I bought my Cobalt Frebraury of this year and I was so excited to get a new car!!! Well, just recently my car has been acting really odd. Yesterday my boyfriend was going to take me to the zoo so we stopped by the gas station to get gas and a few drinks. As we were walking to the front to pay for our stuff my boyfriend yells my car is missing. We ran outside to find my car in the rear end of a 2003 toyota camry. No damage done to my car at all but the screws to my license plate frame punctured a little hole in her rear bumper. I am going to fix her rear bumper for her sometime this week. Nothing to bad of damage. The thing I don't understand is that the e-brake was all the way pulled up. Even when it was in the rear of her car it was up and the parking lot is not even steep. It is pretty much a flat surface. The lady and I are going up to the dealership to talk to them because neither of us think that we should pay for it when it was their defect. The car is only 3 months old and I only drive 6 miles to and from work.

Another thing I don't understand is that sometimes when I stop and take it out of gear it will idle for like 1 minute and then it will just shut off. It will start right back up I just don't understand why it even shut's off to begin with. My car has a mind of it's own.......

The last thing is, that sometime last week my boyfriend and I were driving when we hear a really bad rattling noise comming from my engine. We pull over to check the oil and other things but everything was okay. Nothing was low at all. We shut off the car wait about 15 minutes start it back up and it was gone. Then that same thing happened again last night on our way home. I have no idea what it is.

I love this car so much but I just can't handle all these things. I want to put the stage 2 on my car soon but if this stuff keeps happening I am going to get rid of it. I really need all of yours guy's help. PLEASE!!!!!!!! Thank you!!!!!

 

Your not the only one with the ebrake issues. There has been plenty of threads on "My ebrake didnt work?". I know there is a TSB for that one. That and the accident should be covered by the dealership from what Ive heard. As for the other two..I havent seen anything before like that. Sorry I couldnt help more. Bump to help her out!

 

Your parking brake failure will be covered by your warranty. It will not cover the damage done to the other car. That's going to have to be your insurance I'm afraid.

The idle shut-off issue sounds ECM related. Report it when you get the brake fixed and they can check for a new flash program for you.

Rattling is usually in the exhaust. Look for loose hangers.

 

Do you keep it in a gear when you shut it off? It should not be in neutral when you shut her off. Keep it in 1 or R

 

I'm not going to claim it through my insurance becuase it is only like a $250 fix. My buddy owns an Import shop in Tumwater, WA and he said that he could help me fix it for dirt cheep so that's what I am going to do.

I haven't ever touched my exhuast so how would the hangers get loose. Is it just something that happens. It really sounded like it came from the engine. Thanks for all the help guys.

I don't shut her off... She shuts off by herself. We will just be pulling it out of gear and then it will die a few minutes later. It doesn't happen all the time just once in a blue moon. Another question is why not shut it off in nuetral why in 1 or R?

 

yea.. why not shut it off in neutral? every 5 spd ive owned ive left in neutral?

 

yeah, i forgot who it was but there was a thread about a guy that thought his red ss/sc was stolen. he back it into a parking spot in the corner of a lot. he went in, then came out 5 minutes later to find his balt not there. walking to his parking spot where the car was, he found out it rolled backwards into a ditch directly behind the parking spot.


all due to the e brake.

use your gears as a backup!

 

Yeah im starting to use the gears for back now untill the dealership gets this resolved because i dont want to go flying into something else. I was lucky i rolled into the car because if i would of been parked at the other pump i would of had the car inside the store right next to me.

 

I've never left a vehicle in neutral - it just seems like asking for an accident to happen. Actually my first car had to be in "R" or else the key couldn't be removed, so I picked up the habit pretty quick.

 

Is this a real question?

How long have you guys been driving a standard?

I think the real question to the OP is why was the car in neutral? Always leave it in gear, if your ebrake ever fails on a hill or anything, then your car is still locked into place.

If you go through insurance they will deem you negligent for rolling into another vehicle.

 

Wow, this all could have been avoided by using reverse when in park. Honestly, this should be a no brainer for you stick drivers.

 

ive just always thought it was bad for my gears to have that pressure... but i guess with the E brake on it wouldnt mayyer until the brake gave out.. not sure why i even asked that..

 

Yeah that is the first thing I have to comment on too... NEVER LEAVE A MANUAL IN NEUTRAL! I am not sure where you learned to drive manual, but this should have been the second thing you learned. You wouldn't leave an automatic parked in neutral would you? Of course not, because the key won't come out if you don't put it in Park. Hmm... I wonder why they would have done that...... it is also partly for the same reason they put switches on the clutches so you have to push in the clutch to start a manual.

The e-brakes are not that great. I have had mine adjusted once or twice because it didn't hold.

The car shutting off sounds like an ECU problem. Like Halfcent said, I would have it checked for any flashes.

Calling it a "rattling noise from the engine" doesn't help to determine the problem. When it makes the noise actually stick your head around and find out where exactly the noise is coming from. Was it from the front of the engine bay? The top? The bottom? The back? The answers to those questions can help narrow it down. Also was it a steady rattling even when you pulled over or did it seem to rattle more or less or was the rattling faster or slower depending on your speed? It could very easily be exhaust. My exhaust used to rattle from time to time as well until I put the performance exhaust on.

 

Could be your heatshield rattling, my 2005 cobalt shut off liek that when i first got it, they replaced the whole wiring harness/ecm everything, it was a defect.

 

The rattling noise sounded like it came from the top front. When I would rev it up it wouldn't rattle anymore. My stage 2 will be here in the next week so when that comes in I am going to have the dealership look at everything that could possibly be wrong. I think it might be the heat shield like you said. Thank you for all the advise though. I really appreciate it.

 

Put it in 1st or R because the Ebrakes SUCK and it will roll !!!!!
Mines acting up also BTW



If it a stick put it in gear people or say

 

Sounds like the supercharger may have just been rattling, they are noisey sometimes. How many miles do you have on the car? Sometimes when the supercharger gets to a certain tempurature I have noticed mine will rattle at idle for a minute or so, but then it goes away and is fine. Last time I had the SC off I inspected it and everything looked nice and pretty inside, but if you are worried about the noise have them check it out while they are installing the stage 2 since they will have the SC off anyways.

 

some one find that thread with that guys going into that pool.

 

I think your right about it being the supercharger. I only have about 10,000 miles on the car. Is the rattling noise pretty loud to you because the rattling I heard was pretty loud. I hear a slight rattling when I first start it but after it warms up it goes away but this noise was louder than normal. I will have them look at it though. Thank you rnjmur!!!

 

The rattling at startup is normal for the ecotecs, I get that as well. When my SC does make its rattling noise it is loud enough you can hear it inside the car with the windows up and the radio on. I also noticed mine started making that rattling noise from time to time at idle right about the same time - I was at 10,000 to 15,000 miles. Like I said, I don't think it is anything major the SC do get noisey as they get more miles on them. However, if you are taking it in anyways have them check it out, it can't hurt to know for sure.

 

Your right. Mine is like your sc, it is so loud you can hear inside the car with the windows up and music on. Thank you for the advise. I will have it looked at next week. I have an appointment for the stage 2 and the recall so when I take it in I will just have them look at it on top of everything else.