'05, Manual, SPEC 3+ and aluminum fly. I've been driving the car quite spiritedly the last week, and banging gears a little harder than usual.

Over this week, shifting began to become slightly more difficult. Not much, but maybe 10-20% more effort was required to pop the shifter out of / into each gear. 1st gear from a dead stop has been denying me more often than before as well. I wrote that off though, as Corvettes have a tendency to do this even when new.

Today, I came through 1st gear at maybe 3/4 throttle, into second with some oomph at around 4k rpm, then when attempting to come out of 2nd at about 4k, the shifter wouldn't come out of gear. Completely stuck. Clutch feels fine, still requires typical pressure, has clean fluid, no leaks under the car. It still engages and disengages with no issue, allowing me to coast in gear with the pedal depressed, and engine brake when released.

I stopped the car, shut it off, tried to come out of gear, no dice. Tried manhandling it, still stuck. The shifter will come forward all the way to where it feels it's just about to pop into neutral, but won't quite make it. It still has typical spring-tension on it, so it doesn't feel like the linkage is busted. I called my tuner down in Florida, and his assumption was that it's likely a bent shift fork. Bad timing, as I just sold my DD Golf, and the Vette is on DD status.

What say the Corvette Forum?

 

That would be my first guess too. However, since ai for sure diagnosis on that is $$$$, I'd personally inspect my shifter and the linkage before taking it anywhere to get the fork or other trans internals diagnosed. Personally, I'd do the trans diagnosis myself, but I'd look at the shifter first, b/c its so much easier, and I know first hand that the stock shifter mechanism is garbage.

 

I wish it were the linkage, but it's been rebuilt already. The stock plastic bushings have been replaced with steel, and the hardware has been changed out. It is still entirely possible, but there is no discernable difference in the feel of the shifter movement, which leads me to believe it isn't the problem.

Luckily the car shat itself within a few blocks of a buddy's shop, and I'll have it up on the lift tomorrow or the next day to start tearing everything down. Dropping the tranny on these cars is a pain in the ***.

Coincidentally, when I tried to restart the car, it wouldn't crank. Almost like the colum-lock issue, but with no Column Lock error on the DIC (although I have gotten that before). The check-engine light then came on, thereafter. I couldn't run the code, as I didn't have a scanner available at the moment.

 

That's weird. The car shouldn't "care" what gear it's in to start. (?)

 

Agreed. As long as the clutch is depressed, the car should crank. I really am confused.

 

Considering that the linkage was altered, it would be the first place I'd look.

 

Well, sounds like you need to change the gear in your avatar pic....

 

Being an 05, if you didn't put it in reverse when you shut it off, your battery died. 05's need to be in reverse to shut off. So that sounds normal.

Couple of things could have happened that would be better than a bent shift rod, and banging gears could have caused them.

One, the bolts on shifter box on the torque tube could have shifted from your shifting so hard. You might need to align the shift mechanism using a pin - loosen up the bolts, then there's an alignment hole to align everything in neutral, then you tighten those bolts.

Two, your pin on the rear of the shift rod that ties it to the transmission might have sheared or is in the process of shearing.

Those two items are cheapier than rebuilding the trans! I hope it's the easier, first one, for your sake.

Keep us posted!

Edit - here's some pics of what I'm talking about:

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c6-t...ck-in-3rd.html

http://bit.ly/9Hpk3

 

Yikes, do I come off as quite that clueless? The car was not left in 2nd for more than 30 seconds whilst fiddling with the shifter before attempting to restart it.

Otherwise, a sincere thanks for the info. Some of the the OP's issues in that link are similar to what I'm having (the car not wanting to start back up now, even with full battery power), although the shifter movement characteristics he described don't quite match mine. Still, thankyou again, as it gives me something a little better to hope for.

 

Wasn't the linkage.

It's definitely internal to the transmission. I'm trying to get the diff off of the back of the transmission now (the combo is out of the car and on the floor). 4 bolts removed that hold the diff to the tranny, and now when trying to pry them apart, I get about a mm or two of separation, but nothing more.

 

There is a 5th nut on the bottom slightly offset from center. You'll need a 13 mm open end spanner to get it off IIRC.

 

Got it.

A few minutes after posting previously, I went back out and flipped the whole shebang over (just rotated it the first time in order to avoid spilling gear oil out of the top and all over the shop floor), and low and behold was a 5th bolt hidden under that bottom plate that is held on with two bolts of it's own. I assumed that plate was part of the diff's casing itself until I inspected further. Kind of a curious design.

Anyhow, I'm good to go now, the diff is covered and put away, and the tranny will be getting shipped out tomorrow to be looked over. I intend to have the builder replace whatever may be damaged, and execute a minor overhaul, i.e. forks, pads, keys being upgraded where possible.

Joe, would you happen to know if a C6Z tranny would bolt up under my '05? I realize I would need a different differential, but that would be a welcome upgrade regardless, as again, this POS is an '05.

There's a Z tranny with 4k miles on it for sale here on the forum, and I'm having a look at it.

 

I THINK that the C6z tranny will bolt to the torque tube....Isaiah48 will know for sure as he's done it I believe! Perhaps he'll chime in or PM him.

 

I do have the Z06 Tranny but I'm not sure what might have been changed as far as the case goes, I believe that it should bolt right up to the Torque tube but a I know a Z06 Tranny wont fit a standard C6 rear without changing the tail shaft housing to a standard C6... As a side note, beware of the difference between the gearing of the Z06, Z51 and Standard C6. I have a Z51 and when I went to the Z06 tranny with 3:90 gears, first gear was actually a lot taller than it was. I use to start out in second but definitley not anymore...

 

Thanks for chiming in, Isaiah. I am on the fence, bigtime. If I go with a Z tranny, that would be the perfect necessitation to go with a new diff as well, and would avert the impending doom that is most likely coming to my current '05 diff.