No not litterally...

But I noticed alot of people talking about 'missing a gear' especially when racing. When you (people) say 'you missed 3rd' are you talking about shifting really fast, and letting the clutch up to much so you couldn't get it into third? Or worse, are you grinding the gear getting in to gear because of the clutch not being down car enough?

I was always wondering about what you guys specifically ment.

Also I am having a wierd issue with my car:
Some times from a stop or a slow roll, Ill be in first, and guy it... Ill get a some tire spin (no hopping) and run first to red line really quick all the while moving foward... when I get into second the car keeps moving... but it immediately hits redline... Its like the clutch is slipping and won't hold... I need to totally back of the gas and sometimes dis/re engage the clutch before it will come back to normal. To make matters worse, a horrible clutch smell ensues...

So my question to you is why does this happen. It does not happen consistently when I am on it, especially if I launch at like 1.5k to 2k. Its happened 2 twice when I was first learning how to launch the car. But it happened again yesterday when I was showing off and trying to peel out...

Thanks for the help,
-Rich

 

Missing a gear IMO is when your coordination is off because you're racing or not paying attention and a variety of things happen.. for example grinding, shifting to the wrong gear, or shifting too late/early and missing the powerband.

Are you new to driving stick?

Make sure you're not riding the clutch and when you smell the clutch, make sure you let it cool before you are on it again.

Generally, launching is bad for your entire drivetrain so I would keep that to a minimum.

 

It's time like these automatics are beautiful!

Missing a gear means a few things but basicly your shift didn't get completed as planned for all of the reasons you mentioned.

Sounds to me like a few to many hard launches and or power shifts. Your clutch is what I have heard as 'glazed' and will need to be replaced before it's ever 100% again. It should be fine for normal driving for a while but the life expectancy has suffered. There are sharper guys on here then me but that is what happened to my TT Stealth after a night of "showing off" what about a hundred 400AWHP launches are like!
05SDI

 

Actually mine's going in the shop to have the tranny looked at this week because of problems. The experience I've had, I wouldn't call it "missing" a gear, it's more like stiff resistance on the shifter. Most of the other people I've seen have been downshifting into third. Mine is upshifting (is that even a word?). It just seems like there's something in there that "catches" the shifter and won't let it go all the way into third. I don't race on the streets and it doesn't do it when I'm shifting "hard", it only does it during normal shifting. I shift anywhere from 2500-3000 RPM depending on how traffic around me is accelerating (if they're starting out faster I shift later, if I'm behind a truck or someone that's starting off a little slower then I shift lower). It doesn't grind like the clutch isn't in, and the pedal is to the floor so there's NO reason for the clutch to not be disengaged. The shifter is in the right slot, it's not like I'm "missing" the right position on the shifter, it goes not quite a quarter of the way up; it goes up far enough that you can tell it's where it should be, but not even close to far enough to get it into gear. Usually what I have to do is back off of it a little, rev match it back down into second, rev the car up really high and then try for 3rd and then sometimes it goes in sometimes it doesn't. The service manager at my dealer is a friend of mine and he drove it the other day and had the same problems with it, so it seems like maybe there's something in there that's just not lined up right or something.

But yeah, generally speaking otherwise, usually when someone "misses" a gear they just did one (or multiple) things MarcS mentioned in his post. I know it's common for people not familiar with a stick to want to push over on the shifter when going from 2nd to 3rd and they end up in 5th (I did it the first time I tried to drive my friend's car). Or downshifting into the wrong gear, either going into a lower gear when the speed is too high or low and either giving everyone in the car a good case of whiplash or bogging the car down so bad it barely moves.

 

I'm having the same problem alley, seems like the shiftcable is too tight or the bearings in the linkage are binding or something, been awnting to take it just haven't had the time. Also noticed a real bad tranny whine when cruising about 40-50 in 5th gear, happens sometimes at low speeds in 4th too, not the usual manual low rpm whine, sounds kinda nasty. Again just waiting for a day off to go drop it off :/

 

My problem is only with 3rd gear and upshifting at higher RPMs like in a race. Its almost like something is in the way of getting into 3rd, but only when I'm getting on the car. Feels almost like a bad syncro. This will happen 5 out of 10 times. I smell a TSB coming on!

 

you would think after the tenth post about people having trouble shifting into THIRD only, a lightbulb might go off and realize there just might be something wrong with some people's transmissions, and have nothing to do with the person driving.

 

the 06 redline with the compitition package i drove , had a bad habbit of not going into 3rd gear , when shifting quick


the 2 cobalts i drove didnt seam to have that issue , the 05ss/sc and the 06 ss 2.4

 

One would think, but that's still not going to stop some a-hole from coming in here and shouting "You cant drive teh standard shift!"

Also, since they have different trannies is this only the 2.0 or is it the 2.2 manuals as well (don't know which tranny the 2.4 has)? Something tells me it's only going to be the 2.0...

 

I have a buddy of mine with an 05 SS. We have been to the track 3 times since he got it. Each time he has had trouble shifting. He is not an amateur with manual tranmission cars - he says its like he gets locked out when he shifts quickly. Others at the track with the SS have said the same, and one said it gets better after about 7K miles on the odometer.

Anyone ever take it in for work to see if it was the tranny?

 

Mine went in for a quick once-over for this yesterday. The service manager took it for a drive because the problem is getting worse and now it can be seen in other gears (5th is starting to lock out now and the tranny makes a HORRIBLE noise when you shift it into first). He said about what Tim said a few posts up, either a shift cable or shift linkage problem, doesn't really feel like a synchro. I guess we'll see, I have to take it back again after the parts come in.

 

astrocrep- if your clutch does that all the time at WOT , I would have to say it on its way out. It possibly could have been overheated to , as the clutch can slip (or not hold at all) when its over heated . Were you doing and really agressive or repetive agressive driving before hand ? I kinda tested the stock clutch at the strip to see how many back to back passes I could make before I overheated the clutch . I made 7 hot laps before I had any issues , so the stock clutch will take a nice amount of abuse .

As far as 3rd gear goes , I think alot of problems can be traced to the HORRIBLY inaccurate wobbly stock shifter . A new shifter should be a mandatory purchase IMO for anyone . I oddly have a problem on the 1-2 shift , 3rd gear has never been a problem for me . My problem with 1-2 is stupid shifter , theres so much play the gate I really gotta make a effort to pull into 2nd , it has a tendecy to wanna move towards 4th when lightly pulled from 1st . I ordered a B&M shifter , so I think all my shifting woes will be thing of the past

 

I have the same exact 3rd great problem. Feew! I thought I was crazy or something. I get a grinding (at higher rpm's like stated above) where the shifter just doesn't wanna get into third. This all happens with the clutch firmly on the floor.

I will also be dropping my car off when I get the time.
Please lets keep this thread up, and keep each other updated on this problem. There is an obvious issue here.