Hello. My car's seen a handful of spirited driving and open track days. I'm about to cross 51,000mi in my 2008 LNF (love driving, especially love driving this car, still). I generally baby all of my cars. I always let the engine and tranny oil come up to temperature with about 4 to 6 miles of light driving before really getting on it, and on a day to day basis, I'm more of a hypermiler. On my track days, I always let the car run at least a few minutes after really pushing the car, even after a cool down lap. Heat degrades, so I generally do whatever I can to keep the car running as long as possible.

I like sitting back and enjoying our Pioneer audio systems coupled with that oh-so-intuitive radio with a six-disc CD changer and just cruising. Love this car... even with half my warranty eaten up in less than two years... hehe.

Anyway, I placed this in the road racing section, intentionally. I'm wondering how people who... like to thrash their LNF on the track are doing with stock or mostly stock parts. How many miles have you clocked, what problems have you had with stock parts, no matter how minor, and how are components like the stock BPV holding up? How's shift-feel now that most of us are probably halfway through the warranty period of our powertrain. Things like that. I'll start, and hopefully more people with add on!

15,000mi: Rear Brake Caliper binding -- replaced rotors, replaced stock pad with Raybestos Ceramics, and I lubricate the rear calipers once I hear the inner pad dragging (around three to six thousand miles depending on the season). I heart lube.

20,000mi: GM Stage 1 Installed. More power, way more torque, +1mpg, AND a bigger smile on my face at wide open throttle.

30,000mi Replaced EVAP Purge Solenoid. I've heard this is also common. I think it's just a characteristic of Direct Injection engines and/or turbocharged applications. Cheap part, easy to replace, no problem!

38,000mi Sway Bar End Links Start Knocking -- Still rocking the loose sway bar links. Looser sway bar = better front-end turn-in....... although I do intend on getting the adjustable sway bar end links if I ever do some serious track work of course. For now, they're hanging on and are actually not in terrible shape.

40,000mi Reverse gear and 1st are a little bit testy and when the tranny fluid is still cold, sometimes a 1st -> 2nd -> 1st is required to engage 1st. I also notice that if the trans is still cold, 5th gear will make an audible grind, which is never a good thing, but the gear still engages. After about 4 miles of driving, never happens. Shift linkages seem to be okay. Shift cables are so finicky sometimes.

As for reverse, I find 3rd -> then Reverse always does the trick. I also drive a 1989 Acura Integra with almost 300,000mi so engaging a forward gear and then reverse is never really an inconvenience. Sort of... required in my good ol' Honda.

Shift feel though, up until present is still very precise. 1st to 2nd is getting a little harder day to day driving, but nothing to complain about with NLS. I actually blame myself for 1st to 2nd because I was probably really hard once I had the bravery to pull off a good 1st to 2nd NLS. Now though, engages nicely with a flick of the wrist, and a little bit of a tug.

Likewise with 3rd to 2nd, unless you rev match it, heel-toe, double clutch. Then it slides right in like the very first day I drove the car! Thank you Sweden for building awesome ****. Our transmissions are pretty tough. They even sound like truck transmissions sometimes, at the lower rpms. Couple that with some low-rpm boosting and I'm almost convinced I drive a two door diesel Cobalt SS.

Overall, shift feel is still good -- worn, but good, considering what I've put this car through... haha.

50,400mi Ever since the GMS1 upgrade about 30,000mi ago, I noticed with the added boost, the BPV naturally sounds like it's releasing more air, and because I'm a little ricer at heart, a stock BPV that makes more noise for seemingly no reason does put another smile on my face.

Occasionally, most noticeably from right below 2,000rpm, WOT in second gear, my BPV sounds like it makes a very low dull chirp. It's brief, it's not noisy, and it's barely noticeable if the windows are up. I did a makeshift boost leak test, or something, by WOTting in 3rd and 4th up the rev range, and the boost is holding fine. I'm not too worried, just wondering if anyone hear noticed the same issue.

So yeah, thanks GM for giving a crap about the last few years of the Cobalt. Everyone, please throw in any odd issues you've had with your car. I look forward to comparing results.

