GenVibe - Community for Pontiac Vibe Enthusiasts

How often do you guys and girls miss a shift when driving your Vibe. I still have a problem after a year and half with missing 2 gear when pushing the Vibe hard. I have found the 2 gears I have a problem with are 2nd and 5th. Anyone else still miss a gear once and awhile Can wait till the short shifter comes out. Maybe that will help

Are you sure there is nothing wrong with it? Bad syncro or linkage adjustment needed?I never miss a shift on my manual trans car and I mentally know when racing the shifter self centers between 3-4.

3/10 times, I wont be able to get it into 2nd when shifting hard around 8200rpm. It just grinds until I re-clutch and rev match. My XRS has been doing it ever since passing the break in period. There are a few XRS owners over at MO.com who also have the same problem.

After 50,000 km and 15 months, it's been months since I've missed a gear, and when I do it's because I'm being lazy during moderate driving and am dipping the clutch only about an inch while being a bit sloppy with the shifter. The couple of GTs I've driven briefly were much harder to shift smoothly and much more prone to missing a gear!

No problems here, either.. I'm lookin' to do the brass bushings, though.. in hope that it'll make things smoother.

Quote, originally posted by Mase »3/10 times, I wont be able to get it into 2nd when shifting hard around 8200rpm. It just grinds until I re-clutch and rev match. My XRS has been doing it ever since passing the break in period. There are a few XRS owners over at MO.com who also have the same problem.I have this problem too and thought it was user-error (me)...I guess I wasn't mis-clutching???

I miss a gear every now and then, for me it's my fault when it happens, let the clutch out just a bit too early when not paying attention.Sometimes I also have trouble downshifting from 5th to 4th (in my 5 speed), but it seems to be better now than it used to be.

Now that you mention it, joatmon, I used to have trouble with the 5-4 shift in my 5-speed also, e.g., losing speed up a hill, need a quick downshift but finding some non-gear somewhere to the right of 4th. Don't know if the box got better or I did...

yep, that was it. Guess it's better to find that non gear than to find reverse at those speeds. I too am not sure if the box got better or I did.

Quote, originally posted by Psychobroker »I have this problem too and thought it was user-error (me)...I guess I wasn't mis-clutching???So what do we think here?? Is it just human error or is it something with the car!!!!!! I only really notice it when in LIFT and trying to stay in LIFT when shifting from 1st to 2nd..

Quote, originally posted by polaris1000 »So what do we think here?? Is it just human error or is it something with the car!!!!!! I only really notice it when in LIFT and trying to stay in LIFT when shifting from 1st to 2nd.. I've missed several 1-2 shifts in lift and also 4-5 in lift shifts. I've had both my 2nd gear synchro's replaced under warranty, and it still does the whole grinding theing from 1st -2nd in lift... unless you hit it perfectly and i do when i pay attn. but when i'm not... i grind it and re-clutch!

I have missed 2nd gear a few time's.I think it's because of the stock bushing's.When I tryed cacathys shifter (with the brass bushing) at the MI meet,I relized mine was like shifting a wet noodle.Someday Soon I'll buy them and I give a report.

Quote, originally posted by 03VibeGT6Spd »I have missed 2nd gear a few time's.I think it's because of the stock bushing's.When I tryed cacathys shifter (with the brass bushing) at the MI meet,I relized mine was like shifting a wet noodle.Someday Soon I'll buy them and I give a report.I to thought that getting the brass bushing would help with this. I have put in the brass bushings changed tranny fluid to Redline MT-90 and put in motor mounts and I still have the problem. Only thing left is a new clutch and short shifter.

I have never missed a gear in my 5spd now when driving the GT 6spd I have missed 3rd by accidently shifting to 5th haha... I knew instantly when that happened.

Quote, originally posted by 03VibeGT6Spd »I have missed 2nd gear a few time's.I think it's because of the stock bushing's.When I tryed cacathys shifter (with the brass bushing) at the MI meet,I relized mine was like shifting a wet noodle.Someday Soon I'll buy them and I give a report.I still miss that 1-2 shift in lift a good deal of the time, even w/ the brass bushingsEDIT: When I say "Miss", I don't mean that *I* miss the shift point and/or try to put it in a higher gear...I have tried with the freaking clutch all the way in and it still grinds. I have a feeling my 1-2 synchro's might be screwed. I think I'm going to schedule an appt. with the dealer next week.

Several people that I know with a GT/XRS complain about the 1-2 shift when in lift. Seems to be a common problem. And these are people who have been driving a stick for a long long time, so I don't think driver error is the issue.

Quote, originally posted by Salsa! »Maybe there is a safety of some sort in the GT transmission?Now Salsa! that's not logical, I would see a safety from 2 to 1 (downshift) like some Volvo have but not from 1 to 2 (upshift).Unless, the force/stress/pressure created by lift in 1st gear causes some reaction in the transmission during the upshift!A safety feature that prevents you from utilizing your power band...that would suck

Quote, originally posted by Salsa! »..Unless, the force/stress/pressure created by lift in 1st gear causes some reaction in the transmission during the upshift!I think that just might be close to the truth, Salsa! On manual transmission V-8 Camaros for instance, I've sometimes found in the lower gears at high RPM that the engine torques up so much on it's mounts that the shifter moves around quite a bit, and it's easy to aim it in not-quite-the-right-direction. Would be interesting to see if anyone who has installed firm motor mounts sees a difference in shifting.

Quote, originally posted by MadBill »I think that just might be close to the truth, Salsa! On manual transmission V-8 Camaros for instance, I've sometimes found in the lower gears at high RPM that the engine torques up so much on it's mounts that the shifter moves around quite a bit, and it's easy to aim it in not-quite-the-right-direction. Would be interesting to see if anyone who has installed firm motor mounts sees a difference in shifting. I also thought that was the problem on my car. I figured the ES mount inserts would fix it, but after I put them in they didn't seem to help much with keeping the 1-2 lift shift from grinding. I even switched to Redline MT-90...still grinds. I've just learned to slow down my 1-2 shift slightly to avoid the grinding.

It happened to me quite a bit over the first 12,000 miles or so (I have over 26000 miles on the Vibe now). Having well over 200,000 miles of manual driving experience, I kept telling myself "it can't be me! How can I be missing more shifts in 12k miles than I did in my entire 200k miles, pre Vibe driving experience?" (not counting the first couple of months when I was learning to shift of course)Well, I have come to realize, it was driver error (me). I personally believe it's because the shifter in the Vibe is tilted slightly toward the driver (when compared to every other manual I have driven). As a result, I was sometimes letting go of the clutch and dropping my lead foot a fraction of a second too soon. Once I realized this, it hasn't happened since. Now I happily chip my tires from 1 > 2, 2 > 3 and 3 > 4 as I ease up to the speed limit

sometimes when i'm runnin' hard i've missed 3rd gear,and sometimes when not paying attention i've missed 5th , but that's user error.