Question re skip-shift
Thread Starter
Drifting
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 1,268
Likes: 158
From: Irvine CA
Question re skip-shift
i understand the intention to avoid cafe. no complaints there. but can somebody explain the logic behind skip-shift? shifting from 1st to 2nd at LOW RPMs causes it to jump to 4th, horribly lugging the engine? how does that get better gas mileage? by shifting early, you're already getting the best gas mileage. i thought, if anything, higher RPMs would cause it to skip a gear, improving gas mileage and not lugging the engine as badly. forgive the newbie questions. my C6 MN6 arrives next week.
Race Director
Joined: Dec 2005
Posts: 15,685
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Nope it won't lug the engine. I would spend 20 bucks and get the CAGS eliminator anyway. These cars have so much torque for their weight, even at low rpms. I always laugh when people are concerned about taking off from a light in second with the C6. I think the automatics do that anyway unless you are in "sport" mode. It is not a problem at all the tranny and the engine can easily deal with it. I have the manual six speed as well and the LS2 engine is so flexible and powerful you could get away with having three gears in this car and be just fine....you'd sacrifice some performance and it would be an suicidal move from a marketing perspective where more gears are always considered better, but you could do it and not be hugely inconvienced. Thinking about it the automatics were four speeds until just this year!
Race Director
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 10,461
Likes: 1,149
From: Wayne Township WI
Originally Posted by haljensen
Don't knock the skip shift, it keeps us out of the Federal $2000.00 Gas Guzzler Tax bracket. Anybody buying a Daimler/Chrysler SRT8 can explain the Tax to you.
This CAGS jazz has been an awful enigma for me, I swear.
I've had my '06 MN6 C6 since November of '05 & no matter how hard I try to "activate" the skip-shift function, it won't.
Apparently my normal driving style doesn't cause CAGS to be an issue either, so I really don't need a CAGS eliminator.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 1,161
Likes: 1
From: North Carolina
St. Jude Donor '06-'07-'08
Originally Posted by Landru
Excellent point, hal.
This CAGS jazz has been an awful enigma for me, I swear.
I've had my '06 MN6 C6 since November of '05 & no matter how hard I try to "activate" the skip-shift function, it won't.
Apparently my normal driving style doesn't cause CAGS to be an issue either, so I really don't need a CAGS eliminator.
This CAGS jazz has been an awful enigma for me, I swear.
I've had my '06 MN6 C6 since November of '05 & no matter how hard I try to "activate" the skip-shift function, it won't.
Apparently my normal driving style doesn't cause CAGS to be an issue either, so I really don't need a CAGS eliminator.
I have not been bothered by the 1-4 shift. I live in a rural area, so I don't generally get in on the big city morning and afternoon "crawl", but I generally only see the flash of the 1-4 light and it has only actually kicked in a couple of times. Once I was driving out of someone's long downhill driveway!
Another time I was in city traffic and was absentmindedly shifting between 1st and 2nd.
I don't even run into the problem in my neighborhood where the speed liimit is 35. The car handles this speed in 3rd or 4th gear just fine.
I don't always drive it like I stole it, but I guess my style of running up the revs before shifting keeps the 1-4 thingy from kicking in.
anothercrisis
Jim
Race Director
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 10,461
Likes: 1,149
From: Wayne Township WI
Originally Posted by anothercrisis
I have not been bothered by the 1-4 shift. I live in a rural area, so I don't generally get in on the big city morning and afternoon "crawl"...
Highway 41 to the north & I-45 south with county highways & roads, in between.
When I roll the C-Car I "drive" it pretty casually, not crawl or race, just drive.
Originally Posted by anothercrisis
...but I generally only see the flash of the 1-4 light and it has only actually kicked in a couple of times.
I never even get the light, you're ahead of me even with just getting the indicator lamp.
Maybe mine's broken!
Originally Posted by anothercrisis
Once I was driving out of someone's long downhill driveway!...Another time I was in city traffic and was absentmindedly shifting between 1st and 2nd.
I hate the thought of my not having complete controll over the car I'm driving.
With my luck the thing would kick me into 4th when a 40-wheeler or freight train was bearing down & I really needed (for once) the astounding acceleration the LS2 Z51.
Originally Posted by anothercrisis
I don't always drive it like I stole it, but I guess my style of running up the revs before shifting keeps the 1-4 thingy from kicking in.
OBTW Jim, if yours isn't the best screen name on the forum I don't know what is.
"anothercrisis" is most appropoe' for the times, no?
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Advanced
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 55
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Warranty Coverage
If your car is under warranty, or ESP, and if you can do without the skipshift eliminator, leave it alone. Putting anything at all on the transmission would give a dealership an excuse for denial of warranty coverage on the transmission or anything closely related.
Retired & lovin' it!
