08-10 SS Turbocharged General Discussion Discuss the 2008 - 2009 Chevy Cobalt SS Turbocharged. On sale since the second quarter of 2008.

Tom at CED and our resident GM engineer fixed my car!

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Old 10-21-2011, 10:38 PM
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Tom at CED and our resident GM engineer fixed my car!

Well guys, bought a 2010 Cobalt SS a little over a month ago; it was in the shop for most of that time (~3 weeks) [original thread below]. Bought a GMS1 kit with the wire harnesses and it threw my car into a limp mode (silent P0236 code and 5 psi limited boost). Dealership refused to do detailed troubleshooting because the wiring harnesses were "aftermarket" . They put the car back to stock, immediately went back into limp mode (with a P0238 this time).

Tom at crate engine depot sent me so many parts it's unbelievable. The man was more dedicated to this fix than I was! Sent me new wiring harnesses, new TMAP sensors, and the original GM wires. Dealership tried GMS1 again with the replacement harnesses, no luck. Tried it with the GM wires, no luck. Car was still stuck in limp mode. Dealer ran out of options and was clueless, my car was just sitting there.

So Tom, who has already gone above and beyond, calls his buddy at GM engineering (More_Torque_More_HP on here). Our resident GM engineer figures out that it is a bad computer. The codes that were being thrown are caused by MAP or TMAP sensor failures, OR failure of the barometric pressure sensor in the ECM. When you start the car, the ECM compares the value(s) coming from the MAP or TMAPs to the calculated barometric pressure and if there is a significant difference, it puts the car into a protective mode. Since we had tried 3 sets of sensors (original plus two sets of TMAPS) it was obviously the other option (ECM).

So the dealership replaces the ECM and the problem is immediately solved! Having a blast with this thing.

As weird as this all sounds it makes sense because boost is pressure above local atmospheric pressure. If the computer is getting nothing but bad atmospheric pressure readings, it can't determine boost level.

Huge thank you to Tom and Bill, you guys went above and beyond - you deserve some recognition!

Rob

https://www.cobaltss.net/forums/08-1...review-261288/
Old 10-21-2011, 10:40 PM
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Awesome!
Old 10-22-2011, 12:40 AM
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This is great to read!

I remember the other thread left me perplexed at best...

I have found that Tom is probably about as good a guy to deal with as far as purchasing from a vendor is concerned;
and have spoken a bit with Bill - who also seemed like a real stand up guy!

Jonathan

Last edited by soundjunky; 10-22-2011 at 12:46 AM.
Old 10-22-2011, 01:33 AM
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whoot whoot thats the **** bro
Old 10-22-2011, 01:38 AM
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Awesome, I've bought my FE5/Pedders combo and GMPP exhaust off CED and am happy to know I'm supporting a top notch vendor.
Old 10-22-2011, 02:01 AM
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Awesome! Imma have to shake his hand for you when I go get my oil changed. Haha. Great story!
Old 10-22-2011, 02:48 PM
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Freakin' awesome.
Old 10-22-2011, 03:06 PM
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Good to hear my man!
Old 10-22-2011, 03:16 PM
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Nice dude! Tom was recently here, we tried to hang out with him, but we never got the opportunity to chillax.
Old 10-22-2011, 03:57 PM
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Awesome! Congrats to all, and na2boost, don't break anything now it's fixed.
Old 10-22-2011, 04:26 PM
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Thank you for the write up na2boost, we did our best to work with the dealership from the get go, its just too bad they couldn't figure out it was a bad computer all along. But now we will know in the future to check that out as well. It always helps to get feed back so we can learn from help others out.

I am here in AZ for the last full day, I was thinking about having a group of Cobalts buz past my daughters wedding reception.... not sure she would like that lol.

I wish we could of gotten together this last week, it would of been awesome to meet the group from AZ.
Old 10-22-2011, 04:37 PM
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That's awesome.


I am having problems as well, big ones. When the GMS1 tune is in, the p0236 comes very rarely. When i have my aftermarket tune on, the car is permanetly stuck in p0236 and needs to be cleared by aeroforce guages to even drive. I am wondering why it comes on with the tune, but rarely comes on with gms1? We re-connected a new map senor for the lower one and went over all that business.
Old 10-22-2011, 08:18 PM
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Tom, Bill & Greg are all very dedicated to us. It's a pleasure dealing with them.
Old 10-22-2011, 11:39 PM
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Thanks for all the kind words guys. And thank you Tom!

I've been having a lot of fun with the car. It really is like a baby vette with some torque steer. I'm loving 2nd gear from 35 to 60 MPH.


