Greetings,

I am curious if any others have experienced the following:

The transmission will 'Jump out of first gear' after engagement. The car will begin to move forward slightly, a rather loud bang, then grinding gear sounds. It does not matter if I launch hard or am just moving from a parking spot.

If I down shift through second, into first and use engine breaking, I never have a problem. I never have problem when the car is cold, i.e. when I start it in the morning.

The car is under warranty and will be fixed by the dealer, but I wanted some experienced opinions. Any idea's?

Best Regards,
Doug
Black C5 coupe

 

I've noticed this in MN6 cars if you attempt to engage first at a complete stop and don't get it quite fully engaged. The shifter can be pushed fully forward, but if the gear dogs are not lined up, it won't be fully engaged. If this is what you're experiencing, it's normal and there's nothing wrong.

 

Welcome to the forum! What year is your C5? My Vette isn't the manual
but I have had numerous sticks and this can be a sign of worn syncro's. If yours is new then your linkage could possibly need adjusting.

 

I've found ther same thing. The shifter takes some getting used to... If it feels "rubbery" when you put it into gear, take it out of gear and cycle the clutch once. Should go into gear. Reverse works the same way...

 

I had this same problem on my car. I took it in and they said that the shifter was out of alignment. They aligned it and it hasn't happen since.

 

My dad's has done this occasionally. And now come to find out the second gear synchros are blown. 5300 miles!!!!!

 

First- thanks for the welcome and the replies.

I also sometimes have a problem engaging first and reverse and cycling the clutch does allow the gear to smoothly engage. This I consider normal.

However the problem I have is that it first gear does engage because the car moves a few feet, the 'jumps out of gear'. If this is normal I am going back to a Camaro.

I have the Tremac T56 manual and cannot understand how the dealership aligns or even adjusts the shifter because the shift mechanism is a fixed rod secured with roll pins.

I have rebuilt the T5 transmission in my Camaro twice (syncros etc) and that to did not have an adjustable shift mechanism.

It will become the dealer’s problem next week. I hope they don’t disturb the balance of the clutch/flywheel or make other problems.

Yesterday I needed to move to the left lane to enter the I95 ramp. At the stoplight I was blocked by a Maxima. No problem I will just launch and move over when the light changes, however when I launched, the car jumped out of gear. I am lucky the guy behind me didn’t smash into the back of my car and I had to wait for ~10 cars before I could enter the highway. Beaten by a stock Maxima- I am giving Vettes a BAD name.

Doug
98 Black coupe

 

Doug,

I am an expert on this condition. I too have a 98 that I bought new and picked up at the museum. The car popped out of gear while driving it out of the museum. It continously did this. Over a very short time it got worse and started popping out of second. Eventually the transmission was not usable and it was rebuilt unver warranty. I got it back and it still pooped out of gear. They replace 1,2,5th gear synchros and shift forks. I saw the synchros and they were toast. After the rebuild the transmission failed again and I had to go to GM's Executive office to get a new transmission as the car was now out of warranty. Since the new transmission I have had very few instances of it popping out of gear.

There are three synchros for first and second gear. It's very easy to think you have the car fully in first when it in fact is not. It will pop out and this can damage the synchros.

My problem above was different it actually felt like the car was fighting me back when I tried to shift from first to second or down into first.

Most of the severe problems I have heard about have involved 1998 cars. That is when production of the MN6 was limited because production was being moved to Mexico from Gervmany. My transimission was a a lemon from day one. I think some PO'd German buggered it because he was losing his job.

Just keep an eye on it and make sure it is in gear.

One thing immediately change the lube to Redline or someother synthetic ATF for high performance cars. (yes the MN6 is filled with ATF) You will be amazed how much shift feeling improves.

 

The Fbodies you speak of have a shifter on top of the trans. The vette has a shift rod that runs back to the tranny. There is an alignment procedure but still it pops out. I release the clutch a little before I take off to spin the trans over and it lines up better :seeya