes away. I have driven several different C5s with six speeds and the noise was apparent in all.
To answer your question about the shift difficulty I am not sure but I also have difficulty with the shift to first from neutral and sometimes reverse is hard to. I do know that if you have a problem with one of the two gears you should try the other. Like if you are having a problem with first try to put it in reverse. It seems to align the syncros and makes it much easier to put in gear. I hope this helps.

Greg
Most every manual transmission I have driven has issues with the lower gears (i.e. 1st & Reverse). I don't know much about transmissions. However, lower gears have fewer teeth. Therefore, trying to jam into 1st at stop, everything may not be perfectly aligned. If 1st or Reverse don't feel right when you are trying to get them, just shift into one of the other gear positions and then back to 1st or Reverse. This has always worked for me, and not unique to the M6 or M12. My daughter's '94 Grand Am does the same thing. Just my $.02

Happy Gear Jamming
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