piner@pur-phy.UUCP (Richard Piner) (02/05/86)
I'm still looking into new cars. Reading the CU Reports repair history indicates that the GM J cars have more than average problems with the manual transmissions. The problem is, there are two manual transmissions, the five speed and the four speed. So my question to the net is, which of these transmissions are the trouble makers? I tried getting information from a couple of Chevy dealers. They stone-walled, claiming there was nothing wrong with either of them. Right now, I'm leaning towards the five speed, but if it is much worse than the four, then I will go for the four speed. Does anybody know the answer? As a side note, I have test driven the five speed. It seemed smooth. It up and down shifted through all five gears well. It seemed quite solid. The linkage had a good feel and a reasonable throw. But the 2.0 liter EFI engine was very quiet and I had trouble knowing when to shift. The idiot shift light is a crock. I couldn't hear the engine until I had it wound out pretty tight. A tach is a must for the manual transmission. Just try finding a car in dealer stock with a tach. Ha! The fifth gear is an overdrive, by the way. At 55 the engine was only turning maybe 1500 RPM. No tach, I'm only guessing. You for sure had to down shift to forth if you wanted to pass. The 5 speed will be most handy if they raise the speed limit on the interstate. Richard Piner piner@pur-phy.UUCP
srk@teddy.UUCP (02/07/86)
Speaking of GM transmissions, I have a Citation with the 4 speed transmission (4 cylinder engine). This might be the same transmission available in the J car but I'm not sure. In any case, there is a big gap between third and fourth gears, and I do most of my driving at about 40 mph which is right in the middle of the gap - so I find I shift between third and fourth rather frequently. This is more of a nuisance than a problem, yet it is a situation where the five speed might do better, or even (ugh) the automatic! Stephen Klein ...!decvax!genrad!panda!srk
perry@techsup (02/12/86)
DON'T DO IT. I own a 1982 buick skyhawk 4 cy 4 sp. manual trans. at 18,000 the trans made a pop sound (actual a bang) and then stopped working. Very nicely (they knew I'd have fire bombed the dealer if they had not) GM decided to cover the cost of replacement as a good will gesture. At 32,000 miles I heard the same pop (bang). Brought it to the dealer (actually I had it towed) explained what happened the last time, and left it. they called a few hours later and said that it was fixed, an adjustment. One month to the day later the car no go when the clucth is out. Back to the dealer. This time theyt agree that I have a problem and go to work. $450.00 later they have replace the pressure plate, through out bearing, resurfaced the flywheel, etc. etc. etc. When asked what went wrong they told me that I abused the car (I don't, and we won't argue the fact.). Not letting them give me that as an answer I asked for the old parts. Here's what hapened. The springs which apply pressure to the pressure plate collapsed (according to GM the ONLY thing that could cause this is from popping the clutch), the collapsed springs in turn allowed the pressure plate to warp due to the uneven pressure. The warped plate weakens, catches off center, cut flywheel, ruin entire cclutch assy. The clutch also seemed a lot smaller then what I thought it should be (about 10 - 12 inches across). I have now got 48,000 miles on the car, and am getting ready to trade in on a new, probably imported, car. Any suggestions? Now for the good news. I decided to bring GM to the BBB auto arbitration deal. A GM rep, a private citizen dis - interested third party type person and you sit in a room and tell your side. The arbiter listens, makes a decision, and it sticks for the car people, but you can fight the decision. The decision was in my favor since I told them that it happened before and they did'nt act accordingly. When asked for a dollar amount of what it would have cost had the repairs been done the first time the GM rep couldn't come up with one so the BBB said give it all back. Now this may sound as if it all came out ok, but don't forget the inconvenience, the fact that it broke in the first place, and the fact that I had to go through the hassle of bringing to the BBB they would give back my money. Again - DON'T BUY IT. P.S. What issue of what magazine was the report on J clutches? I would like to read it.