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 4,474
Likes: 547
From: Jackson NJ
Originally Posted by SASprof
i understand the intention to avoid cafe. no complaints there. but can somebody explain the logic behind skip-shift? shifting from 1st to 2nd at LOW RPMs causes it to jump to 4th, horribly lugging the engine? how does that get better gas mileage? by shifting early, you're already getting the best gas mileage. i thought, if anything, higher RPMs would cause it to skip a gear, improving gas mileage and not lugging the engine as badly. forgive the newbie questions. my C6 MN6 arrives next week.
Intermediate
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 34
Likes: 0
Originally Posted by Rachane
If your car is under warranty, or ESP, and if you can do without the skipshift eliminator, leave it alone. Putting anything at all on the transmission would give a dealership an excuse for denial of warranty coverage on the transmission or anything closely related.
Driving mine home from the dealership last February, the dash light and the throw gate bugged me. Two days later, and $96 bucks lighter, the dealer used a GM part and the CAGS is gone - except for that darn light. He said that the light must stay due to the needs of the computer.
Get it done so that you can control every aspect of the transmission - computers have done some great things, but controlling my tranny is not one of them.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 837
Likes: 315
From: The Triangle, NC
Originally Posted by Dave S
The "logic" (and BTW, in this case, that's an oxymoron) has to do with the drive cycle for the Federal emissions & fuel mileage testing. Use of the skip shift logic keeps engine RPM low during the test cycle & thus leads to a higher fuel mileage rating. As several have pointed out, the LS2 produces so much torque, that the shift to 4th is not a problem. However, depending upon your street driving habits & local traffic, it can be a PITA to some, thus the "CAGS Eliminator". Hope that helps
It's pretty simple - CAGS kicks it into higher gears, sooner.
So, Fewer Low Gear Engine Rev's = More miles for Same Gasoline = No Gas Guzzler Tax
Team Owner
Joined: Oct 2001
Posts: 56,381
Likes: 79
Originally Posted by Black06C6
NOT SO! Well, maybe NOT SO - If you get it done at your dealership. If the dealer does it, then there is a service record of the work and the parts (GM original CAGS by-pass) done. No chance of a warranty denial.
Driving mine home from the dealership last February, the dash light and the throw gate bugged me. Two days later, and $96 bucks lighter, the dealer used a GM part and the CAGS is gone - except for that darn light. He said that the light must stay due to the needs of the computer.
Get it done so that you can control every aspect of the transmission - computers have done some great things, but controlling my tranny is not one of them.
Driving mine home from the dealership last February, the dash light and the throw gate bugged me. Two days later, and $96 bucks lighter, the dealer used a GM part and the CAGS is gone - except for that darn light. He said that the light must stay due to the needs of the computer.
Get it done so that you can control every aspect of the transmission - computers have done some great things, but controlling my tranny is not one of them.
Race Director
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 15,142
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i bought my first m6 in 1996 in a z28. and if not mistaken borg warren made the tranny then. the thing was awful in that car and bumper to bumper was a b*tch. so i bought the cags eliminator for and have since use the same one on my trans am and now the vette. guess it wasn't bad money spent huh?
Thread Starter
Drifting
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 1,268
Likes: 158
From: Irvine CA
Originally Posted by Dave S
The "logic" (and BTW, in this case, that's an oxymoron) has to do with the drive cycle for the Federal emissions & fuel mileage testing. Use of the skip shift logic keeps engine RPM low during the test cycle & thus leads to a higher fuel mileage rating. As several have pointed out, the LS2 produces so much torque, that the shift to 4th is not a problem. However, depending upon your street driving habits & local traffic, it can be a PITA to some, thus the "CAGS Eliminator". Hope that helps
i'm still confused about the "logic". those who rev up before shifting, causing worse gas mileage, are not forced into a fuel-saving higher gear. it's the conservative early-shifting fuel efficient drivers who are "punished". yeah, i know, there is no logic. since when has the government done anything logical? i like revving my cars up a little before shifting, so i'll probably be OK most of the time. but i don't wanna take any chances, and i hate the idea of a computer controlling my gears, so i'll probably get the CAGS eliminator. i hear SLP sells em.
Drifting
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 1,250
Likes: 3
From: Honolulu HI
it is totally amazing to me how the car is so different than a "normal" car (engine/speed/torque/power)
you can be at idle rpm and be in 4th (i guess its about 20 mph or so) press the gas a bit and it just moves like normal - no lugging just a smooth acceleration to the speed you want to go.... just amazing!!!!
i have about 2000 miles now and still not used to the low end torque the car has.... power band smooth from idle right up to redline....
nothing like the motors i used to have through the years.....
what a great car!!!!! 
you can be at idle rpm and be in 4th (i guess its about 20 mph or so) press the gas a bit and it just moves like normal - no lugging just a smooth acceleration to the speed you want to go.... just amazing!!!!
i have about 2000 miles now and still not used to the low end torque the car has.... power band smooth from idle right up to redline....
nothing like the motors i used to have through the years.....
what a great car!!!!!