"Silly" Skip Shift Question
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Apr 2012
Posts: 222
Likes: 20
From: Tampa, FL
"Silly" Skip Shift Question
How is the skip shift supposed to work? My understanding was that the car from the factory locks out second gear under light acceleration, forcing a shift to 4th.
I've put a few hundred miles on my recently purchased 2004 z. There are occasions around town where I will rev 1st out a bit and shift into 4th to avoid 2nd and 3rd, but the rpms drop pretty low when going into 4th.
It seems the rpms would drop even lower from 1st to 4th if this is meant to function under light acceleration and the skip shift engages in the lower rpms of 1st, when i see the light on the dash.
I said it was a silly question...what am I missing? 🤔
I've put a few hundred miles on my recently purchased 2004 z. There are occasions around town where I will rev 1st out a bit and shift into 4th to avoid 2nd and 3rd, but the rpms drop pretty low when going into 4th.
It seems the rpms would drop even lower from 1st to 4th if this is meant to function under light acceleration and the skip shift engages in the lower rpms of 1st, when i see the light on the dash.
I said it was a silly question...what am I missing? 🤔
Melting Slicks
Joined: Dec 2018
Posts: 2,641
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From: Orange County, CA
You're right about it's function, it's intended for light load shifting from 1st gear and to end up at a low RPM by the time you get into 4th. This slows your acceleration, which means less fuel consumption.
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Apr 2012
Posts: 222
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From: Tampa, FL
It just seems like the engine is really lugging, more so than I would have expected. Also feels like you need to feed additional throttle when going 1 to 4 to keep the car accelerating.
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Apr 2012
Posts: 222
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From: Tampa, FL
Safety Car
Joined: Jan 2019
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From: Somewhere, Florida
St. Jude Donor '20-'21-'22-'23-'24
CAGS (computer aided gear selection) is 100% for the government to think the cars get better mileage and avoid the gas guzzler tax (which they were able to do for many years). It isn't RPM dependent, but rather throttle dependent - I think the threshold is something odd like 27%. So if you're giving it more throttle, it isn't going to come into play.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Nov 1999
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From: Madison Alabama
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Melting Slicks
Joined: Jun 2013
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From: West Virginia
Not rumor, fact. The EPA testing then, at least, simulated low speed, light throttle driving, so forcing a higher gear gave better results.
Instructor
Joined: Jan 2018
Posts: 166
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From: Tijeras, New Mexico
I tend to drive at lower rpms and that’s why I prefer torquey v8s. So the CAGS was always kicking in on me - I hated it. I chose to install the eliminator that disabled the warning light as well. Doing that increased my enjoyment of driving the car tremendously. Now it’s normal like it should be. I do however often shift from 1st to 3rd, but not because I’m forced to. 1st to 3rd goes much better than 1st to 4th.
Safety Car
Joined: Jan 2019
Posts: 4,308
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From: Somewhere, Florida
St. Jude Donor '20-'21-'22-'23-'24
I tend to drive at lower rpms and that’s why I prefer torquey v8s. So the CAGS was always kicking in on me - I hated it. I chose to install the eliminator that disabled the warning light as well. Doing that increased my enjoyment of driving the car tremendously. Now it’s normal like it should be. I do however often shift from 1st to 3rd, but not because I’m forced to. 1st to 3rd goes much better than 1st to 4th.
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Apr 2012
Posts: 222
Likes: 20
From: Tampa, FL
I tend to drive at lower rpms and that’s why I prefer torquey v8s. So the CAGS was always kicking in on me - I hated it. I chose to install the eliminator that disabled the warning light as well. Doing that increased my enjoyment of driving the car tremendously. Now it’s normal like it should be. I do however often shift from 1st to 3rd, but not because I’m forced to. 1st to 3rd goes much better than 1st to 4th.
Safety Car
Joined: Jul 2010
Posts: 3,929
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From: Chandler AZ
My car still has the factory skip shift thing, summer 2018 I bought the column lock bypass from Compliance parts, also ordered a skip shift eliminator kit.
Put on column lock thing, but have not put on the skip shift eliminator.
As others said just hold first gear longer, or give more throttle.
It will get me once in a while making a left turn at a light behind a very slow driver, it only happens on left turns, and behind turtle driver's.
It will make you shift to 4th, will not let you go to 3rd.
Guess time to install kit.
Put on column lock thing, but have not put on the skip shift eliminator.
As others said just hold first gear longer, or give more throttle.
It will get me once in a while making a left turn at a light behind a very slow driver, it only happens on left turns, and behind turtle driver's.
It will make you shift to 4th, will not let you go to 3rd.
Guess time to install kit.
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Apr 2012
Posts: 222
Likes: 20
From: Tampa, FL
Instructor
Joined: Jan 2018
Posts: 166
Likes: 66
From: Tijeras, New Mexico