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Highly inconvenient to use a dolly (or not) and drag your car on a flat bed. BAD design.
Same as virtually (if not all) every other DCT. Ferrari sells a tool to do exactly the same thing for their DCTs. (But it probably costs $5,000, instead of $500.)
Building a transmission that locks up if the engine stalls would be stupid even for GM. Run out of gas on the highway and break the pawl or lock up the rear wheels? Exercise a little common sense.
If I used common sense I wouldn't believe that a special tool is required to get the transmission out of park if the engine isn't running and that this tool costs $600: https://www.freedomracing.com/dt-523...ease-tool.html
Same as virtually (if not all) every other DCT. Ferrari sells a tool to do exactly the same thing for their DCTs. (But it probably costs $5,000, instead of $500.)
It is a bad design, regardless who does it! No excuse! A mechanical override accessible from the engine compartment could be very easily be made, a 10 year old could design it.
Thank you. A+ on the research skills.
This sucks and brings up some semi serious issues under different situations.
First:
If you car dies and wont start, even when towing with a flatbed, the car needs to be in neutral or a forward gear so it can be rolled/winched onto the flatbed... otherwise the tow operator is literally dragging the car across the pavement and onto the flatbed. This is kind of a stupid issue the more i think about it.
Second:
If you run out of gas you had better not shift it into park otherwise you cannot push the car to the side of the road or the gas station.
Third:
If you are working on the car in the shop or driveway you have to leave it in neutral before you disassemble it to the point where it cannot start for it to have the ability to be pushed or roll. Hardly a safe condition to leave the car in. Hopefully the electric parking brake will do the job.
If it's anything like my 2020 GMC Terrain, I can have it in neutral, but as soon as I open the door, it automatically goes into park. What else is weird is even when running and in park, neutral won't work. I have to put it in drive AND then into neutral. I hate the whole design. Haven't played enough with the C8 yet to see what it does and doesn't do.
This is a very unusual thread about a topic, a locked up auto trans, that is very strange to me. As said, jmo.
BTW isn't it difficult to get a TC trans out of Park if the battery is dead? (altho some have a slot next to the lever I think to pull it out of gear)
Plus it takes a half an hour with disassembly to get to it.
guess we can't take a clue from an 89 Honda civic with the neutral plate next the shifter handle to remedy this?
Originally Posted by Bikerjulio
This would also be a problem if the car won't start, since neutral can only be found with it running.
Seems like there should be a better way to disengage PARK.
100000%
Originally Posted by vettebyassociation
so how do you tow the car if there is loss of power to the car or something is wrong with the engine? Given some of the failures that have occurred how have these cars been towed?
Originally Posted by dgrace
So if you run out of gas, you can't even push the car to the side of the road? Or any other malfunction which prevents the engine running?
Omg.
Originally Posted by DSOMrulz
Incompetent two operator. Should have lifted the rear first and put wheel dollies under the tires, then pulled it up on the flatbed.
Most DCTs, if not all, have the same issue.
that is assenine. Car won't run. You're on a highway or a bridge and cant get it off or over to a safe side? Wtf. Ntsb should be all over this. There should be an EASIER way than having to exit the vehicle to engage neutral or disengage trans. No other vehicle i can recall has that problem.
"Manually Shifting to Neutral
With the ETRS system, the transmission parking pawl cannot be disengaged unless the engine is running. If there is a loss of vehicle battery power, the DT-52388 manual park release tool can be used to shift the transmission to Neutral and move the vehicle. Due to spring pressure, the tool must be applied to the release lever and held in the release position while moving the vehicle. The manual park release is located on the right side of the transmission and can be accessed through the trunk."
Absolutely incredible! How many of us have had a car fail to start, so we pushed it from one spot to another? Sheesh!
At first I said to myself "self.. maybe gm worried about morons putting the car in neutral by accident?" Then I told myself. Wrong.... because you can do it while the car is running. Heck YOU CAN DO A ROLLING BURNOUT BY USING NEUTRAL!. . JUST DUMB.
It gets worse, MUCH worse. I am one to read instructions and I clicked on the tool link. Check out what I have inside the red box. So now it's like a Chinese fire drill, not only do you have to tear apart the trunk to access the parking pawl, but somebody has to ride along and hold the tool (the pawl doesn't just lock into an unlocked state) all while others are pushing the car. Since the tool has to be held the whole time to keep it from being in park, you better hope the helper doesn't slip or let go of the tool while rolling, because then it would try to go into park. That's how you can shear off a parking pawl and then the transmission on this car is probably junk. This is not a great design for service when you need to move a disabled car.
"...that is assenine. Car won't run. You're on a highway or a bridge and cant get it off or over to a safe side? Wtf. Ntsb should be all over this. There should be an EASIER way than having to exit the vehicle to engage neutral or disengage trans. No other vehicle i can recall has that problem." 19/C7Z
And phil (#52) and avanti's (#50) posts---this gets hard to believe. Surely there's got to be a better, easier way to release the trans than having someone ride in the trunk area. Has anyone asked one of the certified Corv. Techs at a dealer?
Just from a practical standpoint: how many tow operators have this special tool? Maybe they carry a long-handled flat head screwdriver, but I'd bet that won't work.
Maybe they carry a long-handled flat head screwdriver, but I'd bet that won't work.
No that won't work. So I'm gonna take a hacksaw to the pawl when my car comes in. THAT will solve this asinine problem!
Before someone replies with horror and derision.....I'm kidding, just kidding about the hacksaw. I'm actually going to do it properly and take the trans apart and REMOVE the pawl.
I had this exact problem over last weekend. The C8 was in a commercial parking lot and the battery had a bad cell so that the charge was not enough to start the car. I thought I could get into Accessory mode and shift to neutral but couldn’t make that work. Ended up jumpering to a tow truck’s engine for several minutes, long enough to charge it just enough to start and drove to the nearest dealer to get a new battery. I honestly don’t know how I could have gotten it on a tow truck.
My BMW is same way, if it’s not running you can’t get it in neutral. I asked about if I break down how will they tow it and was told they will drag it onto rollback. Not good.
It gets worse, MUCH worse. I am one to read instructions and I clicked on the tool link. Check out what I have inside the red box. So now it's like a Chinese fire drill, not only do you have to tear apart the trunk to access the parking pawl, but somebody has to ride along and hold the tool (the pawl doesn't just lock into an unlocked state) all while others are pushing the car. Since the tool has to be held the whole time to keep it from being in park, you better hope the helper doesn't slip or let go of the tool while rolling, because then it would try to go into park. That's how you can shear off a parking pawl and then the transmission on this car is probably junk. This is not a great design for service when you need to move a disabled car.
That is a safety precaution for liability. No one "has" to hold the lever. You can tie it in place and just realize if you come to a slope, the car is going to freewheel down. If anyone tries to hold it back, they are going for a ride with it. It may be a good idea to have someone hold the lever after all.
09-23-2020, 03:20 PM
