I have lost all faith in GM's customer service.


Over the past 4 months, I have been working closely with GM customer service to resolve an issue I have been having. Not to go too into detail, but it is a programming problem that is causing a very choppy acceleration.

I went to 3 dealerships trying to find a technician that even knows what a Cobalt is, and finally on the 4th one, I found a tech that OWNS a Cobalt, and has the stage 1 kit installed.(My problem seems to be caused by my stage 2).

So after the tech checks it out, he 100% agrees that there is a problem, and that he is fully commited to finding out what it is. Him and another technician seemed very versed in the cobalt, and genuinly want to find the problem.

Well after they thoroughly checked it out, they said they didn't know what the problem is, but it seems to be a programming issue, specifically a fuel delivery issue.

They used the "tech 2" to take a "snapshot" of my vehicle while in the middle of the choppy acceleration. After looking at the graphs, the tech saw that it was very difficult to see the problem on paper, but very easy to feel the problem in the car. The techs said that they will send the info to GM to see if the technicians that worked on stage 2 could resolve the problem.

Well after waiting weeks upon weeks, they decided that there isn't a problem with the car, and that the "choppy acceleration is just the engine searching for horsepower."

BULLSHIT.

That is there way of saying they don't know what the problem is, or they DO know, and they arn't going to fix it.



So that is how it has ended for now. They said they specifically will not do anything for me, and that my car is running fine. The only thing they did offer, was to take the stage 2 off free of charge, but they will not refund my money, or fix the problem after that or reinstall it if the problem goes away.


So I return to the title of this post, and say **** GM. Now i'm not about to sell my Cobalt, so maybe I am a hypocrit for not shunning GM all the way, but it really does disgust me that 2 of their own certified technicians are telling them there is a problem, but since it would be too costly/difficult to fix it, that they are just going to tell me tough luck.

I just had to rant about it, so feel free to tell me to F@#k off also, or to stop whinning. But if any of you have suggestions(i.e. lemon law, tuning at an outside source, or burning down GM headquarters), I would be interested in what you all think.


P.S. Just incase.... Flame suit on!

 

get a real tune.

 

Yep.

 

what are the supposed to do? do you expect a tech to develope a new program for you, if thats what it even is? I'm guessing when you say choppy acceleration you mean when the car bucks in when you take off. mine used to do that, i dunno what stopped it but it eventually did. i think it has something to do with the drive by wire system they use on the throttle bodies now, not the stage 2 programing.

 

Honestly, I don't really care what they would have to do. I think rewriting the program would probably be the best way to, but in the end, my warranty is their way of saying they will take care of any problems that arise. And this is a problem. So write a program, or get me a new engine. I don't care. Either way, my car has a problem, and they have to do whatever it takes to fix it. That sounds childish, but I think it is a very simple way to look at the problem.

The problem is during non-WOT accelerations. Unless I am going WOT, the acceleration is smooth till 2900rpm, then choppy as hell between ~3000-4500rpm, than back to normal after 5000rpm.

Like stated above, I just need a tune, and I feel fairly comfortable the problem will go away. But the whole principle was that with a warranty, problems should be taken care of for free, and the tune will cause more voids in my warranty.


If only dealerships had dyno's and HPTuners.......

 

have the tried to reprogram the car with the stage 2 program? if you're waiting for them to rewrite a program for it, its gonna take a while. it sounds like the techs have done all they can and now its in the engineer's hands. i agree with you, and dont mean to sound like an ass or anything. they should do everything they can to honor your warranty but issues like this may end up taking more time to resolve. i would just get a tune from a different place and not tell your dealer. more than likely they arent going to void your warranty

 

If you think like I do, you spend so much money on GM parts and expect their programming to at least work correctly. But now to make it run smoothly you have to spend even more money on an aftermarket programming to correct their problems.

GM should provide a quality program for the stage 2.

 

Im not sure how you did your airbox mod but if you can put it back together and see what happens. The stage II tune doesnt account for an intake.

 

I agree, if you do still indeed have a warnity. There is no reason they should not to everything possible to fix the problem. I would suggest getting it reflashed and see if that helps. You know there was a secondary stage II reflash.

