My Cobalt SS had just over 3,000 miles on it and the clutch failed. When they finally got it apart(they said they couldn't get the parts) The clutch plate was broken in between the springs on the hub of the clutch. They claimed that this was from racing and abuse. At first they were not going to cover it under the Warrenty, but the service manager claimed he talked them into it. When I got the paperwork, it had all the parts listed covered under Warrenty, including 2 hydralic lines that the mechanic pinched during the work, and a hydralic fitting O ring that they had to get from a Saab dealer. Now I hear that this is an ongoing problem and that there may be a recall. Now my Question, Has anyone else had clutch problems with their Cobalt SS's. Also, the outside cover on the switch for the sun roof fell off, and they said that this was the 3rd one that they have seen. That happened 2 weeks after we got the car (June 18th) and they still don't have the new headliner yet, which they said they had to replace to fix it, and the passenger side door panel is falling apart, which they also had to order. I am a 27 year employee of GM, and this was my first purchase of a GM vehicle in 20 years, I had a 1985 Buick T Type, that I also had problems with. I would like to think that GM would take good care of their customers and emplyee's, but................. I am beginning to wonder.

There are a few on here who have had their door panels come apart, and the sunroof trim is pretty common apparently. I have not had any problems with either and I have 8k miles.

I have not had any problems with my clutch though.

Well, I think my clutch may possibly be starting to slip around 4200 miles....I have even babied it and NEVER ground the gears....

I have seen a few others saying that this car has a pretty weak clutch....


No problems with doors or sunroof tho

2005 SS with slipage in all 5 gear. Dealer service rep claims it is from use/abuse. GM does not want to cover it. Says it is a $1300 repair. I think they are nuts. A car that is 5 months old does not have a worn out clutch. I do not know what to do.

PS it never smelled burned.

take your car back and go to another dealer

i have clutch problems & the dealers will get ass reamed if they give me some bullshit! if i go from 1st to 2nd & then let foot off clutch it will stay engaged for quite awhile & then u smell the clutch just smelling like hell & then 2nd to 3rd sometimes it seems to stay engaged for about 1000rpms IT PISSES ME OFF NEVER HAD ANY PROBS. WITH MY SRT.... has there been ne thing read up about the spec clutch?

my boyfriend is having the exact same problem. He is just barely over his 3,000 mile mark, and noticed that the clutch is starting to slip. He also is experiencing a "back-firing" noise from his exhaust. It's like a constant popping sound, is anyone else experiencing this?

He also is experiencing a "back-firing" noise from his exhaust. It's like a constant popping sound, is anyone else experiencing this?


I could be wrong but I think the popping sound could be detonation which has something, to do with execessive fuel into combustion chambers.

Wow, just thought the clutch smell was common. Have 5000 miles and it always has the clutch smell. Waiting for parts currently for a broken shift linkage cable. Which by the way is not in the parts list yet.

whats up everyone new to the website bought my cobalt SS in july and when i bought the car the abs light was on and took it back and found that the ebcm was shorted out and also the connector was burnt replaced that now im having the same problem with the sunroof and the door panel as everyone else havent noticed any problem with the clutch yet

my boyfriend is having the exact same problem. He is just barely over his 3,000 mile mark, and noticed that the clutch is starting to slip. He also is experiencing a "back-firing" noise from his exhaust. It's like a constant popping sound, is anyone else experiencing this?


I too have the backfiring noise when I down shift while engine braking. I'm at 7000 feet so i figure its just do to the car not being able to adjust enough or something

Hey guys i have a base coupe and i know they do not have the same clutch but mine smells all of the time. Almost at 5000. Even when not driven hard. No other problems with the base though.

Hey guys, the popping noise is normal when you gear down, the car has a factory high flow exhaust system on it. Ive had 3 out of 4 of those proplems. I havent had the clutch proplem yet, but i just hit the 3000 mile marker today so we'll see about that. But i have had the proplem with the sunroof. The little plastic peace around the sunroof controls are loose but havent fallen off yet. The passenger door panel is VERY annoying. Every time i play the radio it rattles! I took it to the dealership because i thought that it was a busted speaker, but they siad that it was just a loose door panel. So i said well can you fix it and he said no because if he takes it off it will just make it worse! So i think im just going to have that whole door panle dinomatted.

my boyfriend is having the exact same problem. He is just barely over his 3,000 mile mark, and noticed that the clutch is starting to slip. He also is experiencing a "back-firing" noise from his exhaust. It's like a constant popping sound, is anyone else experiencing this?

Well i have 9000 miles on my clutch in three months of "sprited" driving and my clutch is still good but i've met 6 other cobalt ss owners and two of them there clutch is fried and i don't even think they knew it. I could just tell by driving it and comparing it to mine both cars where under 1500 miles on them and there clutches were done already. Now i'v only been driving maunal since june 13th but i can tell and feel when a clutch is slipping and not grabing. I think depending on how you broke in your clutch on these cars is determines how long there gonna last. If it means anything both kids it was there first manual car and so was mine but i never really slipped the clutch for the first 500 miles i put on it the first day i got the car i would either stall or grab completly and yank from a stop. The one girl was riding her clutch all the time so it kinda exsplained why it was toast already. Also out of the 6 owners i've met only mine pops alot or "backfires" But i also noticed that i have a small exhaust leak after my cat that may be causing it. But i like the sound so im not ganna get it fixed :) .

