April 2nd 07 I purchased my first corvette. Its a 2000 6 speed red coupe with, at the time 32,600 miles. I babied it until I got used to it. About a week ago I was having some fun and went to shift from 2nd to 3rd at about 5400 rpm. It grinded and I thought I mis shifted. First time I made the vette grind . A few days later same thing happened... Now I'm figuring wait a second. That didn't feel right. I replayed it in my head. The clutch was in all the way and the shifter was perfectly set into 3rd gear (even though it felt a little funny going into 3rd kinda like mush, not 'clicking in') then as I let the clutch out I heard the horrible pkthththththththhth grinding noise. So I took it to approx 5500 rpm in 2nd gear again, and slowly and carefully shifted to 3rd making sure it was done perfectly. pkththththth. It's not my driving its the damn syncro. On a 35k mile car.
The dealer I got the car from is a very large one, and it did come with a 3 month 3k mile warranty. Well I am 180 miles from 3k and a few weeks away from 3 months. Do you think they are going to give me a hard time with this? Theres no way I can live with having a vette that I can't 'drive fast' [:@].

 

Well, I would take the car to them right away. My experience is that 3rd gear synchros go first in a transmission that has been shifted hard and fast and this sounds like it. They may try to replace the fluid/fill with additive to fix it so get it on record.

 

So how much abuse did this car take for this to happen already at 32k miles? Damn it.. I thought I got a vette that wasnt abused. Now i'm bummed and starting to regret getting this car.

 

I've got a similar problem with fourth gear. At least I thought it was just fourth gear, but fifth is starting to do it to unless I try to get the rpm's just right before I let out the clutch. It's not making it undrivable and I don't really drive it hard, but when I feel like pushing it, it is a bit annoying. I'd get it to them before the warranty is up.

 

Which Dealer did you purchase this car from???

 

Got it from RothRock in Allentown PA.
I'm taking it to them on Monday. I'll keep posted what happens.

 

Took the car to them this morning at 9:15. Told the service writer about the issue. His responce was 'i've been driving manual cars for 25 years, you really should be shifting between 3 and 4000 rpms, not 5500." But whatever we went back and forth a little. They said they will check it out some time today and give me a call. He also went on to have me sign a service form and agree to the $100 deductable thats on all warrantys. I came back with 'ah thats funny, the warranty I got with this car from your dealer came with a $50 deduct." so he changed it to 50 and I signed it.
5+ hours later I get a call from the service guy and he says he has good news. They drove it for 15 miles and found nothing wrong with it, and that I wont be charged the $50 fee! Wow what a great deal. I had my local mechanic check out the vette last friday. He road tested it and confirmed that 3rd gear grinds at high rpm and that the trans has to be ripped out and opened up and whatever internals are broken, replaced. I tell this to the service dept of rothrock after he tells me they found nothing wrong with the car. I then tell him that I can fax over this estimate of repair I got from my local guy. He says he'd like to see it. So I fax that to him.
An hour or so later he calls me back asking my permission if the 'service dept manager' can 'borrow' my car for the evening and take it home for the nite, to see if he can find the problem. I tell him that it doesn't need more miles to replicate the problem, it grinds every time when shifted from 2nd to 3rd above 5400 rpm, and almost every time if you do it above 5000 rpm. I told him that tomorrow I will come down to the dealer around 4pm and take him for a ride and he is guranteed to hear and feel it. He agreed and thats where I stand now.

So tomorrow I am going to take him onto the highway thats right by the dealership, and as I merge onto the highway I am going to take 2nd to 5500 rpm and proceed to shift to 3rd. Then he is going to tell me that I am abusing the car and of course its going to grind. My local mechanic told me thats how its going to go down. But to prepare for this, I should print out some specs from GM about the HP / RPM ratings for the 00 vette. So that I can show them that per GMs tests, at 5600 rpm it is making 345 hp. .. 5600 r p m.


This is turning into a nightmare. Any input, suggestions, ? Anyone have a link to specs or anything that would help?
I already had the jack@ss tell me that I shouldnt ever be shifting at 5000+ rpm... go figure he drives a 5 spd 6 cyl mustang.

 

The option I would take, is to pull the tranny, and take it to a reputable shop.
Don't think these guys wantto deal with itanyway.
Sounds to me like the syncro to third is waving bye-bye.
I'd check my shift linkage adjustment beforeI'd go any further.
Much more simple fix, if that's it.

Wanted to borrow your car? So he could.......,Right,......so he can chase.....uh......"bunnies"?
I don't thik so! [:@]

 

I recall test-driving a Mazda RX3 (4-speed) in Ansonia CT, back in 1978. When I shifted it at high rpm, the gears made the same type of grinding noise you mentioned. The salesman and I walked over to the service manager and told him what we heard during the test drive. The service manager said, "Well, you won't hear that unless you shift at high engine speeds or downshift at high speeds." I told him that I like to do both and that the deal is off unless they replace the bad syncro(s). They promptly did just that and I was happy with the car for many years after.

The moral of the story is that you have far more bargaining power BEFORE you hand over your hard-earned money. When test-driving a manual-tranny used car, it is prudent to "put it to the test".

Stand your ground and take them to small claims if necessary.

Good luck!

 

My local shop said they could repair it for around $2500. I would do it but.. I just got the car 2 and 1/2 months ago, and it is under warranty through this dealer for another few weeks. Why should I shell out the 2500 if I don't have to? Also, why should the dealer get away with selling me a car with a bum trans for almost top dollar? I would much rather have my mechanic do it then the kids at this dealership.. believe me. Also it will take me a month or two to save the $2500 to have the local guys fix it.
You say to check the shift linkage adjustment? Is this a seperate adjustment per gear? Because I can bring 1st gear to hell and it goes right into 2nd no problem. Could something this simple cause this problem in only 3rd at high rpms?