Hi Guys. Ok...lemme start by saying that I think that the Z06 is a good car. The people in Kentucky are really trying to do it right. They're well on their way, as far as I'm concerned. The Z06 is an amazing deal. Thing is...is that they've done something dumb, in my opinion. My 1979 L-82 has a reverse lock-out on the shifter. My 2003 Z06 doesn't! ---sheeeesh--!!!! I've been driving for 33 years....mostly sticks. Am I wrong thinking they've forgotten an important item here? With an extra two gears...there is more shifter-travel. Common sense (which seems to have less than nothing to do with designing cars, more often than not) should dictate that with all that extra room for movement because of the two extra gears, that the room for error increases commensurately, and that provision should be made to prevent the shifter from slipping into Reverse unintentionally. Scenerio: you're driving down the street. You start to shift from 4th to 5th. Just as the shifter is at the halfway point between 4th and 5th, the right front tire goes over a bump. Not a big bump...but one that is big enough however to shift your weight to the right, and along with you, your right arm, which is in the middle of a shift (don't laugh...up here the roads are worse than they are in Tehran)...and you miss the 5th position, and come very close to grinding the Reverse gear. I'm almost tempted to put a chrome Lambo gate on the freakin' thing! lol
It's happened enough times for me to become wary of the shifter in my Z06.
This Z06 tranny shifts like a dog...like a 25 year-old Suzuki 5-speed. It's stiff, and sometimes it won't go into gear AT ALL. I'll be standing at a stoplight, it turns green, and I'm yanking and pushing the shifter to get it to go into 1st...and it won't go in many times. I've become used to people honking at me now. I took it to the dealer, and they said "There's nothing wrong with it. They're ALL like that". I just laugh it off now, because there's obviously nothing I can do about it now.
I'm used to hearing crap like that from dealers, so I don't bother with them anymore.
Anyone else have tranny problems?
Cheers!

p.s. I've been stopped by cops 3 times since Aug. '05. Why? ---Swerving--
Cop: "Sir...I observed you swerving quite a bit, and slowing down/speeding up as well, for the past 4 miles".
Me: "Hi officer, yes...I'm swerving to avoid these freakin' huge potholes, the manholes that were installed 5 inches below the level of the pavement, God only knows why....slowing down to minimize the damage to my car while driving over one of those caverns I can't avoid safely by swerving, and speeding up again so as not to impede traffic, and to not p*ss off that guy right over there in that Escalade who's shaving, talking on his cellphone, and drinking a coffee".
Cop: "Thank you sir. Have a nice day".
LOL

 

I have several friends that have accidently shifted into reverse instead of fifth gear... apparently a problem more common than not. The only suggestion I could make is go to the Hurst shifter. Very easy installation, and it is a superior shifter. Your shifts are more precise and shortened by at least 35%. The Hurst also has a centering spring, so it is virtually impossible to miss a shift, especially the dreaded 2-3shift. With the Hurst shifter, you will enjoy throwing shifts a lot more!

 

I concur with this assessment. I did miss 3rd once. Hurst was installed the next day; lucky for me, Xtreme Motorsports was only a few miles away at the time... I've never had issues going into R, and there is a solenoid on the transmission to prevent shifting into R when going more than about 3MPH, IIRC. You can overcome the solenoid, but you've got to put some effort into it; my suggestion is that if it feels hard to get into gear, you probably aren't in the right gear.

A word of warning about the Hurst though, it tends to transmit driveline noise into the cabin if you don't have a very tight fitting shift ****, and the stock springs are a bit tight at first. Give it some time and they loosen up a bit, which is just where I like it. Also, some without upper body strength may find it too hard to shift into R due to the tension from the centering springs.

The short throw is fantastic though. I had a chance last fall to drive my future brother-in-law's '02 Z06 with the stock shifter and I had forgotten how little effort, and how long the throws were. I much prefer the shorter and more precise throw offered by the Hurst.



Sorny

 

Thanks guys! excellent advice. I will look into the Hurst shifter.
cheers,

BB

 

Also change out your trans fluid to Amsoil or Red Line synthetic. It helps on the smoothness of the shifting overall too.

 

Me tooooooooo...

Thanks!

-Curry

 

Have you actually hit reverse while moving forward??

The reverse gate is electrically locked out when moving over a few mph forward. If everything is working properly, you cannot hit reverse in the scenario you described.

If you are accidently hitting reverse like that, you might have a bad solenoid or other problem.

 

I think it lockout is dropped at 3 MPH. Turn off the ignition and pull the key, it should not go into reverse there either. If it does you have a problem with the lock out solenoid on the top of the transmission.

 

Guys...I took my Z06 to the dealership today to have them look at the "Nasty Shifter/No Reverse gate' affair. One of the service-guys said that they'd likely have to drop the engine to replace the solenoid! That sounds WHACKED to me. All THAT, just to replace a solenoid?? Is there no other way of getting at it, like removing the center console, or dropping the tranny? If the solenoid's on top of the tranny, why did the service-guy say that they might have to drop the engine? Am I going to regret having these guys replace the solenoid?
Thanks!

 

The service manual calls for lowering the rear cradle and tranny about 1.5" to allow enough room to access the solenoid.

The engine isn't touched for this procedure.

 

Ah...thanks Y2Kvert4me! I figured it'd be something like that. I didn't know what to think after hearing what the service-guy said. Looks like I should get a service manual! lol
Cheers!

 

Guys...the dealership fixed the solenoid, without having to drop the rear assembly. I dropped the car off, got the rental car, and drove home. I wasn't home a half hour before I got a call to come get my car because it was fixed and ready to go. That was a pleasant surprise. No hassles, no tsouris, and all good. Gotta hand it to them. They did good this time. Everyone was smiley, the atmosphere was friendly, and the car was fixed. S'all I wanted. I'm still pinching myself.

 

I've read that the first and reverse gears are sometimes a pain to get into, but i haven't had any problems yet. I went from an 03 Eclipse GTS 5 speed, with a 2.3" throw VERY STIFF, to this C5 6 speed, with a Huge throw (comparably...) the added leverage makes shifting into any gear a breeze!

Of course, with a 5 speed, the Reverse gear is in the 6th gear position. So i didn't have the accidental reverse issue, so i got in the habbit of going from 4th to 5th, by pressing the shifter all the way right, then up, which i can't do now... I gotta watch myself. (I don't think i've "Tested" the lockout mechanism yet, but i may have and just don't realise it cause it's working... lol) Thus far i haven't had any issues, but i see what you mean in that regard.

 

Hi LF97C5Vette....I have that exact same problem. It's a BUGGER to get the shifter to go into 1st or Reverse. What you read was right!

 

It is a 5 min fix to change the reverse solenoid lockout just need a big socket and 2 hands around the gear box move the wires out of the way and it should only take five mins