Chippathingy

I have an 06 Cobalt LT I bought in August of 2007.

I brought it in for it's first scheduled maintenance on Feb 19th to get an oil change. The next day when I start it up, the traction control lights up and power steering shows up on the Info Console. I though, that's weird. I goes away when I'm driving home from work.

Next day, the Engine light, Traction control, power steering all show up and the transmission shifts at the wrong times, the engine stuttered when deaccelerating to the point where it sounds like it's going to shut down, the speedometer and tach needles are all over the place and the info console blinks on and off.

I brought it in to GM (still under warrenty) and had them look at it. They tell me the codes did come up, but after two days of diagnostics and road testing, they couldn't duplicate the same problems. I took my car back thinking everything was fine now. They kinda blamed the cold weather.

Now tonight Feb 27th, the traction control light comes up again. Sure enough, it's not working cause I made the tires spin and the engine didn't kick down at all.

Now what should I do here? Take it back again? Take it to another garage to look at it? Talk to the person who sold it to me?

Looking forward to hearing your input guys

REIGN SS

Check your fuses

3fo893013L

sounds like a loose ground or a nasty short somewhere.

Coblasts

I will go with the loose connection or fuse .Final answer

jj13326

mine was doing that what the dealer said the ABS was the problem, some how my abs was messing up my traction control and they replace the whole abs system well i hope you can get it taken care off. what ur gonna wanna do is take it in when the lights are on, when mine was doing that the only way i could get the dealer to see what it was, was by driving it there and leaveing the car on and have them bring out the **** to the car and then they found my problem but it wasnt untill 5 different visits with the lights off for them to find it "'06 cobalts have electical problems"

Chippathingy

Okay, well I took it back to the dealer to see if they can find the problem. Of course they said to keep it running when I get there. I gave the service techs some of the possible reasons that you guys posted here and they appreiciated that. Hopefully that will lead them in the right direction.

Thanks again guys! I'll let you know how everything turns out. ...my poor Cobalt

Chippathingy

Got a call from GM and they tell me they are scratching their heads over the problems with my balt. They've test driven it for 4 days and the computer they hooked up to it shows that codes are popping up, but then they turn themselves back off. They don't know why the codes are appearing then disappearing.

Now they tell me they are going to be replacing the communication module and see if that works. I sure hope so!

So what is the communication module and what does it do?

fr33k

They are probably goin to replace the EBTCM (electronic brake and traction control module)or EBCM (electronic brake control module). It depends on who your talking to as to what they call it . That one module controls both your antilock brakes and your traction control. I've read both trouble trees for the "ABS light on" and the "traction off" and both show to replace the module.

Chippathingy

*UPDATE*

Well, I got my car back and so far it seems to be running just fine.

They replaced the BCM (Body Control Module), but only after another Balt came in with similar problems. The other Balt directed them to the faulty BCM, but even though that code never appeared on my Balt, they said that the problems between the two Balts were too similar. The service guy told me that if it wasn't for this other Balt that came in, they would still be scratching their heads over the problem(s). No matter what they checked, re-checked and tested, the codes kept coming back and shutting off on their own. They said they've never seen that before and even consulted with engineers over at GM to see what they might be able to figure out. Maybe my car is possesed?? Hahahaha!

But replacing the BCM made the codes go away. He took it out for a quick test drive and everthing seems to be fine.

I'm just happy to get my Balt back!

Any problems he said, and bring it straight back! I hope that's the last I even see of them... to be honest . Thanks again guys for your input!

hrd53

My Cobalt sounds like it is having the exact same problem as yours. My speedometer goes haywire, the power steering light comes on (and sometimes the power steering turns off for a little bit) and the most unsettling problem is when the car randomly shifts gears... It feels like i'm in a car with someone who doesn't know how to drive stick! I've taken it to the dealership 4 times now, but they have been unable to fix it. I've been online for hours looking for a possible fix. Did replacing the BCM work for you? The dealership tech suggested possibly having to replace the PCM. Any insight into this issue would be greatly appreciated!