 

Hmm... your mod list closely resembles mine... have you checked to see if all your injectors are performing properly?

 

get a reflash when i installed the gm S/C kit on my z24 the reflash did not take properly the first time had to do it again

 

jason

Check out RPM in garner Give me a pm for there info. They are a specilized place for chevy's they do alot of ls1 work and other stuff they have hptuners and a dyno so they can dyno tune your car. The guys there are great and willing to work on our cars. If that fales you can sell me your stage 2.

 

do you have the newest possible stage 2 reflash?
it came out late last year.
and just about every tech doesnt know about it until you make them go search for it.

there were about 5 threads that were created a few months ago about how the reflash seemed to fix the fluttering accel problem

If you DO have the newest reflash, then i guess disregard......
but since i myself have experienced this problem with my car, and had it fixed....i thought it might help.

I also find, that even with the new flash....if i dont run 94 octane, and the weather is cold....it comes back a little bit.

but if its warmer, and i have 94 octane in the tank. its nonexistant

 

no dont burn down GM headquarters, well at least not the one in Michigan my dad works there and trust me my dad after i bought my car loved the cobalt and wanted to do a lot to it through gm. but he doesnt have that kinda power.

anywho ya that sucks. try what the others are saying about the newer retune for stage 2 that went around. tell us when u go it

 

Thanks for the suggestions guys.

Unfortunately, I have gotten all the reflashes, and I have even tried getting them twice, even though that shouldnt have been necessary. This problem supposedly got escalated all the way to the top engineers, so if there was a program or reflash, they would have suggested it. I think the problem is just due to the sloppy stage 2 tune. I think my engine is just a little different from most, and so it won't accept the tune-in-a-can that comes with the stage 2 kit.

Also, I didn't do the airbox mod till the day they called me and told me they wouldnt do anything. I had been holding off on the mod until the problem got fixed, but when they told me i was SOL, I said fk it, may as well do it now..

Great suggestions, and thanks for concern...


Oh and rickyw, I think I will hit RPM within the next couple of weeks, but I have a vegas trip coming up, so I probably cant afford it right now. But if your lucky, I will lose out so bad in vegas, that I will HAVE to seel you my stage 2 kit.

 

Start looking into the injectors, harness, fuel rail, etc.

 

LET ME KNOW lol on another note when you get a chance maybe you should come on over and we can see if its a power problem? Like your injectors stop reciving power after a certain amount of time. PM and ill get you RPM's number and who you can talk to.

Rick

 

Who installed the stage 2? Maybe it was not installed correctly, or got some bad parts with the install. In the real world, stuff doesn't work perfectly every time. You were just unlucky enough to get a bad one.

 

you didnt answer the questions about octane and temperature.

what octane do you run?
how cold is it there?

 

I always frun 93 octane from BP. I cant find any richer gas.

The temp has fluctuated as this problem has been happening during winter, and now into the spring.

At first, I thought the problem got better when it is warm out, and it does get a little bit better, but for the most part, cold or hot, it still has the problem.

I have some one step colder plugs coming in the mail, but it is a long shot, and I don't think that it will help...

 

keep us posted

on a side note i curbed the hell out of a rim

 

i agree but if he got something that doesnt work properly and he id then the people who made it should fix it and figure out wtf is up... a ******* responce like "its supposed to do that" isnt cutting it

 

Yup... Like the title says F* GM!!

I'm tempted to take Stage 2 off, and if the problem is still there, then they are screwed, and could not say it is supposed to run like that, since no other stock cobalts run like that.

But then I would most likely have to pay to have it put back on, so in the end, i'm paying for something...

 

Try the new spark plugs; let us know how it goes.

 

Try contacting the Better Business Bureaus autoline division. I had a bad problem with my cobalt and they could not fix it even when the engineers got involved. I contacted these guys on line and in about a week GM called me ready to deal. It took a few weeks, but they are taking my car back and giving me a loaded 07 Balt with stage two, GMPP Manifold and sport exhaust. I will be picking it up in a little over a week. If you have been to the dealer a lot and they cannot fix the problem the BBB could really help you out. Doesnt cost anything either. http://www.dr.bbb.org/goauto/