Skip Shift and the curse of the accidental clutch dump in traffic?

[Zabo]

Not sure if anyone else had this problem with the early build cars but I've been putting off disabling skip shift a bit too long:

Since the first weeks of having the car (a GM certified used 2010 2SS/RS M6 built 9-11-09) I would have an intermittent audible grinding that was only felt in the brake/clutch pedals (more so brake) but only in reverse. Car has been into the shop 3 times, none of them ending up with a replication and thus valid claim.

Then there was last night.

I had driven the car over the course of the weekend a good 4-500 miles on a trip to my folks and then back home, 80% highway. It was when I got back home that the grinding popped it's head again backing into my parking spot at my apartment. This time my girlfriend was the one who caught it and I hadn't noticed it until I halted the car, put it in neutral, shifted back into reverse and slowly let off the clutch. There it was.. and then wasn't as it disappeared the moment I tried it a third time.

And then things got weird.

We decided to hit the town and get a bite to eat since it was late and neither of us wanted to cook something. Driving from where I am to where the bars and restaurants are consists of only two fairly tall hollows; I drive them daily and never have an issue with them. It was when I got to the top of one to make a left turn (level ground mind you) that skip shift kicked in-

All the car did was rev, bog, and creep as smell of clutch filled the cabin. Apparently in 4th gear I was roasting the clutch without the pedal engaged, attempting to accelerate/merge into traffic. No bucking, no rev bouncing. Simple 1 to 4 skip but how in the hell am I smelling clutch? In any case, immediately pulled over, cranked the HVAC fan and rolled the windows to vent the cabin. Since then my clutch has slowly gained grip back but I've noticed a marked change in how 4th and 5th gears operate: They're almost the same ratio. I'm only getting a 300 rpm drop if that from my typical 'high' 2500 rpm shift mark. I shift between 23-2500rpm on average and now I'm just stumped.

Don't have the time or the cash to do a proper clutch swap seeing as I'd be looking at a $1200+ even if the transmission and master cylinder were found to be faulty under warranty. I want to take it in and have the dealer/GM open a warranty claim but when the problem is intermittent and now possibly caused by the PCM? Where will it end? This post may seem like a ramble but at this point that's what my problems are turning into.. ramblings of issues that a dealer can't replicate, but have been witnessed by another party and now possibly caused even more damage.

Ideas? I've parked the car for now. Never had this problem with my 2000 T/A with it's T-56 with and without skip-shift after I disabled it on that car.

[strych9]

I don't see where skip-shift has anything to do with your problem. It forced you to shift to 4th, and your bad clutch couldn't hold, hence the smell and the slip.

You need a new clutch. Sounds like it's plain worn out = not warrantable.

[Zabo]

Originally Posted by strych9

I don't see where skip-shift has anything to do with your problem. It forced you to shift to 4th, and your bad clutch couldn't hold, hence the smell and the slip.

You need a new clutch. Sounds like it's plain worn out = not warrantable.

At 26,200 miles?

My stock clutch in my T/A went 58K+ because I sold it with the same clutch that came from the line at St. Therese. I learned stick on that car. I probably burned THAT one harder than this LS3/TR6060 clutch ever could have been.

Maybe it must be the Oshawa water. o_O

Either way, called Chevy and GM is just as perplexed and opened a file on it; called the dealership for their records to cross check the claim to see what they can do. It's sounding more like a bad TO bearing though. One other guy just had his in at Rodgers and they tore out the TO Actuator assy and his issues sound more like what my car was doing initially.

Funny thing is that I think I made a rant thread about something a while back and one of the mechanics stated matter-of-factly that they had a black/silver rally '10 in on a Dealer Inspection for sale around the same time. Service adviser just gave him this look..

But its not like GM Cert. Used calls them to drop the trans and check that, it's a multi-point surface check thing from what I read. Like I said, it's weird, no way to pin point it because until now the clutch was fine and the trans thing sounds more PCM as it's only 2 gears. 1-4 and then the 5-6 shift are normal. It's the 4-5 that's just not right.