Stingcan

So let me preface this by saying that maybe this is a blessing in disguise which you will.understand once I state the issue.

so I picked up a 2019 z06 m7 3lz two months ago. I haven't had a manual GM in a while so maybe this is common across the M7 transmission. When I pop it into 1st and j think it is fully in as I let go of the clutch the shifter pops out of first. If my hand is on it, it grinds gears as it pops out. It doesn't happen very often but at least a few times a day. Is this normal or am I looking at issues with the linkage or synchro? Please let me know if you all have this issue.

the other issue is related to CAGS. So my previous 2 GMs had the skip shift which blocked 2nd and 3rd if accelerating slowly. This car shows the message but it doesn't block it. Never has. Dealership admitted to not to putting a slip shift blocker which I would have appreciated and said it may be a relay issue. If this issue has nothing to do with my issues related to first gear mentioned above I will leave it alone as I love the fact it does what I was willing to pay for to get rid of.
thanks everyone in advance for your feedback.

love this car......even though it seems like it is trying to kill me every day 😂...lots of the power.....

Jacek

Bill Dearborn

My 15 Z06 M7 some times fails to go into first gear. That is sort of what the Tremec transmissions do. Every one I have had in the two C5s, one C6 and now the C7 have had similar behavior. With the C5s and C6 I would hold the shifter slightly into first and just let the clutch start to grab so the gears would turn. This would let the shifter pop into first completely as the gears finally meshed. In the C7 it just doesn't go into gear every now and then and I let out the clutch to nothing. Then I push hard and it goes into gear. Doesn't really bother me much as I am trained to react to it now. Sort of like the old days when my 55 Chevy didn't have a gas pedal. The pedal was broken off and all that was left was the little lever the pedal pushed against. After a few weeks of driving the car I never missed the gas pedal but others who got in the car couldn't figure out how to drive it.

Bill

Team Ruby

My '16 M7 does the same thing when the car is cold. Within a minute or so the first gear issue goes away and does not repeat itself.

I had a C5 and 6 where I had installed the CAGS eliminator. I was going to order one when I bought the C7 Z, but couldn't find one at the time. When I took delivery of the car I found I didn't need it and I've never seen the light on mine come on if it has it.

madrob2020

1st off, I have '16 M7 Z. Folks posting anecdotal experiences does not make this a NORMAL occurrence. Either you are not depressing the clutch fully (doubt it but you said it's been a while) or it's a problem that must be fixed. For christ's sake a new, high performance car SHOULD NOT have this occur (you to just live with it as some suggest). Take it to the dealer until they fix it. I know it's hard to duplicate these type of things but just on your description to them they should be able to diagnose & fix this. It's possibly something as simple as low clutch fluid or tranny fluid. There are many posts of cars coming from factory under-filled. I can not imagine anyone with a brand new car, especially me, putting up with this. I'm not saying go in to dealer screaming/demanding but patiently PERSUADE them to thoroughly check it out. Good luck & please let us know if it gets resolved. PS: Just a thought, but did they say HOW they disabled the skip-shift feature & how on earth could they possibly think it would be OK to modify someone's brand new car w/o you asking them to do it. What if now you should have a tranny problem & GM denies, I know unlikely-BUT. You think your dealer would fess up to GM to what they did w/o some work order for you to show. JMO

Z0HS1CK

Yeah definitely not normal. Even under extreme cold conditions i take my car out as long as there's not heavy salt or snow.

I do get the really stiff 1-2 shift but never to the point where it pops out of gear. SOmething is definitely wrong. Check the fluid or have the dealer inspect and replace the fluid anyway.

And i have a '16 too. Never had any of the problems i been noticing a lot of you Z owners have.

Stingcan

thanks for the reply. Seems like my autocorrect made my post unclear. They said that they did not install anything to eliminate the skip shift. Seems like something is not working from factory as the message shows up but does not force me into 4th....

Stingcan

and thanks for the suggestion. I never thought about fluid levels. I'll ask them to check it. Thankfully my dealer is awesome so I don't have any worries on that front. Just want to make sure that I exhaust all options before they have to drop the tranny in a brand new car.....

is there a way for me to check tranny fluid level?

madrob2020

DAMN that auto-correct!! The OE installed skip shift feature doesn't truly PREVENT you from going to 2nd but will cause your shift to be forced (if going to 2nd) & and some have said if this occurs in the middle of a left turn across traffic it could be just enough delay to cause an accident-COULD. You might not be expecting it & thus the delay shifting which could leave you in the path of oncoming traffic. Others will say just push past 2000 RPM or 19 MPH in 1st gear & it won't occur. I just got tired of it EVER coming on, especially as I was making a turn when you have a harder time accelerating in 1st & speeding up to 20 mph. to avoid it. For these reasons I did install the $15 Do-Dad to get rid of it. The DIC info showing the "skip shift for"...etc. will still show up but nada on the forced 1-4 shift. Almost forgot 2nd part of your post. Google "checking C7 transmission fluid" & it will direct you to here, our forum for answers. Much easier than using our crappy Thread search on here where stuff from all MYs & totally off topic Threads come up.

djnice

Maybe your linkage is out of adjustment.

ronsc1985

When you put it in 1st use a little force to make sure it is fully engaged. Gentle doesn't do it sometimes. If it pops out of gear after the car has moved more then a few feet that is a different issue and can be corrected by the dealer.

As to the skip shift do you really want it active? Most people go out of their way to eliminate it with a skip shift adapter or by removing the connector at the transmission and putting something like a 10k resistor across the terminals of the connector so you don't get an error message on the dash display.

dvilin

I have a 2019 Z M7 and can tell you it is not normal for the transmission to pop out of 1st gear.

LimeyC5

I too encounter this, but infrequently. I had an M6 C5 for 16 years, and kind of got used to it popping out of 1st frequently. You really had to manhandle the shifter in that car compared to the C7. The shifter in my C7 is so light that I take it for granted now and I occasionally am not definite enough shoving it all the way into 1st.

dale fehrenbach

Parcival

Warp Factor

It's fairly normal for a transmission not to easily engage every gear fully, when nothing is moving inside the transmission. This can be solved by engaging and releasing the clutch in neutral briefly, spinning the input shaft, before shifting into first or reverse.

madrob2020

How do you engage/disengage the tranny (input shaft) while in neutral? If what you say is true, then what difference would doing as you suggest help, since the input shaft would be spinning already before disengaging & putting into 1st gear? I'm NOT a gearhead so forgive me but why would the input shaft be spinning in neutral & if so just push in clutch & put in gear, why do it twice? Just curious. Thanks

Warp Factor

When you engage the clutch at the engine, it will spin the driveshaft and transmission input shaft, because they are all directly connected. Spinning the input shaft and then disengaging the clutch will allow the sychros to do their job, and let the gears mesh properly.

If you were already idling in neutral with the clutch engaged, the input shaft was already spinning, and there's no benefit to doing it again. If you were idling for a while with the clutch disengaged, the input shaft will have stopped spinning. It also will not be spinning if you park the car in reverse for example, push in the clutch to start the car, and then try to put the transmission in first to drive away. That's a scenario in which engaging the clutch briefly in neutral can get you into first more reliably.

madrob2020

^^^^GREAT explanation! Always eager to learn on here!

Stingcan

Thanks for the info. Never thought of this but what you say makes sense and probably.what I am experiencing.

Stingcan

you are right.. I don't want it to ever work. I was just wondering if this could also be linked to what I am experiencing with 1st popping out but as the awesome forum member above educated me a little on how the manual transmission works, it probably is not. I would hate to bring in the car to fix the skip shift just so I have to go out and buy the eliminator.....