It's TIME... for a new/rebuilt MT6
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Mar 2018
Posts: 456
Likes: 144
From: Frederick Colorado
It's TIME... for a new/rebuilt MT6
Kids, my '97 C5 has basically been running and working flawlessly except for one thing -
The manual transmission.
I need a new one. Mine is a little tired. It pops out of reverse, is hard to engage, and will sometimes pop out of 1st. You have to keep your hand on the shifter and work the clutch carefully.
Some knucklehead former owner put some kind of a cheap eBay short-shifter in it. Effort is high. I Venom modded it and it is 50% better, but the jumping out of reverse and grinding on broken teeth in that gear are getting old.
What are my options in the Northern Colorado metro area? Don't bother telling me to repair it myself, I'm nearly 60 years old and don't possess a 9' floor lift nor do I have the space to leave a half-assembled car jacked 5' in the air for 6 weeks while some guy halfway across the country fixes my transmission.
Where should I go and what should I do?
The manual transmission.
I need a new one. Mine is a little tired. It pops out of reverse, is hard to engage, and will sometimes pop out of 1st. You have to keep your hand on the shifter and work the clutch carefully.
Some knucklehead former owner put some kind of a cheap eBay short-shifter in it. Effort is high. I Venom modded it and it is 50% better, but the jumping out of reverse and grinding on broken teeth in that gear are getting old.
What are my options in the Northern Colorado metro area? Don't bother telling me to repair it myself, I'm nearly 60 years old and don't possess a 9' floor lift nor do I have the space to leave a half-assembled car jacked 5' in the air for 6 weeks while some guy halfway across the country fixes my transmission.
Where should I go and what should I do?
Pro
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 515
Likes: 133
I have needed two rebuilt transmissions in 195,000 miles on my 2002.
First time, I lost reverse on a road trip, but got home. Read on here that it was likely a shift fork pad, but no shop in my small town would go into it, so needed a rebuilt.
Second time, I lost reverse, plus shifting bad in forward gears, plus got hot enough to melt the plastic breather fitting on top. This was in Battle Mountain, NV, no choice but to leave it waiting for a rebuilt, and rent a car to complete my trip.
First time, I lost reverse on a road trip, but got home. Read on here that it was likely a shift fork pad, but no shop in my small town would go into it, so needed a rebuilt.
Second time, I lost reverse, plus shifting bad in forward gears, plus got hot enough to melt the plastic breather fitting on top. This was in Battle Mountain, NV, no choice but to leave it waiting for a rebuilt, and rent a car to complete my trip.
Tech Contributor
Joined: Dec 1999
Posts: 32,910
Likes: 2,402
From: Anthony TX
CI 6,7,8,9,11 Vet
St. Jude Donor '08
The popping out of reverse thing deals with issues in the tail shaft extension assembly. The Jumping out of first is most likely worn shift fork pads and worn synchro's..
Either way,, you need a rebuild as you cant correct either. Something that you can try (as a band aid ) for the first gear issue/shifting issue is change the ATF for new fresh ATF (Yes the MN6 uses ATF for trans fluid) Nothing is going to correct a mechanical fault other than a rebuild. My 98 MN6 started having shifting issues under hard shifts. Just changing the transmission ATF resolve it.. he old OEM stuff looked like dark red metal flake paint!!!
I think I would take up Supercharged111 on his offer. See if he can remove it, rebuild it and reinstall it with ALL the needed OTHER STUFF that goes along with removing a MN6/MN12 Manual transmission.
NOTE 1. There's a LOT more to removing and rebuilding and throwing a rebuilt transmission back in the car. IMHO, You will need a new Clutch, Pressure Plate, Slave, Pilot Bearing, Master Cylinder, etc etc etc. Have you considered that added/extra expense/time?
Just trying to provide all the insight that I can so you don't have to do drive line repairs more than ONCE.
Bill
Either way,, you need a rebuild as you cant correct either. Something that you can try (as a band aid ) for the first gear issue/shifting issue is change the ATF for new fresh ATF (Yes the MN6 uses ATF for trans fluid) Nothing is going to correct a mechanical fault other than a rebuild. My 98 MN6 started having shifting issues under hard shifts. Just changing the transmission ATF resolve it.. he old OEM stuff looked like dark red metal flake paint!!!
I think I would take up Supercharged111 on his offer. See if he can remove it, rebuild it and reinstall it with ALL the needed OTHER STUFF that goes along with removing a MN6/MN12 Manual transmission.
NOTE 1. There's a LOT more to removing and rebuilding and throwing a rebuilt transmission back in the car. IMHO, You will need a new Clutch, Pressure Plate, Slave, Pilot Bearing, Master Cylinder, etc etc etc. Have you considered that added/extra expense/time?
Just trying to provide all the insight that I can so you don't have to do drive line repairs more than ONCE.
Bill
Safety Car
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 3,956
Likes: 520
From: Da U.P.
Actually I was inclined to take the whole job a month plus ago when he first asked about this. But right now we're looking to list our house as soon as March, so plenty of prep work to do there. I could handle a bench build as that is far less involved and takes care of the hard part. If he's handy enough to drop the drivetrain himself he'd be able to deal with the rest of the stuff Bill mentioned. I've been through all of that on my car and am happy with how it works now.
