[Z06] Help! Stuck in 4th Gear

Reply Subscribe

Thread Tools

Search this Thread

Jul 27, 2004 | 10:52 AM

Angella

Thread Starter

Intermediate

Joined: Apr 2004

Posts: 27

Likes: 0

From: Columbus OH

Help! Stuck in 4th Gear

My 2003 Z06 has 13 k on it. I am the second owner - the car was left orphaned after a nasty divorce.

I was driving to a friends house, to pic up her 5 year old daughter and take her to the movies (there's a new baby in the house, so I'm trying to help that transition). I went to shift down to second gear, and I heard nothing but grinding as I pushed up into neutral.

I drive the car like an old lady most of the time... it's my baby, and I'd do nothing to hurt it. But I can't guarantee how the previous driver drove it (he had it for 6k)... or it might just be a defect.

Will the 3 year/36k warranty cover this?!? I'm concerned that the previous owner let his 16 year old learn to drive stick on it or something equally neglectful.

Jul 27, 2004 | 02:26 PM

xsiveone

Le Mans Master

Joined: Jul 2004

Posts: 6,661

Likes: 1

Unfortunately, this sounds like the dreaded bent shift fork problem. In mid 2003, GM started putting steel shift forks, like the Viper, into the tranny instead of the aluminum shift forks.

Do you know if your car was built in early or late '03? I'm not sure on the VIN codes or cutoff dates for when they started installing steel shift forks in 2003.

I believe that there is a TSB on this, so your warranty should cover it.

I might add that the previous owner didn't necessarily abuse the car. I've seen people having issues with the shift forks that are pretty easy on the car.

Here's another thread posted about the shift fork problem. You can also pull up additional info by searching on the forum search engine.

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show...ght=shift+fork

X

Last edited by xsiveone; Jul 27, 2004 at 03:15 PM.

Aug 2, 2004 | 01:48 PM

Angella

Thread Starter

Intermediate

Joined: Apr 2004

Posts: 27

Likes: 0

From: Columbus OH

yikes, I need to check the manufacture date... it's been sitting in front of my friends house for the past week (nice neighborhood, and her 7 year old boy likes it there : )

I happened to meet an ASE certified tech a month or so ago at an autocross event (we autocross an M3 - tires cost too much on the vette : ) He's in cincinnati, about 100 miles south of where I am - but I might take it down there to get worked on (AAA covers up to 100 miles, and gm will cover some towing too, just not sure how much.)

Thanks for the info... I need to become more active in this forum.

Thanks!

Aug 2, 2004 | 01:55 PM

pwrshhftd

Pro

Joined: Feb 2002

Posts: 600

Likes: 0

From: Kannapolis NC

yep its a benmt fork... the replacement is cheap 75 $ or so...
but the install is pricey unles syou have warranty.....

Aug 2, 2004 | 03:42 PM

xsiveone

Le Mans Master

Joined: Jul 2004

Posts: 6,661

Likes: 1

Quote:

yep its a benmt fork... the replacement is cheap 75 $ or so...
but the install is pricey unles syou have warranty.....

That's what always gets me when a car company wants to save a few bucks here and there. In this case, GM should've used the steel shift forks instead of the aluminum ones.

Reminds me of another car that I had. I used to have a '84 VW GTI. One engineer thought that it would be a good idea to eliminate a tiny .15Â¢ circlip from the end of the shaft on the transmission. Because of this, certain transmissions (mine held up thankfully) would self machine themselves. I sure hope that engineer was proud of saving a few pennies on each transmission. I'm also thankful that GM is covering the shift forks under warranty. VW to this day has never admitted their wrong doing in the case of the transmission failures.

X

Aug 2, 2004 | 10:55 PM

Teddy98Z28M6

Pro

Joined: Nov 1999

Posts: 596

Likes: 0

From: Red Raider

Bent shift fork.

Aug 3, 2004 | 10:04 AM

SpdKilz

Burning Brakes

Joined: Mar 2003

Posts: 824

Likes: 5

From: Chicago Illinois

I just had a similar problem with my car, however, it only has 2,600 miles on it. They replaced:
- 3-4 gear synchronizer
- 4th gear
- Bearing
- F-Shaft
- F-Shaft ASM
- F-Bearing

So I hope it is just the 3-4 shift fork...because your problem sounds exactly like mine, and people also mentioned it should only be the 3-4 shift fork, but it turned out to be a bit more

Aug 3, 2004 | 11:36 AM

xsiveone

Le Mans Master

Joined: Jul 2004

Posts: 6,661

Likes: 1

Quote:

I just had a similar problem with my car, however, it only has 2,600 miles on it. They replaced:

Doesn't that suck only after 2,600 miles. I have about 10K miles right now and mine occasionally sticks in 4th. It has been sticking since a couple of months after I bought the car. I'm lucky that I'm eventually able to get it out of 4th though when it does happen. Some guys can't get it out of gear and have to have their cars towed. One guy had his stick in gear at the track and they had to lift up the rear end of the car and kick at the rear wheels to release it.

I'm going to get mine fixed, but I have been putting it off. I will surely have it done before my warranty is up.

When I have mine done, I'm going to ask the tech if I can have all the shift forks replaced with the steel shift forks. I'll even pay for the other shift forks out of my pocket. It's worth it to me while they have the tranny off the car and all apart.

Good luck with it.

X