Hey guys. I've had my 09 sstc for a little over a year now. And I haven't had any issues with it until recently. Both unrelated I feel. First, occasionally when downshifting to pass a car, as soon as I ease down on the go pedal, the car bogs and sputters, losing all power. It almost caused my death on two separate occasions.
Second, I was never too confident about the 1-2 NLS, but I have since mastered it. So much fun, BUT, recently, when I try to NLS 1-2, I get locked out of 2nd. It's not that I can't do it, it just won't let me! It cost me a race against a rather enthusiastic portly couple in a new v6 charger. Haha. Can anyone point me in the right direction? Thanks guys.
Jesse

 

How many miles do you have on you car? Do you have any mods done to the car? The sputtering or bogging could be a few things. The shifting is just basic clutch, pedal, and shifter operation. Check those to make sure everything is functioning as it should during a normal shift.

 

There are just over 45k miles on the car. No mods other than muffler delete. As far as normal driving, I get the typical clunk when shifting (I miss my quietly shifting Hondas) but no real issues as far as drivability.

 

Is your car always warmed up? Also check your plugs and or it could be a coil going bad. I had one of mine go bad at like 30K man

 

I agree w/ Bart, take a look at the plugs and change them just for piece of mind. My plugs started to cause misfires at 36K; i've had no problems w/ misfires since installing new plugs in there (*knock on wood).

Later
Allex

 

plugs do beautiful things for our cars lol

 

I never beat on the car unless it's totally warmed up. I learned my lesson with my first car, a VTEC

 

haha that Vtec dont really work when cold

 

Sorry. Stupid mobile site. There was more to that message, although I can't remember, other than the fact that I learned my lesson with my old Prelude, trying to show off with a cold motor. VTEC no likie being cold haha.

Its not fun to pull out to pass someone in a hurry and then all of a sudden have no go juice.

 

Bump... The car still won't NLS from 1-2... .

 

Time for a dealer visit then? Have you ever tried to adjust the cables? I'm an auto guy here but aren't the shifter cables adjustable in the Cobalts? It might be worth a look.

Later
Allex

 

Roll pin is stretched which will cause u getting locked out of a quick 1-2 change the roll pin and it will work again, however most people don't recommend nls 1-2

 

Try to NLS earlier. Like 5700-5800 rpm. If that doesn't work, try at 5500-5600. If that still doesn't work then something is dearly wrong.

 

Where is the roll pin?

 

Your roll pin is on your shifter lever on the transmission. Search is your friend. Look up the how to on replacing the roll pin.

 

I would echo these tips on the shifter; had the same problem and shifting at lower rpm helped. After my linkage broke shifter was replaced and problem hasn't resurfaced.
Regarding the engine- you've established you don't beat on it when cold and you haven't mentioned any cel's/codes so the first thing I would try is a little seafoam thru the vaccum port on the intake manifold. It's been documented that our intake valves gum up quickly which may lead to hesitation/misfires,etc. It's easy and cheap as are plugs which would be second on my list.