Hi Guys
I dislike being locked out of 2nd and 3rd gears, so last night I installed a 1-4 skip shift in my red 99 and it works perfectly. The previous owner never installed one which I found weird as it was the very first mod I did after purchasing my 02 new. Anyhow, now that I installed it, the feared "service traction control/service ABS" message has reared it's ugly head. Are the two tied together? Is it just a coincidence? Has this ever happened to any of you guys?

 

I used Compliance Parts one as I didn't want to crawl onder the car. Never had any problems, it just worked as advertized. Had it installed for over 2 years now. Gary

 

I don't think it's related but what codes are you getting?
I did the mod with a resistor and some electrical tape and didn't have any issue

 

I installed the skip shift in both the '99 and '00 C5s I had and never had any error message like that. I do not see how those two things could be related.

 

It should be entirely separate from the cags. But you can always plug the cags back in.

Get the spacers needed for the Anti-Venom kit and slap one or two of those up on the detent while you're in there. You'll thank me.

 

I do not think the error message is related to you putting in the 1-4 skip shift....but i do think the previous owner was a weirdo .........................for not putting in the skip shift after 20 years of ownership...

 

 

Oh no! I really hope your EBCM is okay. I wouldn't think the two things are related, but the C5 is so sensitive to subtle electrical changes that I wouldn't 100% rule it out. At least you have 2 other C5s to drive if your EBCM is shot.

 

 

All the skipshift "kit" consists of is a resistor with wires attached.

Your error message is trouble - it's what you see when the EBCM does not respond when "polled".

 

Thanks for all the replies
It's weird though as I have never gotten those messages before (at least in this C5 ) until I installed the 1-4 skip shift eliminator. Those messages came up immediately after the install. I'll pull codes tomorrow and post them. I pray it's not the EBCM as it's a 99

 

Bill said that in the 20 years he owned your '99 that he never needed the 1-4 skip shift eliminator...he said you don't need one if you know the correct shifting points...meaning that you do not know how to shift gears worth a crap...his opinion/comment, not mine...

 

I don't know if i missed this, but take it out and see what happens.

 

Yeah, he told me, and I appreciate his advice.
I put over a 1000 miles on the car and never noticed the 1-4 lock out but lately I've been driving in the city more often. I'd try and go to 2nd and be locked out I was like WTF? I've never driven a C5 awhile without the 1-4 skip shift eliminator installed, well at least not in the past 19 years. I remember purchasing my 2002 new and the skip shift eliminator was the very first mod I did to the car. ( first of a 1,000 mods ).
Anyhow, I went out again today and the "service traction control/service abs" message are gone. I'll still pull codes later (working currently )

 

Let's hope it stays that way!

 

 

That dang '99 is haunted with lots of Karma ...trade it in on that C8 you want and deserve.....
MAGA

btw...the first thing i did to my '95 ZF 6speed was to install the skip shift eliminator...fack that trying to get to the correct shifting point...that's for obsessive compulsive ocd people...

 

So long as people keep in mind that the alternate !cags fixes are:

A - just unplug that noise and zip tie the wire away

B - tune it out / disable

 

I also get along just fine without changing the original design.

I wouldn't suggest it for best idea ever, but certainly don't think the modification is a must for happiness. Some people just like to buy stuff to make the car distinctive, myself included, and perhaps confuse their happiness with necessity.

The shift program is :

on above 167 degrees engine temp, between 15 and 19 miles per hour, and 21% throttle or less. It is defeated by going to fourth position with the shift lever, then you are free to select any gear.

I went into details in case someone reading this is trying to asses the worth of modification. I think I was inconvenienced once or twice on a left turn before I learned to wind it out a bit, which I tend to do anyway, since I shift by listening to the motor hitting the power band, and learned to shift on anemic low torque sports cars, where winding them out was the only way.

I always felt the first to fourth shift lugged the engine, which I know is not the case with this kind of torque, but it never sounded right to me, , so my driving style makes this largely a non issue. My only concern about the modification is the rare chance the resister might fail when I am far away from home, but I guess one could say that about any part. I do not know the effect of a failed resister on mobility.

 

I had no idea engine temp had anything to do with the lock out, good info and thanks for sharing.
A friend sent me this:
The CAGS forces the transmission to go from First directly into Fourth during relatively light-throttle, low-speed driving--exactly the sort of conditions you'd experience in normal stop-and-go, rush hour commutes. You can beat the skip shift by short shifting from First to Second before the car reaches 15 mph (just barely rolling) or always wind up to at least 20 mph before making that First-to-Second shift. But if you try to make a First-to-Second shift between 15 and 20 mph, at the same time that an idiot light in the tach glows with a message reading "1 TO 4 SHIFT," the lever goes directly into Fourth

I would think the odds of the resistor failing would be slim to none. In the 18 years I've been on the Forum I've never heard of one failing. 1-4 shift definitely bogs down the engine and that's why I did the install.
Maybe I should start a poll of who has installed the 1-4 skip shift compared to those who left it stock. It would be interesting.