Raver, are your tunes on different ECMs or are you reflashing the same ECM? If the latter, based on what I went through, it could very well be the same problem. In theory it could be anything between the sensor and computer (electrical) or between the air filter and intake manifold (mechanical). That's why I went with GMS1 and not an aftermarket tune. I've owned two FI cars before this one and I know all too well that hideous problems often involve a lot of trial and error, which unfortunately costs $$$. If you want to give a new ECM a shot, they run about $450 from the wholesalers. Although personally I would buy one from Tom.
Old 10-23-2011, 09:33 PM
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Thanks. I have a few ideas. I plan on solving the problem this winter for sure.
Old 10-24-2011, 05:28 AM
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More_Torque_More_HP (Bill) is a awesome guy! He helped me through the forums and on the phone with my shitty dealer to get my porous block issue fixed under warranty. Without him, I still think my balt would be parked in the garage not running!
Old 10-26-2011, 11:38 PM
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Will bookmark this thread for future reference. Good to know we have good people here!
Old 10-27-2011, 12:08 AM
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oh i need to look up this guy up i need my car fixed lol
Old 10-27-2011, 07:27 AM
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OP, I'm glad your car is fixed and running great!

Tom & Bill are both stand up guys!

I purchase all of my GMPP & GM Racing parts from Crate Engine Depot!

Bill has always filled me in on great info about the SS Supercharged. Especially some of the testing they performed on the cars to develop the stage kits.
Old 10-31-2011, 07:16 AM
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Thanks for the kind write-up. Just trying to help out where I can.

Bill
Old 10-31-2011, 08:13 AM
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Tom is tha man. Ordered man parts for him. He often will say hey i got some slightly used/bent/etc and you can have em a lot cheaper. needless to say a BFH later and its as good as new!

+1 for TOM and CED!
Old 10-31-2011, 08:26 AM
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Sub'd Good-to-know info.
Old 03-09-2014, 03:12 PM
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Originally Posted by na2boost
Well guys, bought a 2010 Cobalt SS a little over a month ago; it was in the shop for most of that time (~3 weeks) [original thread below]. Bought a GMS1 kit with the wire harnesses and it threw my car into a limp mode (silent P0236 code and 5 psi limited boost). Dealership refused to do detailed troubleshooting because the wiring harnesses were "aftermarket" . They put the car back to stock, immediately went back into limp mode (with a P0238 this time).

Tom at crate engine depot sent me so many parts it's unbelievable. The man was more dedicated to this fix than I was! Sent me new wiring harnesses, new TMAP sensors, and the original GM wires. Dealership tried GMS1 again with the replacement harnesses, no luck. Tried it with the GM wires, no luck. Car was still stuck in limp mode. Dealer ran out of options and was clueless, my car was just sitting there.

So Tom, who has already gone above and beyond, calls his buddy at GM engineering (More_Torque_More_HP on here). Our resident GM engineer figures out that it is a bad computer. The codes that were being thrown are caused by MAP or TMAP sensor failures, OR failure of the barometric pressure sensor in the ECM. When you start the car, the ECM compares the value(s) coming from the MAP or TMAPs to the calculated barometric pressure and if there is a significant difference, it puts the car into a protective mode. Since we had tried 3 sets of sensors (original plus two sets of TMAPS) it was obviously the other option (ECM).

So the dealership replaces the ECM and the problem is immediately solved! Having a blast with this thing.

As weird as this all sounds it makes sense because boost is pressure above local atmospheric pressure. If the computer is getting nothing but bad atmospheric pressure readings, it can't determine boost level.

Huge thank you to Tom and Bill, you guys went above and beyond - you deserve some recognition!

Rob

https://www.cobaltss.net/forums/08-1...review-261288/
I've got the same kind of problem, a p2227. I've tried new maf sensor and ECM reset. I'll get ye car to read baro pressure for one ride. It's like the old now you see me now you don't trick. I was so excited to get it working but extra frustrated every time it stops working. I'm going to try a new tmap sensor but I'm my very car savvy so I don't exactly where it is? Could ya help me out? I wanna try this before a new ECM. I bought the car used and have no idea what kind of tune it may have. When the baro works I get 20+psi boost which makes me think it has a tune because I read that stock it shoots for about 17psi.
Old 03-09-2014, 04:40 PM
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Originally Posted by stevenwhaley89
I've got the same kind of problem, a p2227. I've tried new maf sensor and ECM reset. I'll get ye car to read baro pressure for one ride. It's like the old now you see me now you don't trick. I was so excited to get it working but extra frustrated every time it stops working. I'm going to try a new tmap sensor but I'm my very car savvy so I don't exactly where it is? Could ya help me out? I wanna try this before a new ECM. I bought the car used and have no idea what kind of tune it may have. When the baro works I get 20+psi boost which makes me think it has a tune because I read that stock it shoots for about 17psi.
Your TMAP is the pressure sensor in the lower charge pipe, right next to the A/C compressor. Tunes can also be responsible for this baro error if you have the wrong sensor type in the tune. Say you have a tune for 3 bar MAP's and have the 2.5 bar MAP's installed, you will get the baro error.

The pic below is of my 3 bar MAP sensor. The stock, 2.5 bar will be black and have a 90-degree angle at the socket connection.

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Old 03-09-2014, 07:55 PM
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I've got a new map sensor coming in in a couple days, i figured that one out and found it. I'm pretty sure the map sensor is stock cause it has three wires to it and still the GM printed on it..

I just went out and found the TMAP sensor. wow that girl is DEEP in there! lol i'll leave it be for now because the BARO has actually been reading for the last couple runs and start ups. but once it goes out again, i'll try to finagle down in there and check her out. Thank you for the help finding it SSlobalt


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