As of now, a large number of LSJ & LNF had come into the shop for transmission service in 18 months.. all of them had stock virgin transmissions.. but some of them had some engine modification in some form, except for one - 09' TC it wasn't modded at all [neither the engine or transmission], the transmission case was "twisted/flexed", it's the first one I ever seen with a "flexed" transmission case..

I noticed and found the following problems either in the same transmission or on different transmissions.. [Cobalt/ Solstice/ Redline/ HHR & Sky]

It's possible to say it's abuse or lack of skill or education, but over all we need a beefier F35 transmission - period!!

- gears 1-4 - "grinded/carved" teeth [not one had 5th gear with problems with teeth/clearance? odd]
- reverse - clearance too tight on the shafts [maybe from extreme heat or cooling?]
- gear clearance issues - clearance too tight or too loose on the shafts [maybe from extreme heat or cooling?]
- input/output shaft - elongated [odd], cracked, snapped or brittle pieces
- shift forks - cracked, snapped or brittle pieces
- diff - grinded/carved/broken/missing teeth
- syncros - 2nd, 3rd and 4th failed [maybe from extreme heat?]
- "thin syncros" - worn down thin [maybe from extreme heat/pressure?]
- "heavy gear" - between disengagement or engagement of the forks and shafts
- throwout bearing - not bled correctly to spec
- throwout bearing - exploding?
- transmission case - "tiny" cracks near the bell housing bolt holes [from extreme flexing?]
- trans cooling lines - clogged with shavings
- stock clutches - either no "heavy" wear or "major" wear on the flywheel [heat bonding?]
- stock flywheel - warped or cracked [maybe from really extreme heat/pressure?]

 

I have never been able to NLS 1->2 in my cobalt and if I am rounding a cloverleaf highway merge ramp in 2 or any corner more than marginal the transmission will not NLS 2->3 unless I shift to three and back down to two and wrap out the engine. I have NLS's 2->4 directly and it will work every time in that scenario but it's just not right and I shudder thinking about how much extra clutch friction material it costs me. Since new it has intermittently refused to go into a gear unless I get the gear select lever in the gate I want, apply pressure in the direction of the desired gear, and move the clutch pedal just a smidge towards engaging. When it does this, dog teeth, always grinding teeth. tragically, it is never bad enough in my mind to warrant busting the dealer's ***** about it. If the transmission makes it to 100K I have a reputable trans shop with near me and have already alerted him (dad had him build up a couple of manual transmissions) that my f35 is coming in to be straightened out, perhaps beefed up. I am pretty convinced it is going to grenade itself before then.

I can say that other than the aforementioned the action overall is great but those are annoying quirks.