Peyton

OK, I just ran into something that seems to be common knowledge.

I downloaded the Getting to Know Your New Camaro pamphlet, and was enjoying reading it until I got to the 1-4 shift bit. My reaction at first was a huge WTF?! Then I started thinking about it, and came here. The book says:

"The 1-to-4 shift light will turn on when, from a standstill, acceleration and vehicle speed qualifications are met."

What acceleration and speed qualifications? Obviously, if you romp it, the Big Brotherly skip-shift won't be necessary. Where's the line?

I'll be picking this dream up the first week of October, shortly before my 50th birthday, and I've wanted this car since junior high school. I commute 52 miles each way, and I'm getting 24.8 mpg average, overall, out of my wife's Mustang GT convertible, right now. I'd like to do as well or better, just for economic reasons, but when Sammy Hager comes on the playlist, how hard to I have to hit it to touch all the gears, just because I want to?

And, on the flip side, what's the most effective way to use skip shift to maximize mileage, as it's apparently intended to do?

Or, should I get a skip-shift defeat widget, examine torque curves on the engine and gear ratios, and work the good mileage vs. fun factor the old fashioned way?

Where's the line, where skip shift butts out?

lcmc

I've had my car for a week now with 500 miles on it and it has never came on. I think you really have to baby it for it to come on and then I would think you would be going to slow to want to go to 4th.

2010_5thgen

buy the skip shift eliminator. i got it for 15 bucks on ebay. you plug it into the transmission and thats it. whether or not you think your not goign to get the skip shift to happen..... it will. your not always going to "romp" it. sometimes people drive normal and thats when it happens. just buy the part and be done with that issue. that little issue is what saves us from paying alot of money in gas guzzler taxes.

King Moose SS

X2

Trust me skip shift will drive you nuts... just remove it, its so easy to install. The worst thing about skip shift is the light comes on a bit to late for me. I'm already clutching for 2nd gear halfway through my shift and the light will come on and block me.

lcmc

Not sure what you are doing that it drives you nuts. Like I said mine has never came on. Even with normal driving in town. You must really have to baby it to get it to come on. I don't see it as a problem at all. My girlfriend and 18 year old son have driven the car and it didn't come on for them either.

JakeRobb

It's only active when the engine is up to operating temperature.

If you accelerate from a stop in 1st gear and maintain no more than 21% throttle, the Skip Shift light will come on at 15 mph and stay on until 19mph. If you try to shift while the light is on, a gate will block your path to second gear, forcing you to go to 4th. I've never tried, but I think you can get to third if you prefer.

If you do any of the following, the light will turn off and 2nd will be available:
* accelerate beyond 19mph
* apply more than 21% throttle
* hold the clutch in for ~3 seconds and wait
* press and release the clutch (doing whatever you want with the shifter)
* coast back down below 15mph

It's really not that annoying, but it occasionally forces you to do something you didn't want to do. If you're accelerating slowly enough for it to activate, my experience has almost always been because you're in traffic and the people ahead of you are moving slowly, so there's rarely a time when you really need second. I've never had a situation where it made me shift to 4th and then 4th didn't give me enough gear to keep up with the traffic ahead.

The easiest way to fix it is to simply unplug the connector that hooks to the solenoid that blocks 2nd gear. However, the PCM will notice that there is no load on that connection, and that will trigger the Service Engine Soon light. You'll be fine, but this will mask other more important causes of said light. I don't recommend this approach.

The previous owner of my car bought but never installed a Skip Shift Eliminator, so I installed it about a month after buying the car. This approach uses a resistor to simulate the load of the solenoid, which fools the car into thinking it's successfully activated the solenoid, when it really hasn't. You can do the same thing with a resistor if that's your thing, and you'll save $15-30. Personally, I like the clean approach with weatherpak connectors and all of that jazz, so I'm glad that I have a real kit and not a Radio Shack hackjob.

Whether you do it with a resistor or a kit, this approach doesn't disable the indicator light on the dash, so you can still tell when it would have blocked you -- it just doesn't actually block you. I like this, because it's just a subtle little suggestion on a way to save gas. Sometimes I shift to 4th when it lights up.

The final option is to turn the skip shift feature off in software, either with a handheld programmer (Predator, not Hypertech ) or in conjunction with a mail-order or dyno tune. This approach means the light will never come on, and the solenoid will never activate, regardless of whether you've disconnected the solenoid.

2010_5thgen

jakerobb, you can shift into 3rd when the block comes up. i have done it before.

2010_5thgen

if you havent experienced it, then you have nothing to worry about. dont bother putting in the skip shift eliminator. just continue on your merry way

Peyton

Wow, that is about the best explanation I could have dreamed of. Sounds like I need the defeat kit. When I'm driving "commuter style," I rarely get above 20% thottle in any gear. In heavy traffic in the Mustang, I spend a lot of time in 2d, between 5 and 20 mph.

I'll probably give it a try for a week when I pick up the car, see how it goes. Moving along at 5-10 mph stop and go, double-pumping the clutch might not be much of a hassle. I'm pretty confidant that I'd never take 1st gear above 20 mph in heavy traffic, though.

Thanks very much for the parameters. I really like to know exactly what the car is doing and why, when it sets out to "help" me.

Chevycobb

And is why I like it. But yes, it is VERY easy to "fix" it.

Peyton

OK, someone likes it! What do you like about it? How do you use it, and to what benefit?

Chevycobb

The only reason I like it is to avoid the gas guzzler tax for my corvette which, from what I understand, can get costly. All I need to do is plug in a little thing that costs nearly nothing, and all is avoided.
It isnt used too much, and have only been caught by it once or twice so far in traffic. But there is plenty of gear and power to get it going in almost any gear I am in. I will still disable it though.

Basically, stop driving like a woman and shift to second.
I say if you want to save gas, install it anyway, and just shift to 3rd or whatever you feel comfortable with. You dont always have to use every gear

DAKMOR

is this on manuals? i never got anywhere near one to worry about it this thing, so idunno.

wtf is the point of a manual if the car acts like a automatic to save gas??

Chevycobb

yes, this is only manual cars. it only does this to avoid gas guzzler taxes from what I understand.(does a cobalt SS have this?) I suppose to also help with EPA estimates.

Geoff Chadwick

Cobalt SS gets good fuel economy - no skip shift.

This feature has been around for a long time, welcome to the club!

This "CAGS" (Computer aided gear selection) feature was incorporated in the LT1 & LS1 V8 Fcars and the Corvettes as well. It *literally* is there for fuel economy. The Govt tests vehicles under exact conditions to get the rating, and this feature just so happens to tick mpg up a little more. It has avoided the gas-guzzler tax on our cars for 15 years now. I believe on the LT1s it made between a 1mpg and 2mpg difference in city mpg rating.