 

good write up! so far no problems, had the car for about 8 months. only 3000 miles on it. its been in storage for the past 6 months cuz im deployed.

 

nice! Yeah i have had my 2010 a few months and am autoXing it. no issues yet

Evap problems are common on almost every car and the cobalt the evap system is almost wise open to the elements lol.

How often have you changed your tranz fluid?

 

I've only got 11k on mine. 2 long track weekends on it. Another outing in November. This car kicks ass on track. I've owned various race / track cars over the last 13 years, and this is a really good car for as little as I've put into it.

No major issues so far, but I did have the standard high pressure fuel pump and cam cap oil leakage fixed under warranty.

If you don't have one yet, get the OTTP hardcore track bar. Your front bushings probably need to get changed out too. I have the OTTP/Powell leading and trailing bushings, and it's nice upgrade for little tradeoff, other than $. Not much added NVH.

 

just about 20K miles. 4 track days and 2 full track weekends and about 20 autocross events. Still on the stock pads and no troubles yet. But I do have to say the trans feels great. It has gotten way better as the miles tick by. Feels comfortable to no-lift-shift now, not that I ever really do it much. Well, except for my last track day where I was trying to keep up with some jack ass in a GTR with more money than brains.

 

If you actually listen to your transmission fluid, it'll tell you when it needs to be changed... haha. Also, I noticed shift feel getting a little rough. Around 15,000mi, my trans was actually a little noisier while I was learning to fool around with the NLS and being a little too hard on my trans. The actual fluid itself is formulated pretty well. There was just a lot of synchro debris, unfortunately.

The actual fluid itself is pretty expensive stuff. It's way more expensive than traditional passenger car manual trans fluid. GM did their homework though, and it's expensive for a reason. I haven't done an oil analysis of the transmission fluid, but I'm sure they would have sent back of a result something along the lines of:

"Fluid additives are good. Consider extending fluid change. However, there's an abnormal amount of brass, probably from your synchros. Are you a bad stick driver?"

If I recall correctly, it should last somewhere between 60,000mi to 100,000mi according to the manual. Maybe more, can't remember. Please correct me if I'm wrong. Because transmission fluid has a different job from engine oil, it lasts way longer. It doesn't have to absorb any blowby fuel or other contaminants. The transmission just spins, gets warm, and then cools down.

My trans teacher explained it best -- "Manual transmissions are big, dumb, and stupid, like me."

If your manual stick driving skills are smooth like silk, then the transmission fluid really doesn't have to be changed until the specified interval. Just feel and listen to what your trans is telling you when you shift.

 

I bought my car from my brother with 36,000 miles on it. I really dislike how hard it is to get in gear sometimes. I dread the 1st-2nd just because it feels horrible. He did drive it very hard though. My 200,000 mile civic with a bad input shaft bearing shifted smoother.

As for things going wrong it's had a coil go out a couple times, And the end tank on the stock IC broke, the rear brakes had issues too. Other than that no problems.

 

Haha, I love how indestructible Hondas can be. My 1989 Integra's torsion bar suspension is like... not really connected to the car anymore, so the car feels like an old wooden roller coaster when you thrash it around. Still, it keeps on truckin' like a champion. The exhaust leak even gives it a "sporty" exhaust noise.... hahah.

If your brother drove it hard, a trans service might actually help you. Like I said, little bits of synchro could just be sitting in your trans, making some shifting difficult. Also, check your shift linkages. Those silly union folks in Lordstown sometimes don't put em in quite correctly. Or they pop out really easily, who knows.

In fact, after writing my original post, I've noticed my shift quality has been reducing... time to drain my fluid out... again.

Hopefully this helps you! :-)

 

My first open track day was actually in my little Civic family sedan... haha. My second open track day, I brought our lovely little SS on the track, and I got so many flattering comments:

"Nice driving out there. How long have you been racing?"
A guy with an LNF Saturn Sky asked me what I did to make the car faster than his.
The list goes on and on, really.

