Ok everytime I am stopped at a light or even when my car is in park, my speedometer begins to jump up and down, usually it will jus eventually stop, yesterday the engine started to rev then the car just shut off while I'm just sitting at a light, then my headlights began darken right before it shuts off. What could the problem. 2008 Chevy Cobalt
View 7 RepliesRan my battery down on my car when I left my lights on and proceeded to work an 8-hour shift.
Came out and stuck my key in the ignition. Nothing happened, which is when I realized my plight. The dang ignition wouldn't release my key! This meant I couldn't get into the trunk by key. I pressed the (stupidly electric) remote trunk lock. That's where the jumper cables are! Did I mention it was below freezing and I wasn't dressed for sustained outdoor shenanigans?
Fortunately, I was able to flag down co-workers with jumper cables, after a time. We opened the hood--praises, they actually left a cable-actuated device on the car!--and got going. None the less, it was a close scare.
1) Why does the ignition "grab" the key without battery power?
2) How does one defeat 1)?
3) Is it necessary to store my jumper cables INSIDE the car?
4) What mental giant decided a trunk latch that's INOP with a dead battery was a good idea?
I have a decent working understanding of a lock cylinder--6 or so spring-loaded wafers that retract into the cylinder body, allowing it to turn--but I don't see how that requires current flow to work. If it's a "safety" feature, how do I disable it, permanently?
2008 Chevy Cobalt
The fan for my A/c and heat does not turn on anymore. The A/c and heating systems themselves do work because if I put my hand right up against the vent I can feel it. When I switch on the fan, there is no noise, no humming either. This happened over the course of two days where first the fan worked fine, then it took a little while to turn on, then it would only turn on if I put it on high and waited a long time, then it didn't turn on at all.
Since then I have not tried to turn the fan on for more than a few minutes to see if I can get it to work again because I'm concerned that the trapped heat or A/c might damage something inside (am I correct?).
Keys get stuck in ignition lose all power have replaced ignition and shifter?
View 1 RepliesMy daughters car won't start. My husband took out the starter and had it tested and it is fine. Then he took the battery out of my car and put it in the Cobalt, still doesn't start. The starter is turning but the engine doesn't engage. The fly wheel looks good. My daughter is using my car to get to work and to soccer practice for a team she is coaching, I miss my car!
View 11 RepliesI have an '08 Chevy Cobalt with manual transmission with 55,000 miles on it. The clutch is beginning to slip, and is probably going out. What is the life expectancy of a clutch, I thought this seemed kind of short.
View 6 RepliesI am having an electrical problem with my front right turn signal I have not been able to chase down.
The symptoms are when the headlights are on, either manually or automatically from the daylight sensor, the front right turn signal will not flash, and I get the double speed clicking as if there were a burned out bulb. However, when it is daylight out and the headlights are in daytime running light mode, the turn signal works fine, 95% of the time. Occasionally when the headlights are off the turn signal will not work either.
I have replaced the headlights casing and bulbs, and tried rebuilding the pig tail harness as well.
I've got an '08 Cobalt. There is a large leak in my coolant system. The plastic reservoir is empty and if I add coolant and start the engine it all gushes out of a hole in a piece of plastic on the side of the radiator. Can I drive it to the shop if I watch the engine temperature or should I have it towed? Is the engine temperature measurement affected by the lack of coolant?
View 6 RepliesCar clicks when I turn the key , all lights and electrical come on but the engine will not turn over....
View 2 RepliesThis truck is from Canada. I need to convert speedometer cluster from kilometers per hour to miles per hour. The kilometers are on top and miles per hour under them. Want to convert. I have viewed kits to change the face. They have the miles per hour on top.
BUT! Does the tranny need to be re calibrated?
I have a 2008 Chevy Impala. I've owned it for 14 months and put about 12,000 miles on it in that time. It's had basic servicing (rotations, oil, oil filter, cabin filter, etc. changes). It hasn't given me problems---but suddenly I have one and I'm not sure how major it is.
I made a drive from New York to Western Mass yesterday...couple hundred miles, but nothing huge. It drove fine all yesterday after I arrived...again, no problems. This morning, I went to start it...everything's okay. But then I went to shift it out of park...the button will not depress. I restarted a few times...no luck. I kept trying to depress the petal to shift it; I couldn't even shift it into neutral when not started. I am not sure what in the world is going on.
I've read numerous forums on this---it seems to be a common problem with these cars. What's not so clear is what to do with this. Responses range from---stick a screwdriver into some hole all the way to just go on and junk the car, it's useless. That's why I am coming here to get clearer guidance on resolving this problem, hopefully in an economical way.
My speedometer is stopped working... I am driving and it will usually stay at zero, but it will jump time to time for example..
I took a video to explain it better with great detail, as you can see I am doing like 50mph, but my speedometer says other wise.
[URL] .....
