I took my 2001 Camaro SS in this morning for its fourth T-56 rebuild since I bought the car in October of 2001. Thought I'd post here to let others know, since this appears to be a common problem.

First rebuild was necessary after the shifter kept popping out of third. The car had about 7,500 miles on it, and only six dragstrip runs. Dealer replaced the shift forks & synchros and gave the car back to me, and the car popped out of gear on my drive home. I took it back to the dealer for rebuild #2, which they did by following some special GM-issued T-56 tranny rebuild videotape that had just been issued to the dealership that week.

No real problems with the second tranny rebuild, until I powershifted a couple dragstrip runs this May, with about 20,000 miles on the car. (NOTE: I am no stranger to powershifting... I had about 40 powershifted runs on my '95 Z28 M6 with no problems whatsoever.) Then the tranny started getting stuck in fourth gear. I could always get it out, but a hard (NOT powershifted) 2-3 shift, followed by a hard (NOT powershifted) 3-4 shift would get it stuck every time. I had a different dealership rebuild the tranny this time, again under warranty. I got the car back last week. I tried the same 2-3 hard shift, followed by the 3-4 hard shift, with no problems. Cool. Only problem is, now the car pops out of 3rd gear again. (But it only pops out under LIGHT acceleration, so it doesn't bother me... I'll just get on it a little more.)

Then this morning I was driving to work & shifted from 6th to 4th to pass a Mustang at about 75 MPH. Now the car is stuck in fourth, and nothing I do will get it out... I tried stopping & popping the clutch (always worked before), turning off the car, pushing HARD on the shifter, but nothing will get the car out of fourth gear.

It is now at the (very patient) dealership that rebuilt it the third time, awaiting its fourth rebuild.

Just wanted to add my story to the list. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Sad]" src="gr_sad.gif" />

 

I am dealing with the same problem currently. Mine was stuck in 4th and took some SERIOUS beating to get it out of gear. It felt like I was stirring a stick through a box of marbles, but I had a couple of gears. I pulled the trans apart expecting to find a broken shift fork, but instead found that the 3/4 slider was shattered. I would bet that you have a similar problem.

As for the thing jumping out of 3rd, that is almost always caused by the gear itself.

HTH,

Jonathan

 

Holy ***** does this suck!! Those are my exact problems!! I was able to get the car out of 4th ONCE. While I driving I kept slipping the clutch and forcing the shifter until it released. I had to drive it to the shop to get it looked at. Presently I have to wait almost 2 weeks for the dealer of my choice to get it in to look at. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Sad]" src="gr_sad.gif" />