Hey guys,

I have a 2009 cobalt SS. This morning I tried to go to work but could not get my car to shift into anyother gear except 1st and 2nd. NO idea. pulled the cup holder out and took a look at the servo's inside and I dont see anything that looked strange, then again I dont know what im looking for lol.

any ideas?

The car was working fine last night. Last nights temp was around 32-35 degrees F outside. This morning the temp was around 22-26 degrees F.

My dad suggested water got in there and froze? that just doesnt seem plausible to me. hopefully the temp is above freezing and i'll go check this out this afternoon. I doubt water got in there. There was no water around last night, and im sure it would have froze when we went out for dinner.

Just to clearly say whats wrong.

The car wont wiggle freely in neutral. Had it parked in 1st last night so I can move it back and forth between 1st and 2nd. It feels like im fighting a reverse lock but for all the rest of the gears and not just reverse.

 

Sounds like the cables are sticking because it will not wiggle freely in neutral. They may need to be relubricated or they maye have frozen (I think this is less likely though)

 

I doubt they froze. It's WAY colder here right now and aside from a little more difficulty moving the shifter than usual, all the gears work fine.

 

I need to add the shifter to my "5 things I hate about this car" list. Cuda, you need to look at the linkage at the tranny and see if you snapped a cable. If you didn't, then one of the cables probably got knocked out of adjustment. Having 1st and 2nd is strange, though.

 

Well it moves into the 1st and 2nd spaces, im not actually sure if I really "have" 1st and 2nd because I didnt try to move the car. I will give it an attempt when I get home. the car is staying in the drive way though, lol.

Will my local chevy dealer tow the car in for free if nothing else works for me? lol. should be a warrantied part right? part of the transmission.

 

It will be warrantied. You can definitely finagle the linkage to get it into gear. Kinda hard to explain over typed words though. I've done it.

 

If you snapped a cable, the dealer should replace it, unless they try and give you that line about "abusing" the car. Good luck.

 

It's possible your cable froze, mine is doing that this winter. Whenever I get in the car and it's cold outside I have to shake the shifter left to right before I am able to find gears 3-5. It never did that the first winter I had the car so I guess water got in the cables somehow. I think I will put my girlfriend g5 gt outside tonight and park the tc in the garage to see if it will help...

 

I think it was frozen, that afternoon it was fine. Strange huh? I never had that happen in any other car Ive been in.