JayJaySS

So on the way home I encounter a freshly redone road with loose gravel.. So I of course cuss to myself and drop into 4th gear and basically coast for the 2 or so miles going 35ish. By the time I get to the stop light right by my house my shifter would barely come out of 4th and with little effort finally did.. Then wiggling it in neutral that became very hard to do as well... As did putting it in any other gear. Home in the garage 15 seconds later even with the car off and clutch pushed in it would go back and forth between shifting fine and getting "caught up" through every gear even hard to wiggle left to right in neutral. 30 minutes later started her up and all seems fine. WTF. never any problems whatsoever with the shifter. I'm thinking an adjustment? Which I have done before perfectly aligned but why would it act so crazy then a little later be just fine? Me sad lol and sorry for the long post... Descriptiveness is the key! Clutch fluid is a bit dirty.. So ranger method tomorrow and adjustment to follow.. Glad to have the day off lol! Thanks for any input as it will be greatly appreciated

JayJaySS

By the way fresh trans fluid within the year as well and I tend to do the ranger method regularly

rjwz28

When mine wouldn't come out of fourth, I had to pull the trans and have it rebuilt. Yes, I was able to get it out of fourth with some effort and shift into 1st, 2nd, 5th, 6th, and R without too much of a problem (as long as I made no attempts at the 3-4 gate), but my suspicion that I had a broken synchro key (my car is a late-build 03 with a steel 3-4 shift fork) was confirmed once Tick tore down the trans. Generally, the problem is caused either by a broken synchro key or a bent aluminum shift fork.

Give the Ranger and alignment procedures a shot and hopefully that will sort out your issue, but just letting you know that you might be in for more than that.

JayJaySS

Yeah from what I've been reading I'm really hoping that's not the case
It is strange because later last night and this morning it's acting perfectly fine. If it was just the 3-4 shift gate I would probably be calling up RPM today for a quote lol but when it was acting up it was every gear and even in neutral it was very hard to move left to right. Even though it seems ok now.. Ranger fluid change and I figure it couldn't hurt to check the alignment later today. Thanks for the response!

rjwz28

You bet

Good luck, dropping the trans in the garage is a PITA

TEXHAWK0

Since it was all gears, you might want to pull the console and make sure that all the bolts are tight on the shifter box.
Unless the clutch is not disengaging, I would think the clutch fluid would not affect how the transmission shifts.

JayJaySS

Thanks to a stroke of laziness yesterday I didn't end up checking the alignment or if the bolts were all tight.. But I'm thinking it had to be something like that. I drove probably 50 miles yesterday after I did the ranger fluid method and no problems at all. Still very strange how it could be so out of whack then fine less than an hour later that night and still seem fine the next day :/

Socko

Sounds identical to what my trans did as i broke the syncro keys.

When it first started going it got stuck but once i got it out it was fine. I was at the track so i thought maybe heat related. Went out for the next session broke it on the second lap, totally stuck in 4th.

I could not get it into 3rd at all once it really broke. At first i could move it a bit but it was very hard. I got home after driving 70 miles in 4th cause it wouldn't move. Shut the car down to open my garage cause i forgot my opener in my track pack. Got back in the car after 30 seconds to open the garage and i could put it in any gear but 3rd with ease. Started it in 1st moved it into the garage and shut it down. Moving shifter around with it off and felt perfect outside of 3rd being totally locked out. Stuck it in 4th the 3rd or 4th time and it would NOT come out with serious force. So its out being rebuilt atm.

Dropping a trans in a garage isn't really all that bad. 6 ton jack stands, 18-20" from the ground to the jack points, and 450 lb hf jack. Worst thing is getting the bellhousing out and back in as i decided as long as it was out i may as well do a clutch. The subframe is a bit cumebrsome but its not hard just need 2 buddies to help for 30 minutes.

JayJaySS

Yeah I would have thought the same thing about the 4 gear syncro but when it acted up it was every gear and even in neutral it was very hard to move left to right. I'm trying to convince myself it was just some kind of alignment gremlin with the shifter lol it's been fine since.. Maybe a little notchier but probably in my head. Either way shifter alignment tomorrow for sure... I will update if there was anything "off" or loose as that would obviously be what happened. Thanks again for the responses!