I've had my base sedan, hold the laughter please, for a few months and almost 13000 miles. the only clutch I smelled was on my aggressive test drive, tee hee hee. It doesn't feel perfect, but no slippage

me too! 14000km stong no issues with the clutch.

me too! 14000km stong no issues with the clutch.


6000 miles here and some occasional really hard driving with no problems

Well mine went into the shop today for the same problem 1 to 2 shifting lossing all power. i have 9200 on mine. i just can't believe it is time to replace it already. damn :cussing:

almost 7k on mine and had the sun roof issue but got it fixed within 2 weeks and have the door panel issue ... well slightly (the dealer dude said they are going with a different maker for em so to get em replaced simply call and if available they will replace em and its under warrenty)

took the car to the track and got 8 runs in and the clutch is still grabbing really hard

Back from the dead, and over to Problems.

I have 800 miles and nothing has gone wrong.....

Although I get a smell after 'spirited' driving. The gears are a little rough when the car hasn't warmed up, mainly from first to second or down shifting. I get a vibration from the rear of the car sometimes, I figured it out to be the release for the seats in the trunk. It sounds funny when I shake it normally. Not sure what to do about those yet.

It's been a long time since I've had a manual in my cars. I had a 2000 Z-24(manual) that I managed to put 8000 miles on in 5 years. It hurts when you spend 3 years in Japan. I had a auto skyline over there...it was a POS but it cost $800 and flew like a bat out of hell. I've had automatic cars since I was 18. I'm 35 now....hell, thats an lifetime for some.

I honestly don't think I'd know if the clutch was about to take a shit.

This is rather bothersome to hear that clutches are failing so early. I wondered if maybe it wasn't due to new inexperienced drivers, but I would think one would have to work hard at it to destroy one in 3K miles.

I haven't driven my car hard at all yet, have nearly 3K miles on it. The clutch is still tight. I've never smelled any burning. And trust me, I know what that smells like. I've been driving stick cars since 73. Yeah, I'm old.

I guess I'll hve to drive this thing a bit harder, and see if I notice any slipping.

If enough fail, I would think GM would not hesitate to repair them. But if they put the same thing back in, it will only fail again.

BTW....clutches can fail in 2 ways.
You either burn up the lining...this you can smell.
Or the diaphragm in the pressure plate breaks....and when it does that, the clutch will struggle to disengage and it won't have any holding power when engaged. It will also get easier to push and will have a different release point. You will feel that in the pedal.

If mine were to fail, I'd be tempted to buy a good aftermarket clutch and have the dealer put it in, under warranty, but I doubt they would agree to that!

Ron

just out of curiousity (and sorry if it was posted and i missed it), but you guys talking about your clutch going...are they SS S/C's? or are they other models?

I'm at 1100 miles on my SS/SC. I havent abused the car yet, I'm still being nice to the fresh motor. I'm noticing a slippage between 2k and 3k RPMs.

I'm at 1100 miles on my SS/SC. I havent abused the car yet, I'm still being nice to the fresh motor. I'm noticing a slippage between 2k and 3k RPMs.


:cry: :cry: :thumbsdow :thumbsdow

My clutch is stil good at 10,000 miles and I have driven it pretty hard. Lets just say that I am a seasoned power shifter. Only times that I have smelled the clutch burning is once when i launched in 2 gear(seeing if i could still beat my brother if i started in second nope clutch wouldnt hold) and another when i went from 3-4 and floored it.

I have a little over 6000 miles on mine. I havent had any problems with the plastic peice around the sunroof controls or the door panels but i have had my clutch slip a few times but that was only when i was driving hard going from 1st to 2nd.

just out of curiousity...does anyone else have this problem?? \/ \/ \/

when you shift out of 1st gear pretty hard and accelerate into 2nd...kind of feels like it takes a second or two to either fully engage in the gear or something. Because when I shift into second, it takes a second or two for me to start to feel it actually pull any. Just curious...

just out of curiousity...does anyone else have this problem?? \/ \/ \/

when you shift out of 1st gear pretty hard and accelerate into 2nd...kind of feels like it takes a second or two to either fully engage in the gear or something. Because when I shift into second, it takes a second or two for me to start to feel it actually pull any. Just curious...

That's the slippage I'm talking about from 2k to 3k RPMs except I notice it in every gear. Or maybe I'm talking about something totally different than you.

just out of curiousity...does anyone else have this problem?? \/ \/ \/

when you shift out of 1st gear pretty hard and accelerate into 2nd...kind of feels like it takes a second or two to either fully engage in the gear or something. Because when I shift into second, it takes a second or two for me to start to feel it actually pull any. Just curious...


I have the same problem but it only slips when I do a burn out and it only does it every once in a while.

