Need help/adivce on this one.

[Rockslam]

I posted this in the issues/problems section but lack of traffic in there. So here goes.

Warning long post incoming.

My camaro like many others has the 2nd gear grind. I took it to the dealer the first time , duplicated it for the tech TWICE. He says he never heard it or felt it. So we go back and he takes it for a test drive, says can't duplicate. Says he called tech line and they've never heard of it(which I know is a lie). So i drive off and it grinds as I'm driving home. I take it to the Cadillac dealer and their tech rides with me and hears it. He calls tech support and they have over 40 cases in about 15 seconds of the problem. Cadillac dealer isn't authorized to rebuild transmissions for chevy. So back I go to the Chevy dealer. I show them the work order from Cadillac and they say alright we can tear it down and replace the parts. I get a call at 12:30 in the afternoon telling me they drove my car more(20 freaking miles) and were unable to duplicate the concern. Now mind you they told me there was no more driving and that a GM dealer had already confirmed the complaint they could fix the problem. So I go in in a semi-pissed mood and talk to the service manager who tells me "we drove your car and we can only get the grind to happen at 6600 rpm shifts". Now I am VERY pissed that they took MY car out and put 20 HARD miles at 6600 rpm shifts into my powertrain.

Service manager then tells me that when he called the tech line again they still had no reports of the grinding issue.(he had the reference number right there from the caddy dealer) So we call service line together and magically they have multiple cases of this problem. So after arguing for a hour and a 45 minutes he agrees with service line to replaced 2nd gear , synchro , blocker ring , and shift fork. So it gets replaced in 3 days time , I pick my car up and go to leave and clutch sinks straight to the floor. I pull it back in and he says he doesn't feel a problem. After some more back and forth it gets taken back and i assume the clutch gets bled. I leave and it seems ok for a few days , then 2nd gear grind is back. I don't have time to go in so I just take it easy and drive. I'm driving home about a week later take off from the light , press clutch to pull second and it won't go into gear. I look and clutch pedal is stuck on the floor and clutch is stuck engaged. I pull off the road , car smoking like hell, call onstar and get a tow after about a hour in the heat.
Leave my car again with dealer and they call to say slave cylinder blew a seal. I ask about my clutch since if it was the cylinder it would have soaked it.(Slave cylinder is internal on these transmissions) They tell me it's fine and "replace" the cylinder. I take my car to my old job(I worked on cars for a living for 6 years and am ASE certified) put it up and it appears that it wasn't the slave but the line going into it. The heat shield is soaked in fluid. So as it would appear they lied to me again and put another 8 miles on my odo ,which I am gonna assume were abusive miles since my average fuel economy dropped .5 mpg and there was rubber in the wheel wells. Whoever worked on it must have stained my leather since there is now a light spot in the middle of the seat. Where it appears some kinda of cleaner was used.And after ALL this my gears still grind. So I really don't know where to go with this. Is it lemonable? Will GM do anything here? And for reference the car only has 4600 miles on it.
Don't get me wrong here either , I still love the Camaro , just not MY camaro anymore. :(


TLDR version : Crappy transmission grinds , parts replaced still grinds, dealer jerked me around and abused the shit out of my car.

[oldfriend]

Will it be too hard/ far to check the problem on another dealer and see what they say about it ?

[Rockslam]

Realistically for a chevy dealer , yes. I had it confirmed at a Caddy deal but they can't do the work. The second dealer thats still 30-45 mins away is just as bad as the one I'm currently going to. But it's probably worth a try. I'm just getting fed up with being lied to and misled. Being told that a grind is "normal operating conditions" is straight up bullshit.

[2SSRS@Gen5diy]

I don't know where you are in Florida but find a dealer that not an a$$ If GM was smart they find a way to re-right the contracts with dealers to be able to close dealers like this that don't give a f... about there costumers.

[Camarodriver]

Sorry to hear dude, don't lose faith in the Camaro or GM, it's the dealer that is not rising to the occasion in regards to proper customer service.

Track everything you do, the dealer does and GM does. The car is too new to have such a major problem and you may (eventually) have no choice but to go legal. Keep your cool whenever you deal with any of them and make sure they know you are tracking every call, written material (email or paper) and all WO's. This second gear issue IS ABSOLUTELY a known issue and many have written here on C5 about it and GM has received many complaints. It would be helpful to know just how many.... any willing GM dealers on this forum able to provide this information? ;') I am curious as I have a 2011 M6 SS and I was hoping that this issue was resolved before the 2011 model year. I have heard several times a crunching of non-synchronized gears as I go into second. It always feels like I have to pull it hard against my right leg before pulling my factory hurst shifter into second also double clutching with a heel/toe shot of gas to match revs to avoid the crunch. If I drive quick and lazy, no double clutch and slide it right to second from first, the grinding is more frequent. I also sometimes rev first a little higher and go right to third as long as the computer doesn't come up and tell me to go right to 4th. I hope my babying of the gearbox allows me to avoid this issue myself.

If you have to go legal at least you will be prepared and this saved my arse when having to go there with GM and the paperwork, my not losing my cool and the severity of issue on my new Camaro allowed me to work out a buyback.

I think they should give you a new tranny, period. I am sure you would be happy about that and not just a repair that doesn't fix it.

Good luck!
eB

[heRS]

Here is the GM customer service # 1-800-222-1020, there is also a member here whose forum name is chevroletcustomerservice, you can contact him through the forum and he will answer you quickly. These service guys are under orders to fix it as cheaply as possible I'm sure, I had to take my Cobalt back in to the dealer 5 times over a month and a half before they totally rebuilt my engine from the ground up. You deserve better customer service than your dealership is giving you. Time to go over that rube's head.
And YOU a mechanic, they're still trying to spin you. Don't give up, give 'em hell.

[shockandawe]

Time to join Team L99!

[SlingShot]

I believe a lot of the grind issues at low RPM is an user error. I have found that if you put too much pressure to the left of 2nd gear gate it will grind every time. I tested this at the dealer I go to on several LS3 cars, and they could all be forced to do the same thing. So when a tech says he can not reproduce the problem under normal driving, it's because they are shifting it properly. When there are grinding issues, you need to go by the common denominator to figure the problem ...

[VR Code R6P]

The grinding may be operator related, such as not fully depressing the clutch, excess force on shifter, etc. I have seen it before.

Since you are a mechanic, I would assume you know proper techniques.

I have personally witnessed lots of people shifting with partial depression on the clutch, because "that's all it needs".

I hope you get it fixed.

[Rockslam]

For those of you stating user error , I do in fact know how to shift. This isn't the first manual gearbox I've touched. I pull straight back from 1-2 , with clutch fully on the floor. I did pm the chevrolet customer srvc guy fromthe forums and will see what he recommends. I am thinking I should've gone with the automatic now, even if it is less fun for me. The biggest irritation is the being told a grinding gear is normal. Pretty sure it is NEVER ok for gears to grind on a consistent basis.

[toilets]

Any new news on this? I have a grinding problem in 2nd as well. However I am afraid to bring it in because I have a hurst shifter and they will probably say that is the cause and void my warranty for the snychro issue...