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Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Mar 2018
Posts: 456
Likes: 144
From: Frederick Colorado
Originally Posted by Bill Curlee;[url=tel:1607332416
1607332416[/url]]The popping out of reverse thing deals with issues in the tail shaft extension assembly. The Jumping out of first is most likely worn shift fork pads and worn synchro's..
Either way,, you need a rebuild as you cant correct either. Something that you can try (as a band aid ) for the first gear issue/shifting issue is change the ATF for new fresh ATF (Yes the MN6 uses ATF for trans fluid) Nothing is going to correct a mechanical fault other than a rebuild. My 98 MN6 started having shifting issues under hard shifts. Just changing the transmission ATF resolve it.. he old OEM stuff looked like dark red metal flake paint!!!
I think I would take up Supercharged111 on his offer. See if he can remove it, rebuild it and reinstall it with ALL the needed OTHER STUFF that goes along with removing a MN6/MN12 Manual transmission.
NOTE 1. There's a LOT more to removing and rebuilding and throwing a rebuilt transmission back in the car. IMHO, You will need a new Clutch, Pressure Plate, Slave, Pilot Bearing, Master Cylinder, etc etc etc. Have you considered that added/extra expense/time?
Just trying to provide all the insight that I can so you don't have to do drive line repairs more than ONCE.
Bill
Either way,, you need a rebuild as you cant correct either. Something that you can try (as a band aid ) for the first gear issue/shifting issue is change the ATF for new fresh ATF (Yes the MN6 uses ATF for trans fluid) Nothing is going to correct a mechanical fault other than a rebuild. My 98 MN6 started having shifting issues under hard shifts. Just changing the transmission ATF resolve it.. he old OEM stuff looked like dark red metal flake paint!!!
I think I would take up Supercharged111 on his offer. See if he can remove it, rebuild it and reinstall it with ALL the needed OTHER STUFF that goes along with removing a MN6/MN12 Manual transmission.
NOTE 1. There's a LOT more to removing and rebuilding and throwing a rebuilt transmission back in the car. IMHO, You will need a new Clutch, Pressure Plate, Slave, Pilot Bearing, Master Cylinder, etc etc etc. Have you considered that added/extra expense/time?
Just trying to provide all the insight that I can so you don't have to do drive line repairs more than ONCE.
Bill
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Mar 2018
Posts: 456
Likes: 144
From: Frederick Colorado
Originally Posted by Tusc;[url=tel:1607410628
1607410628[/url]]3k repair and 1.2 labor? Not out of the ballpark.
Safety Car
Joined: Jan 2012
Posts: 3,956
Likes: 520
From: Da U.P.
$4200 seems a little on the high side, but not unreasonable as you likely had some hard parts needing replaced in there. For $7k that trans better be made of gold! I can't imagine what would drive it that high for a stock rebuild on something that didn't explode. There would be a lot of 4 letter words exchanged for a bill that high and some brutal reviews. But then again, I know my way around these boxes.
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Mar 2018
Posts: 456
Likes: 144
From: Frederick Colorado
I got the car back and drove it home - and it's a completely new experience. The transmission's shifter is tight but slippery. There is no resistance to going all-the-way into gear. They told me that I had two teeth out of reverse and the syncros were worn (I have about 116k on the car right now). The shifter does not pop out of gear no matter what you are doing.
It feels... TERRIFIC!
In other posts I have made, I have previously claimed that I had some kind of a crazy squeak coming out of the back end of the car, which I could replicate if I would compress the rear suspension by bouncing the car on the rear fender.
Now that appears to be gone as well; perhaps I had a joint or something that had to get re-lubed when the rear end was reinstalled? I had attempted to grease everything under the car that had any interaction to see if there would be any improvement, but nothing worked. Might have been something goofy like a universal joint in the torque tube or something?
It feels... TERRIFIC!
In other posts I have made, I have previously claimed that I had some kind of a crazy squeak coming out of the back end of the car, which I could replicate if I would compress the rear suspension by bouncing the car on the rear fender.
Now that appears to be gone as well; perhaps I had a joint or something that had to get re-lubed when the rear end was reinstalled? I had attempted to grease everything under the car that had any interaction to see if there would be any improvement, but nothing worked. Might have been something goofy like a universal joint in the torque tube or something?
Le Mans Master
Joined: Oct 2007
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From: Akron Ohio
2025 Corvette of the Year Finalist - Modified
2024 C5 of the Year Winner - Modified
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St. Jude Donor '09-'10-'11
I love that feeling of fixing something after dealing with issues for awhile or putting them off. Makes you fall in love with the car again!
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Mar 2018
Posts: 456
Likes: 144
From: Frederick Colorado
I hadn’t experienced any kind of a problem there, and the transmission rebuilder did not mention any particular difficulties with my transmission at that juncture.
Doesn’t mean they didn’t renew components there, though. They went through the whole thing, and it runs like a top.
Doesn’t mean they didn’t renew components there, though. They went through the whole thing, and it runs like a top.
Instructor
Joined: Jun 2023
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