I drive a 2006 Pacifica and lately the engine has been causing me some grief. When I am in park, neutral, or in gear but stopped, the engine will sometimes rev up and my speedometer will jump accordingly sometimes as high as 30 mph. My first thought was that it might be a transmission issue, but I'm not a car mechanic so I don't know much along the lines of what to check or do. The model is an automatic 3.5L
View 1 RepliesMy wife has a 2008 Chevy Impala with over 80,000 miles. When the weather is cold, the heater will blow cool air while in Park, even with the car warmed up. Then, once it is put in Drive, the heater begins to blow hot air again. Again, all of this time the engine temp gauge is in the middle position.
View 2 RepliesEvery 6 weeks my car, a 2007 Chevrolet Cobalt, won't start. Key goes in half way and won't go any further. Key won't come out and it's totally dead. Jump start it and it's good for another 6 weeks or so. What could be causing this?
View 2 RepliesI currently own a 2006 Chevy Cobalt. For the past few months it had a problem that every time I get gas when I go to start the car up I have to pump the gas pedal and crank it at the same time to get it to start running. Once its running I have to either get driving pronto or sit and it park and accelerate it a little for a bit to keep the car running. If I let go of the gas pedal the car will clunk and shut off. If I drive off after a few blocks it’ll work fine and I won’t have the problem again until I put more gas in it. Occasionally when at a light or stop sign while in drive the car will clunk a little but normally stop after few seconds.
I went to AutoZone and they told me I had a pressure thing (can’t remember fully) but to replace the gas cap. Which the car tells every so often to check my gas cap. Well 4-5 gas caps later problem still there. What it could be or how to fix it, last resort is to take it to the mechanic and pay a nice bill for a fix.
I am having an issue with my 2006 Chevy Cobalt. I recently had a new fuel pump put in. Within a week the car would not start. The very next day the car started fine and ran well. The next day it would not start again. The next day, started and ran fine. Then this morning it would not start again. I don't think it can be a faulty fuel pump. What might be the problem?
View 5 RepliesI have the above mentioned car with 50876 miles. I noticed that the steering wheel causes a click in the suspension when turned left or right whether stationary or with the brakes engaged. Also I noticed a thump felt through the steering wheel while doing the same action. What could be causing it, I checked my power steering pump and the fluid is brownish-red in color and no leaks are visible either on the ground or around the pump. I also got under the car and there seems to be no leaky CV boots ( i had to look these up to know what they look like).
View 5 RepliesMake: Chevy Model: Cobalt LS Year: 2005 Mileage: 120000
So I'm having this problem with my engine stalling at low RPM. The RPM goes to 0 and the engine shuts off.
This only happens when traveling at low speeds (e.g. slowly accelerating from a stop, braking, moving in stop and go traffic)
This NEVER happens when I'm traveling above 10 mph (e.g. if I'm coasting at 40 and let my foot off the gas, the RPM can go to 500 RPM but it will never stall in this case).
After the stall, I can always put the car in park, turn the ignition and it will turn back on again.
I have not noticed any electrical problems that occur when this happens (the radio stays on during the stall and the lights don't dim).
My car was part of that Chevy ignition switch recall, but I took it to the dealership which (hopefully) repaired it.
Recently my car started to go at a lower speed like around 5-10 mph. Then it started not showing the speed I was going. Then the RPM goes higher and higher and does not come down. I took it to the shop thinking the recall for the ignition switch was going to fix the problem but even after I got the egnition switch fix I was still experiences those issue.s I took it back to the shop to get a diagnostic that cost 100 bucks they told me to get my transmission fixed. After I had gone and done that my car still was experiencing those problems. Also some times the car turns back to normal like it wasn't even having issue everything goes soothly for about a good 2 to 3 miles and it goes back to it's old issues. What I can do or if they are experiencing these issue too? I wondering if I should take it back to the dealers and have them look at it again or not?
View 6 RepliesMy Chevy Cobalt will not start when it is cold (when water freezes)...but only sometimes. When you go to start the engine, it will initially turn over but does not ignite. Then, the second time if you turn the key normally no sound will emit. However, if you put the key in and only turn to get the lights on the dash to come on and THEN turn the key, it will turn over, but no dice. This past time a code "engine pwr reduced" came up, but that doesn't always happen. When you wait four hours or more, it will start like normal accompanied by the check engine light. The check engine light goes off the second time you start it after the non-start.
I have taken it to a mechanic and they have not been able to reproduce the problem, even when it was cold enough to theoretically have happened. He said it might be an issue with the body module which explains why the ignition switch code comes up when you run it through a computer, but since this is such an expensive fix he said he can't recommend I get it done until we know for sure. So there is a pattern, this happens about every 2 months and then the issue clears up for a while.
What is going on??? Will there ever be a way to tell what is wrong (and fix it) without a mechanic reproducing the issue?