Chevy cobalt 2006
Asked by Robert Apr 21, 2016 at 01:37 AM about the 2006 Chevrolet Cobalt
Question type: Maintenance & Repair
My Chevy cobalt did something very odd today. I was driving along and
made a turn. Suddenly it felt very sluggish. The warning light which I believe
indicates anti theft came on. The read out read power steering and the
odometer and speedometer started jumping erratically around. The car made
a chugging motion like it wanted to die and when it tried to shift gears you
could hear it go higher than it normally would before making the change. I
pulled over and turned off the car. I then restarted it and drove it the rest of
the day without incident. What could this have possibly been?
7 Answers
Mine does weird stuff like that too sometimes. Usually in damp weather. Oddly when it happens if I turn on the headlights and go from high beam to low beam it fixes it. You could have your scanned for codes and you might find something. You could also carefully disconnect and reconnect whatever electrical connections you can find. It's possible one of them has become corroded or contaminated and is not making good contact. If not you pretty well have to wait for it to happen more regularly. Trying to trouble shoot something that only happens intermittently is nearly impossible.
I have a 2010 chevy, i had an issue kinda similar want to just put it out there ... the chevy guys swore it was my tranny. Went through bs for over 1.5 years. Check make sure a sharp edge didnt cut your wiring harness.
If your power steering light comes on there could be a clog in your resivour i drained my power steering fluid dried the area put in new fluid and light went off. Never had an issue again
FIRST, I believe power steerings all went electric on cobalts AFTER 06...I know 07s have electric. And SECOND, start simple on these damn cobalts lol...that chug a lug idle thing has been solved many times by cleaning out the throttle body/intake and/or injectors etc. Sometimes its stuck and not getting enough air, so when you slow down, accelerate, make turns etc you don't get enough air depending how its stuck in whatever position. Just make sure if your cleaning it out you take it out or at least spray cleaner on a rag and wipe it out. Don't let extra gunk into the engine by just spraying and letting loose any sludge buildup etc. And if that doesn't work at least your mileage will improve in the end for doing it
You are absolutely right about the power steering. They are all electric. There is no reservoir. There is no fluid to get clogged. Sadly while cleaning the throttle body does cure the jerking problem for some (so they say) and does diminish the problem for a short time for others (my experience) it is not the be all end all solution. I am still trying to resolve it in my ‘06 SS. As well as cleaning mine I have swapped throttle bodies with another identical car and experienced no change whatsoever so the problem originates elsewhere in my case.
I have a 2007 cobalt and I was having all those same problems went through 4 alternators and 3 battery's I checked everything from fuses to computer and all connections I even added new grounds to the engine. I finally started going through the wiring and found a bolt in trunk next to the battery where all the grounds to the whole car are connected power steering radio and many more all there too. I found the bolt had some corrosion on it. I cleaned and tightened it back up and all my problems went away.