Sore losers in motorsport tend to blame the vehicle. In this case, the Cobalt SS is the reason why I was going too fast... not the driver...

Also, your youtube videos are awesome. You are my hero.

 

I probably have the most abused SS/TC on this site. Plenty of track weekends, I've also gone through set after set of tires, bushings and it appears I'm on me way to destroying the OTTP stage 1 trans mount. I've had my engine replaced for questionable reasons, evap purge solenoid, rear brakes three times, front brakes once. I destroyed my intercooler pulling into a bank drivethru from the street a bit too quick, I went through a couple sets of control arm bushings before I discovered ottp. Burnt up a coil pack on the old motor, on my second maf sensor, my radiator is leaking as I discovered this morning which I think is due in part to the piece of tire that flew off and hit my car last weekend on my way to new orleans.

With all that, I have a giant smile on my face and no regrets, no other car I have seen can put up with that kind of use and not suffer the consequence.

 

Nice write up!

I'm coming on 20,000km's on my car ~12,000Miles lol it's an 09 SS/TC

I don't road race my car but I do, do a fair bit of autocross and some "sprited" driving, again I also let my car warm up before getting on it, I never NLS as I am tuned and I think it would be a bit hard on the tranny.

So far the car has been good the only issues I have to report are:

Rear Brake Rotors being grooved (replaced pads, lubricated sliding pins and so far so good)
Slight Steering Clunk Noticed at low speeds mostly in parking lots (waiting for power steering recall)
Drivers seat felt loose on tracks (dealership replaced tracks, problem gone)
Clutch Pedal Squeak (dealership cannot "recreate" the sound, so far no good fix found)
Usual rattles and creaks (sunroof, trim pannels...)

All in all the car is fantastic and I am very impressed with it, everything I want done to the car is already done except OTTP Rear Sway Bar, OTTP CAB's and some tires still debating on which ones.

 

09 TC/SS with full bolt on intake/exhaust and Trifecta 23psi tune since nearly new...we've crossed 54k and everything is just aok...well except for the stock clutch which is starting to have a hard time hanging on at full boost...it slips a few hundred rpms if I go wot below 4000rpm in 4th...no problem hanging on in second and third (all tire smoke in second)...

Question, is there any group sale on stage clutch anywhere for LNF?

 

Alright, we officially have an e-mail address now! ABRTuning@gmail.com, Also, please add snowyhessh@gmail.com to your Facebooks (for now). A website should be up shortly.

 

New update! Blew my radiator endtank seal. Wasn't what I thought, oh well, warranty covered it, 23,990 miles. I have a mind to upgrade the radiator anyways, I know it's plenty but I think a call to Be Cool would help me out. I also know they do custom cores.

 

im at 51k in my 09 now.. 3rd set of tires, 3rd set of rear brakes, replaced the fronts once, broken intercooler, went through a bunch of fouled plugs, direct injection pump went bad around 40k and then my EVAP purge soleniod... tranny is getting a little tougher to get in first when cold, and clutch slips a tiny bit if im at a low speed in a high gear when i have my trifecta tune activated. ive been tuned for over 30k miles tho..everything else is stock besides the exhaust

 

After my cross country trip (New Jersey to Oregon, hopped, skipped, and jumped three time zones in three days), I'm pretty much convinced this car can do ANYTHING, outside of heavy offroading. I wouldn't be surprised, with the right chassis modifications, if it could do that too. Anyway...
~56,500mi. I've noticed my DIC ::chuckles:: warning me about LOW COOLANT a lot more lately. I'm not too concerned, and I've checked for any external leaks. None to report. When I get the oil changed, I'll be sure to let them know, and hopefully they'll top it off. There's still about a little more than 1/4 in the reservoir. Also... don't forget, gentlemen, lube your rear calipers! -_-

Added October 22, 2010
I just transported a full-sized mattress on top of my Cobalt, using the rear spoiler as a sort of support. Felt like driving a Lotus... no back window, but way more awesome than being stuck in a Lotus.

 

That is sleeves weeping. You can try a can of BLOCK sealer (different from radiator sealer) and that in most cases clears things up.