I screwed up my engine with a bad shift on December 24th. After dropping off the car at the dealer, I waited for four days before they called me back due to the holidays. When they called me, they told me that I had bent three valves, and that they were working on getting GM to fix it under warranty.

31 days later, I now know:

1) GM is fixing it under warranty, even though they don't have to. (Thank god!) :agree2:
2) Parts for the 3900 aren't available through the parts warehouses. They MUST come from the Mexico assembly plant for the engine.
3) The Mexicans running the engine plant don't seem to know that to replace the headgasket, they must also send an intake manifold gasket (shipped head gasket kit w/o intake gasket 4 times already!)
4) I have paid out $800 on a rental so far, to find out only today that GM will cover the cost of my rental. (Thank god!) :agree2:
5) When inexperienced with a manual transmission, do not redline the car on the highway in 3rd gear. The shift to fourth, when screwed up, can have expensive results. I missed fourth gear and hit second and let up on the clutch before my hand communicated to my brain that the shifter had gone in the wrong direction. :(

I also own a GTP 6 speeder. If you look at my thread, I have some problems with the shifter. I cannot understand that you went from 3rd to 2nd at high RPM's. Did you ever has some problems shifting the 2nd and 3rd gears, if so that's what I'm affraid that could happen to me, except 4th gear is the easiest to shift in on my car. ??? It would be impossible for me to downshift from 3rd to 2nd without struggling with the stick !!!!

Do you feel that your tranny has something to do with the downshift that you experienced? Thanks. vette79.

It has been suggested to me by some of my friends that drive stick that the tranny could very well have been inclined to go into second, instead of fourth. I honestly don't believe that at this point. I know that when I tried to gear up by pushing the stick straight down, I hit one of the gates and got stuck in nuetral. When I jiggled it in nuetral and pushed down, it went into gear roughly because it hit the gate again. It's possible that the tranny wasn't quite set up right, but I really should not have let up on the clutch without making sure I was in fourth.

I will be playing with the stick quite a bit when I get the car back just to see what it feels like. If it feels like the tranny is constantly trying to hit second, instead of fourth, I'll definately be having a talk with the service manager at the dealership.

It has been suggested to me by some of my friends that drive stick that the tranny could very well have been inclined to go into second, instead of fourth. I honestly don't believe that at this point. I know that when I tried to gear up by pushing the stick straight down, I hit one of the gates and got stuck in nuetral. When I jiggled it in nuetral and pushed down, it went into gear roughly because it hit the gate again. It's possible that the tranny wasn't quite set up right, but I really should not have let up on the clutch without making sure I was in fourth.

I will be playing with the stick quite a bit when I get the car back just to see what it feels like. If it feels like the tranny is constantly trying to hit second, instead of fourth, I'll definately be having a talk with the service manager at the dealership.The gates are well defined. I wonder if the shifter linkage was faulty(cable)? When you have your car again, test a 'skip-shift' into 5th or 6th gear from 3rd. You can't do any damage that way.

I must have one of the few G6 GTP's that actually have a good shifter. My 6 speed is a little notchy, but I can reach every gear easily(even 6th gear). :cool:

I must have one of the few G6 GTP's that actually have a good shifter. My 6 speed is a little notchy, but I can reach every gear easily(even 6th gear). :cool:

Same here! :)

Some people just get over excited when they shift. forth is very easy to shift into all that is needed is a few fingers. But its good your getting everything coverd!

Hey man, I never get over excited when I move my stick! :D

Can't say I have ever miss shifted that bad... I have caught myself putting it in the wrong gear just before I let the clutch out before and managed to get it to the right gear before my foot came up all the way. Thats called quick reactive thinking right there. ;) Now days I dont even have to think... its just natural.

I got the car back last night, took it for a bit of a drive and everything seems fine now.

There is no problems with the shifter at all, so I can only assume at this point that I got a little too excited in my shift as Blackrider suggested. ;)

GM is going to reimburse me for my rental car ($850) in a few days by mailing me a cheque.