Hey guys! I am quite new here and frankly quite exasperated and desperate at this point. I had a new 07ss in well, 07. Absolutely loved that car. Bought the lowest miles 10 we could find at a reasonable price in 2012. Flew from Atlanta to Seattle and drove it back. 5900 miles on the clock. Car is stock and has just under 59000 on it now. I drive my car hard on occasion but between me, my wife, and a few other drivers 2nd gear has been missed maybe 10 times at the most. That being said, about 10 months ago the car got hung in second on a cold day at startup on my wife. (Car was not on a hill and was parked overnight in second) Cold is relative, it was probably 25 degrees Fahrenheit. She pulled it out of that gear. Since then, every time you shift into second it grinds. Upshift, downshift, rev matcha, doesn’t matter. I thought it was a synchro, acts like a synchro.
I travel for work a lot so my own personal time can be limited, because of this I do not always take the time to do my own work. I took it to a shop(owned by a friend) they also thought it was the synchro, they pulled the trans, took it to a transmission shop, he pulled it apart(he had also driven the car before my friends shop pulled the trans) replaced the synchros and send me the old ones. The old ones looked damn near perfect. I didn’t see the inside myself but the guy also said that the transmission was very clean. This didn’t correct the issue. Car still does the exact same thing. I tried adjusting the shifting cables based on some measurements I have seen, that didn’t fix it, threw the measurements out and adjusted the cables(only the right side cable for the front and back throw) in literally every different distance while driving around my neighborhood. Same thing every time. I changed the cables themselves this afternoon and the shifter to a zzp short throw just because. This didn’t correct this issue either.
I am frustrated because I have a car that still looks brand new, drives great in every gear, just can’t get into 2nd clean unless it’s slow and at about 3 mph. Which makes pulling out into traffic a bitch with 1st gear in cobalts being what it is. No one around here or really anywhere reasonably close to me seems to know or understand anything about these trannys. I have seen several different post and forums with similar issues but never any substantiated fixes.
only outside thought I have found is the crush sleeve that is allegedly between 2nd and 3rd gear.
Any help or suggestions would be appreciated. I am located close to Atlanta.
Thanks in advance.

 

Sounds like Synchro Blocker Ring. Veeeeery common problem... my OE transmission (which is still in my garage) had that same issue at 19,000 miles.

The part has little wings on it that drop down into slots to engage the synchro. They were built with too soft of a metal and the wings expand until they no longer drop into the slots. I have pictures of all of this somewhere.

In short, that shop most likely didn't replace the correct part.