I'm at the dealer right now, i dont even have 600 miles on the damn thing yet and the clutch is slipping from first to second pretty bad, and sometimes third. but the guys here at tracy are good and i dont think ill catch problems with them saying its not gonna be covered under warranty like some of you have had.

so you guys think you've seen, heard, and read it all huh? haha well check this out, early this morning i was going to go take a placement test for college. i was crusin around 40mph when all the sudden the car starts revin' like crazy. the car was in 5th gear and it wasn't pickin up speed at all. i tried all the gears but nothing. i finally pulled over after it coasted to a dead stop and called that bs chevy roadside assitance for a tow truck. but here is the BAD part!!!! my cobalt ss s/c is exactly 1 week old today, and only has no more than 400 miles on it.....is there gonna be a recall? we all MUST do something bc this isnt fair to us, money doesnt come easy and i sure as hell wanna be driving something i can depend on specially when it is a week old. if anyone has any solutions or comments, please e-mail me at MX204@AOL.com. thank you in advance.

took 24,000 kms until I had a problem but it might not be the clutch but the cyclinder. Mines getting fixed next week. Hopefully that solves the problem.

i was at a car meet and stopped in a puddle of water to do a still burnout and wasnt thinking when i let the clutch out.....i let it out slow:nono: ....so....i saw smoke and thought it was the tires....i stopped when people were giving me the cutoff sign and only then did i figure out that the smoke was from my clutch:cussing: .....it was slipping pretty bad between gears for about 2 days but it is fine now.....except for the occasional slip during long periods beating on it.....im just waiting for it to wear down and explode.....hopefully GM wont figure out what i did.....:cssNET:

Edit: this was with about 6k miles...i now have 11k miles

Whats up guys .. I have an 06 ss s/c .. and the other night the road was wet so when I took off from a stop light on the way home from work I decided to have a lil fun .. when I dropped the clutch it spun all the way through 3rd but when I went to 4th the clutch just slipped and slipped .. then I backed out of the gas and about 3 seconds later I got back into it and it grabbed .. thats the only problem I have ever had .. other than the factory brakes are really shitty

I haven't noticed any problems with mine, just passed 12,000 miles. Then again, I honestly can't say I know enough about clutches to know whether or not mine is F'ed up. Perhaps when all of us AZ guys get together next on a barren area with no other cars around I can drive somebody else's SS S/C and see if the clutch feels the same. I would let them drive my G85 too...haha.

Well, I think my clutch may possibly be starting to slip around 4200 miles....I have even babied it and NEVER ground the gears....

I have seen a few others saying that this car has a pretty weak clutch....


No problems with doors or sunroof tho

im at 4100 miles as well and got on it a lil in first today and noticed clutch was slipping, didnt make me happy so im saving for a spec clutch. ( i had a friend say to me once, if its time to replace it might aswell upgrade it)

i was at a car meet and stopped in a puddle of water to do a still burnout and wasnt thinking when i let the clutch out.....i let it out slow:nono: ....so....i saw smoke and thought it was the tires....i stopped when people were giving me the cutoff sign and only then did i figure out that the smoke was from my clutch:cussing: .....it was slipping pretty bad between gears for about 2 days but it is fine now.....except for the occasional slip during long periods beating on it.....im just waiting for it to wear down and explode.....hopefully GM wont figure out what i did.....:cssNET:

Edit: this was with about 6k miles...i now have 11k miles

just so you know, theres whats called a a burned pressure plate, in case you didnt know this guy can tell on you when you abuse it....it leaves blue colors on it when its been under high heat, and seeing as you had smoke pooring enough to make you think it was tire smoke, you heated that bad boy up pretty good, so someone will know, and you prolly wont get it under warranty

I'm at about 7k and have had slipping issues for awhile. They are minute at the moment but annoying when they happen. I wish they would do a recall and give us a better clutch, everytime someone goes in they just say abuse because its a young kids supercharged car. I hate stereotypes. We shall see if GM does anything.

AT 5000 miles now and I beat this piss outta my car occasionally, I did the proper break in on the clutch and have never had it slip. still grabs like new, even done about 3 nice burnouts with a 4000 rpm drop, and no problems.

I am now at 40,000 miles and my clutch is just now not engaging properly. It's only from the 2nd to 3rd gear transition.

Clutches are NOT covered under warranty under any circumstances unless the car has less then 5k miles from what I have been told. It's a wearable item like brakes and no one in there right mind would warranty something like that period.

Hi, Everyone My name is Greg I m New to the web site. I have a CHEVY COBALT SS/SC. I am Having problems with my cluth as will 10,000 on it. So i went to the Dealer and they sad they will not replace it Because of harsh engagement I guessin that means Racing. I mean come on, you have a 2.0liter with a supercharger what the heck are you supost to do with it. Drive like a granny, I thank not. But any way i see this is a on going problem so how come we don't stand and make GM replace it we can do it, By making them put a RECALL on the clutch. I am hoping to make new friends on this website. So ill ttyl's:cool:

update now at 18,000 + miles with over 290 wheel and 35-50 passes at the strip...
no slippage at all.. only reason my clutch is coming out is because I"m installing a nicely "built" motor in a few weeks... I don't think a stocker will hold 350-400 ftlbs..

and BTW
way to bring back a dead thread

but at least you used the search feature so I'll give you that