I have a 2016 Z51, 2LT manual Transmission Corvette. When I shift from 1st to 2nd and 2nd to 3rd, it does not go into gear smoothly. All other gears are fine. I spoke to a Corvette shop and they told me to try changing the transmission fluid first because they would have to drop the whole drive train and transmission to get to the syncro's and it would be very expensive. This car has only 4900 miles on it. Has this happened to anyone else? Any ideas?

 

Common to see a thread about this now and then. My 2019 Grand Sport did this and C5 z06 as well. Try shift points at higher rpm. Also move the stick faster helps too. Usually gets better when warm. I wouldn’t be dropping the tranny. Just the way some of these shift.

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...ar-crunch.html

 

My 2019 GS feels the same way. I only have 500 miles on the car but it is also notchy. I am going to give it a little time and see what happens. However I feel like the shifting in general feels very light and cheap, almost flimsy. My C6 GS felt very solid, heavy, and shifted very smooth.

 

Have you considered having the linkage adjusted? Procedure: https://core-shifters.com/pages/corv...kage-alignment

 

The C7 has some history of some "crunch" when shifting from 1st to 2nd; it tends to lesson as the tranny/fluid warms. Have not had/read of similar problems with 2 to 3 however. My mechanic said that new/better tranny fluid will help some and right he was, still there a little but less than before. Good luck...….

 

My biggest help came from a Spring Mountain lesson. With an M7, always drive with the REV match ON. Doing this will match the revs for the next gear. Plus I am guilty of not fully getting my foot off the accelerator when shifting. Being conscience of those two elements pretty much eliminated any notchy feel in the 1-2 and 2-3 shift. Also, it helps to manually go through each gear, 1-2-3-4-5-6, while you are sitting in the driveway or garage before you start your daily drive.

 

You really need to get rid of your C7 and get another C6. I drove a friends C6 the other day and he drove my C7. We both agreed the C7 shifted smoother.

 

Mine feels a bit notchy as well. This is my first Vette. I may be a little spoiled as my previous sports cars were Miatas - shifter was the best I have ever driven - buttery smooth. But I do recall that my last two were bought new, and there was a break in period where I didn't think they were shifting smoothly...after a while the notchiness went away. I'm hoping the same thing happens with my Vette.

 

Put some miles on and your C7 will also shift buttery smooth. I have over 7 thousand miles on mine and it shifts as it should all the time.

 

So you two both agreed the C7 shifts better. Ok end of conversation because YOU TWO determined the C7 shifts better. Well you know what I have my own opinion based on I have owned both cars so that qualifies me to say anything I want about either car.

 

My 2019 Z was very notchy going into 1st and sometimes would even pop out of gear as I let the clutch out. I wouldn't say it was flimsy, actually the opposite - too stiff and difficult to get into 1st although other gears are butter smooth when the car is warm. Compared to my M6 2017 camaro ss, which had a great shifter - butter smooth, the Z seemed super notchy. The 7-speed with an extra gate squishes everything together a little more tightly compared to the M6 which I think contributes to these issues but it has seemed to get better with a linkage alignment by the dealer and more miles for me.

Just FYI, there is a shifter alignment procedure that GM published, takes a tranny tech at the dealer an hour (search shifter alignment). I had that done on mine at 1k miles and it is better now. I also think the more you drive it the better it gets. It was steadily better between 500 and 1k miles but I had them align it while it was in for a tire replacement (nail in the shoulder) and it did seem to improve it. I've not had it jump out of gear since and it is easier to get into 1st. At Spring Mountain a couple weekends ago I paid very close attention to the shifters in their Zs and they were night/day compared to mine but they also have 4k+ miles on them so I'd say give it some time or just replace the shifter with an MGW and be done with it. I'm giving mine some more time because I like it now post-alignment, hopefully it continues to get better with more miles.

 

I am at 4000 miles and the first to second shift is still notchy most (but not every) times regardless of operating temperatures. Glad (well sort of) to hear that is normal for these cars. All other gears (except going into first) are not notchy.

 

I'm at 940 miles now with exactly 4 months of ownership and it has gotten no better. It is not really smooth like I am used to in a manual. In the spring I will probably change the fluid and see what happens. I don't have a dealership near me that I would trust to adjust the linkage.

 

Depending on the in service date the 5 year power train warranty may not have expired yet. If it is still in effect why not let GM resolve the problem?

Bill

 

Exactly what I was Going to say.

 

Everything okay with mine at 93,700+ miles....

 

I can only compare with my 98 C5 6-speed that I drove for 15 years. My 19 C7 I've only had for 3 months & 1,700 kms, but from Day 1 it has been super smooth for shifting. It's been close to freezing temp's here the past few weeks and the cold weather hasn't made it any different to shift. The C5 was good for its time and I didn't have any issues with it either, other than there was a known quirk that GM never did fix...if you didn't really push it hard & solidly into first gear, it had a habit of slipping out of gear and of course grinding when it did that.

I have experienced much worse shifter issues...if you ever get a chance to drive an older Porsche 928 5-speed (I had an 80 before the C5), try it on a cold day. Wild horses could get that thing into first until the engine/gearbox was very warm. Not to mention it was the sloppiest gearshift I've ever experienced in my life...like stirring a big ladle in a pot of thick soup. I haven't driven a modern Porsche (and would never buy another...) but I'd have to think that they have improved from this embarrassingly awful product.

 

Change the fluid to redline d4, big difference. The factory fluid is not so great. Also check clutch cylinder.

 

I changed fluid to Redline D4 and it helps. Also did the differential fluid at the same time. While the old transmission fluid looked new the differential fluid did not with 12000 miles. The shifts improved. I seldom get that notchy grinding feeling now.

 

Just to make sure I use the right stuff this is what you guys are talking about?