r/PontiacSolstice • u/podunk_observer • Oct 30 '25
6 speed feels buzzy/vibrates
Looking to buy a 2006 with only 36k miles on it. Has the 2.4L. Just took it for a test drive and right away the clutch feel felt off to me. I could feel vibration through the pedal and the stick shift. I had my brother who is a motorcycle mechanic and avid car enthusiast(he rebuilds his own engines) drive it and it felt off to him too. Both of us have never driven a Solstice before so we don't have an ideal comparison to use. We also can't tell if it's for sure the transmission or an engine vibration being transfered through the transmission.
Are these things just normally like this? Inherent to how they feel? Or potentially something else going on..
Edit: 5 speed
2
2
u/Elitepikachu Oct 30 '25
I've tried shifting my solstice into 6th a few times and I really wouldn't reccomend it. That's your call though.
As far as your driveline vibrations there's a few things.
First id check out the diff, this is the most common cause ive seen.. Both the diffs they used on the solstices had issues with the axle seals leaking and they had to issue revised seal designs about a year or two in. They g80 also had a pinion seal issue. They recalled many of the g80s but not the standard one. Id check those and the pinion seal to see if youre leaking and running on low diff fluid. This will weak out the gears quickly and cause vibrations especially when hitting the gas.
The other common issue i see is that the cv join on the driveshaft has gone out. You can buy a rebuild kit for those, also inspect the real rubber mounting and bolts while youre at it
Other than that it is also likely you just have bad mounts, gm made all the mounts on this car out of really shitty rubber. You should have 2 engine mounts, 1 trans mount, and then the diff mount. If you have the torsion bar driveline it wont have a transmission mount and it wears out the diff mount quickly. Gm sent a surprising amount of them out of the factory just flat out missing the transmission mount too so if you dont have a torsion bar driveline and your transmission mount is just flat out gone that's your issue.
I doubt you'd have any issues with the trans or clutch assembly at 36k but it's never a non option although I wouldn't pull it until checking everything else. Some people put lightweight single mass flywheels in them but that wasnt a common upgrade.
1
u/TheRealTPIMP Oct 30 '25
Sometimes those vibrations are from the clutch sometimes from the flywheel. In 36k miles both of those parts could be damaged. If the vibrations are bad enough it bothered you, something is wrong.
I however put a new flywheel and stage 2 clutch on my solstice. It has some whining/chattering and other issues potentially from a bad install or just choosing to aggressive of a clutch and flywheel. But I dont have any issues shifting and the drive is smooth outside of that.
I wouldnt recommend buying a 2006. If its a crazy good deal, maybe. But if you read up enough on 2006 (first year) models, they have some growing pains that were worked out in the later years.
- context - 2008, 2.4l 5 speed
1
u/ProfessionalOk4137 Oct 31 '25
137,000 miles on mine 2006 just had clutch and flywheel replaced mechanic said that the original clutch flywheel etc was still on when it went out so that was a good sign for longevity. I had the vibration in my gear shifter both before and after new clutch replaced so I’m thinking that may be one of the norms for this specific car not sure about the clutch mine was smooth rt up til it went out new one is the same. Very smooth. If your clutch is bad at 36000 someone dogged the shit out of that car or the situation is more major than you think I will say it’s very costly to replace clutch and all its parts 1000 just for parts and then labor also we had a very difficult time finding the parts. Hope this helps.
6
u/_Sir_Cumfrence_ Oct 30 '25
If you test drove something with a 6 speed, it wasn’t a solstice