Hello everyone, let me start by saying I am in my mid twenties, so I grew up thinking the 90-95 corvettes were just the most amazing thing I had ever seen. Well I guess you could say I bought my "dream car". A 94 white vette 6 speed. In very great condition. It has 139000 on the clock, motor is bone dry, and runs perfect. My first question is I cannot shift into second under 1/4 throttle. If I baby it she shifts in no problem, or if I get on it, shifts no problem. It doesn't just feel like its fighting me, the notch feels completly locked out. Also, to get into reverse I allmost have to use a breaker bar, WAY to much effort. I have read some post's that reference shifter adjustment. What does that mean? and where/what do you adjust? I have never taken a car to a mechanic and I dont plan to, so I would really appreciate the help.

Thank you,

Tom

 

First of all, does the shifter feel loose? If so, since I think the '94 has a toploader tranny (not real sure), you might have some bushings inside the tranny that are gone. You might can access it through the console, if not the tranny has to be removed, in which case you might have to take it to a manual transmission specialist. It may have a bearing bad internal causing misalignment of the mainshaft or a shift fork may be worn out, also either case requires major work. Good Luck! []

 

nope, its tight. When it does go in it really clicks in, like the other gears it gives you a positive firm shift. it just feels like there is a bar blocking you from second gear pushing you into 4th. verry odd. Also, no odd sounds or gear grinding.

 

Some bearing failures, such as mainshaft bearings eat into the case and you most likely will not hear anything. Still might be a shift fork problem, too. Shift forks have nylon bushings that ride inside the shift collar to cut down on rattle and if there is a misalignment problem, can cause shift problems, especially on the reverse countershaft. Do you know of a repair shop that works on manual trannies?

 

Tom, welcome to the forum! Sounds like you have a nice Vette.

Have you ever heard of CAGS? Or 'skip-shift'? That's what you're experiencing, when trying to shift into 2nd gear. The CAGS (Computer Aided Gear Selection) is automatically forcing you to skip 2nd and go right to 4th. Why? Well, in order to get a few more MPG out of the Corvette (for CAFE, or Corporate Average Fuel Economy reasons) GM engineers added this feature so they could sell the Vette with the fuel economy ratings a little higher. Long story. Do some research on it for more info. There are kits that can be installed to eliminate the skip shift. It's a PITA, isn't it! My '96 had CAGS and one of the first things I did was get a skip shift eliminator harness. It's easy to install. Harder to get under the car to access the wiring harness that it plugs into.

Check out these links for info and where to buy a CAGS eliminator kit. There are many on the market out there.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q...=Google+Search

As for reverse, I'm not sure why it's difficult to engage.

 

Wow thats interisting, It was only doing it at a particular throttle level so I didnt think the tranny had any real problem, because when it shifts it shifts smooth as silk. Thank you for all you help, I am still looking for any help with the reverse thing, is it suppost to so hard u need 2 hands, or is there an adjustment, or maybe a trick I dont know about. Thanks again everyone.

tom

 

From my Haynes maunal:

"Beginning in 1989, the 4-speed overdrive transmission was replaced by a ZF 6-speed unit, which was adopted primarily to increase fuel economy. To ensure compliance with federal fuel economy standards, the 6-speed transmission inhibits the use of 2nd and 3rd gears when shifting out of 1st gear under the following conditions: coolant temperature is above 122 degrees, throttle is open 35% or less and the vehicle's speed is between 12 and 19mph."

 

yeah thats true, my vette dose that also. if you want to go to 2nd you have to be at a hight rpm. if you are just cruising around town it will make you go into 4th. I believe you can change it so that it will not do that.

 

http://www.jegs.com/webapp/wcs/store...tegoryId=16657
This will take care of it. Jegs and Summit and a couple of brands.

 

Here is a scond on Jegs had. I saw several in the Summit cat. in the LT1 section.
http://www.jegs.com/webapp/wcs/store...tegoryId=64385