I'm in the ending phase of my LT1 swap into my third gen camaro and I decided to put my pro 5.0 shifter on and try playing through the gears a little when I think I noticed a problem. The car is not running and Has not been started up yet just as a side not. But when I put it into first gear it goes in, then when I try to go to second it seems like it doesnt want to let it go in and slides it right to 4th. Like I cannot get it to lock into second gear. Now on the computer I have gotten the skip shift burned off but would it not be allowing me to throw into 2nd because the comptuer has not been on and sent the signal to the tranny or could I be looking at a more serious problem??? it seems to go into every other gear fine from what I noticed but at the time I was messing with it that was the focus of my attention. Any help or anything else I should try to maybe diagnose my problem would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

Did you have the clutch pressed in? It won't go into some gears with the engine off and the clutch out.

 

Ya I have the clutch assembly completey put together and I did have it pushed in.

 

The PCM supplies a ground to activate the skip-shift solenoid, which then blocks 2nd gear. With skip shift programmed out of the PCM, the solenoid should never engage. Sounds like your solenoid may be stuck in the wrong position. Unscrew the skip shift solenoid and see if the problem goes away. Is there any way that your wiring is suppling the skip shift solenoid with a ground? Is it possible you have the reverse lockout and skip-shift wiring reversed?

 

As of now I have not started up or even hooked up the battery to the car yet. So I dont think it has had a chance to un-engage from the computer controls, the tranny may have been in that position when i got it? Could you go into any detail on where the skip shift solenoid is? and how i can check to see if they wiring may be reveresed? Because I was playing around with it again, and it doesnt seem like I can get into reverse either now that you are saying that.
Thanks for the help.

 

There are 3 electric devices on the driver's side of the tranny. The skip-shift solenoid is just behind the mid-point, toward the top, about 6" behind and 6" above the fill plug. The reverse lockout solenoid is all the way to the rear, toward the top, right below where the shifter mounts. The third device is the vehicle speed sensor, which is below the reverse lockout, on the side of the output shaft housing.

The skip-shift solenoid should not be engaged with no power. It would have to be mechanically stuck in position to prevent the selection of 2nd gear. The reverse lockout solenoid should not make the selection of reverse difficult when there is no power applied to it. It only blocks reverse when it gets a ground from the PCM.

With no battery in the car, neither the skip-shift nor the reverse lockout should interfere with movement of the shifter.

 

ugh... well i guess i'll wait til i hook up power and go from there :-/ I hope its not ****ed up