JayJaySS

When it acted up it I thought for sure it was going to be something really bad I had to limp home.. Like I said it was 4th gear when it started but came out with barely a push and at the stop light I had serious trouble moving the shifter from neutral to first.. And home 20 seconds later it was just a mess.. Very hard movement throughout the whole shifter... It was like a friggin rock got stuck somewhere and popped out lol. I am dumbfounded. Just going to check alignment ASAP tomorrow and report back

Socko

This is exactly how mine was after the second stick in 4th. I was clutching to go for 5th in the front straight at RA at 140ish. Ended up slowing up a good bit and just going through the corner in 4th. clutched into 3 to grab 3rd and it shifted fine the rest of that lap and after that lap was a cooldown lap and all was well.

Went back out the next session after lunch warmed the tires up first lap and then exiting 14 i shifted to 4 at over 6k rpm quickly while passing someone up the hill. it was then stuck in 4th BAD. pulled off at 5 and into the paddock. in 10 minutes it would move but was very hard to move anywhere even in the neutral gate but would not go into 3rd.

What ever you do be careful to not get stranded, i suspect you are having a similar failure.

rjwz28

I had to drive mine home in fourth, starting from a stop sign

My clutch wasn't happy with that start, so I rolled every other stop sign on the way

At least we aren't driving Hondas

JayJaySS

That's what the strange thing is.. It wasn't really "stuck" in 4th more like hung up in 4th and every other gear as well. Then 10 minutes later it was fine and after an alignment yesterday seems even better. A little notchy going into 2nd and 4th but might just be in my head lol

C5Dobie

This seems like a pretty bad issue, but also seems like you guys are all "beating" the car to an extent - not that I have a problem w/ tracking a car (I used to take my last couple to the drag strip - but both autos) - I just hope I won't have this issue driving it solely on the street. How common is it?

Socko

I didn't notice it in my research before I bought my car, but if you search here or ls1 for "syncro key" its a common enough t56 issue. My car pretty much gets babied outside the 5ish trackdays i run a year. It took a real *** whoopin for 2.5 days there but its not liek i was a 16year old that took my dads car out for a joyride. Just putting it to work, like a vette should be. Looking at pictures of stock crunched keys i can understand how they break, they are far from optimally designed.

I have only owned my car for just under 2 years, got it with 31k on it. It has never ground a gear shifting so i assumed the trans was in fairly good shape.

Billet keys going in now so this problem is resolved, onto the next weak link!

rjwz28

I've never tracked my car (yet, since I've been working on it too much since I bought it to do so, but I intend to remedy that this winter, if possible) and only launched it a few times since I was fighting a sticky clutch pedal after the first shift or two... I bought it with 17k miles last year, though, so there is no telling what happened in the first ten years/17k miles. It didn't grind at all until several months after I bought it, though, and then it only did it a couple times going into fourth several weeks apart before the key broke (builder said it was probably breaking at that point)

Yup, quite common... but at least we won't have to worry about keys again

JayJaySS

Right I've never had a track day and I would say I baby the heck out of mine so unless the previous owner just destroyed it then I would think it was just a strange hiccup.. Like I said it's been fine since which just flabbergasts me lol. Car has a little over 40k miles on her

JayJaySS

Ok so been over 2 weeks with no problems.. Then today city driving it got hung up in forth again while slowing to turn in somewhere..then after a little nudge it came out and was fine the rest of the drive to work. Correct me if I'm wrong but if it was the shift fork wouldn't it just plain be broke and not work at all? It's almost like it doesn't want to come out of fourth only when slowing way down in fourth but like I said been fine for a couple weeks and after my dilemma today fine yet again.. Trans fluid change? Or just wait until it completely goes out lol. I'm so confused and worried.. Definitely do not have the $ for a trans rebuild

Kins13y

My experience with T56's is extremely limited. I also didn't share this exact problem but they seem to be a slippery slope. I'm fairly hard on my car and it has 85k miles but after about 3 months of owner ship I got a grind in 4th. I never had any issues and no missed gears but under normal driving no matter what I did 4th would grind. It did it one day and never stopped. I skipped 4th until I found a replacement.

JayJaySS

So strange... Also it's seemed notchier than usual this past week and after today when it got hung up.. Afterwards I swear it seemed to shift noticeably smoother! I'm not crazy I swear!!! Can someone confirm or deny if it was a 4th gear shift fork and it was bad/broke then it would not return to normal after it gets hung up...