What would cause problems with the Cobalt that the car would suddenly chug at low speeds, lose gauges, then slowly recover. When the car is turned off and left for a little while,its is fine.

Asked by noseykitty Jul 10, 2007 at 12:03 PM about the 2005 Chevrolet Cobalt

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

It seems that a low speed sensor may be going out? Sometimes, the car just seems to lose power and all of the gauges go haywire. At low speeds, it chugs like its going to die, but going anything over 55 MPH is not a problem. But, when the car is brought home and shut off for a time period, its running fine, all the gauges are back and it runs fine at low speeds. I have checked the recall list that was provided in the previous answer and there was nothing.

6 Answers

Sounds like it could be an issue with the 02 sensor. You should get a diagnostic check done. I think autozones do it for free.

1 people found this helpful.
125

I beleive a software update addressed this problem. At low idle or cold starts, it will have trouble adjusting the air/ fuel mix. I have seen this problem described on other forums.

2 people found this helpful.
225

the computer doesnt have enough time to load all your data when you start... after turning your motor, wait 15 seconds before starting driving. I got the same problem and i almost got a panic attack cuz i started the car and drived right away lol. the gaz gauge dropped to the red line.

3 people found this helpful.
155

I'm the owner of a 2006 chevy cobalt, but it isn't my first.....I had a 2005 and ihad the same problem. Every day ont he way home i'd drive faster because of my gauges too. It was the worst thing in the world. What my problem was, was that it would sound like it's going to die and all my gauges ,including the information center, would just be gone. so i didnt know how fast i was going or where my gas level was at. Then, just like you said, id hit 50 and boom be fine. Next day during the morning drive i'd have no problem and then at night when id be out driivng a lot, going to friends' houses and what not i start experiencing the problems after driving it for a while. We took it up to the dealership and they couldnt figure out what i was talking about, but we kept telling them that it would occur only after it ran for a while. they told us they weren't allowed to run it for a while. i was good friends with the head machanic and so he called in a GM head engineer. i thought for sure he'd get it but nothing. so finally the head machanic started driving my car around and sure enough after a little while driving it did it and he told the engineer what happened and after they replaced about 10K dollars worth of parts and it still did it they gave me a new car because mine was a lemon. so my suggestion is that if it's still under warranty is let the dealership deal with it because it's under warranty so if they have to call someone in they probably will......good luck because for me allthis turned into a four month process and a four month haul of rental cars........best of luck

1 people found this helpful.
10

took to dealership, both control valve solenoids were replaced, fixed for almost 9 months, now it's doing it again. so what makes these control valve solenoids go bad?

1 people found this helpful.

stop using any oil that has any synthetic in it , it slimes up plugs the intake air temp sensor,,,through egr valve, the oil doesnt burn off because exhaust temp is not hot enough to burn it off. Cylinder head temp, ie, exhaust temp is 800 degrees syn oil burns at 1000 or more , go back to 10-40 penzoil , your check engine light will go out

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