Yes it is on the V......EVERY T-56 transmission in cars (just for instance....Vipers, 1992 & up Vettes, 1993 & up Camaros/Firebirds, select Mustangs....STOP BUYING RICE BURNING CRAP ALREADY! :tisk: ) have all had CAGS. It makes me sad that this is the first Americans are learning of one of the all time great transmissions of the world twelve years after it first went into production. :banghead:
The following will be on the
"I'm a gearhead American deserving a CTS-V" exam before one is allowed to sign the papers and drive away in the greatest Cadillac ever.
With that in mind, class is now in session...:welcome:
Tremec (Formerly made by Borg-Warner) T-56 Transmission CAGS Class 101
CAGS is an acronym for
Computer
Aided
Gear
Selection and has been used on 1992 and newer on cars with the T-56, 6-speed transmission (remember these? real cars!...Vipers, Vettes, Camaros, Firebirds, select Mustangs...) . The purpose of CAGS is to improve gas mileage by skipping 2nd and 3rd gears under "normal" acceleration thus keeping the engine revolutions down, increasing gas mileage - avoiding the gas-guzzler tax.
The CAGS system blocks the shift gate to second gear
when all four of the the following conditions are true at the same time:
1. You are in 1st gear (of course)
2. You are at 35% throttle or less
3. You are between 15 and 21 mph
4. And the engine coolant temperature is greater than 171 *F
When CAGS activates, it energizes a skip-shift solenoid inside the transmission and forces a 1st to 4th shift. What happens is you'll be moving happily along (normal acceleration from a stop light) and you will be locked out of 2nd gear. You simply cannot shift into it - the transmission transparently shifts right from 1st to 4th gear. At this point several options are available to you:
- Shift into 4th like the EPA wants you to do :want:
- Push it up in the gate and shift into 3rd
- Shift into 5th
- Shift into 6th
- Coast in neutral until the RPMs drop and CAGS is disengaged
- Shift back into 1st (or just leave it there to begin with) and open up the throttle a bit more, exceeding 35% throttle or 21 mph and then shift into 2nd gear.
Aftermarket companies have created CAGS disable kits for ~$25-30 or one can replicate this on the cheap DIY method by purchasing the proper resistor at an electronics store and inserting it in the CAGS connector under the car. The CAGS kit and the resistor method both work by fooling the car's computer into thinking that the CAGS harness is still plugged into the skip-shift solenoid.
Being an experienced T-56 owner for over eight years, I noticed the CAGS right away when drivng the V. The beauty part of the LS6 is that it makes so much torque down low that I'd bet most people don't even know that they went into fourth gear instead of second. The engine just grunts happily along shifting from 1st to 4th.,,,
And another little tid-bit, reverse gear has synchronizers on it......:bouncy: ..........and we'll discuss it in T-56 Class 102 if you haven't figured out what that means and allows one to do. :coolgleam