SS Shifter Knob Broken!
 

Ok, so I was driving home from work yesterday night, and I stopped at a light. Light turns green, I bring car close to 5500 RPM pretty fast, and throw the shifter to second, at which point the ball on the top pops off, and some parts fly to the right. I was like "Sh*T." I had to drive home using a medal rod that stuck up.

Pulled into my garage and found two pieces: The ball piece of the shifter, and a spring with foam around the middle. I figure the spring connects over the medal shaft piece, and the shifter ball goes on top of that. I rig it up, but now the safety feature to go into reverse isn't quite factory feel. It's rests a lot higher on the shifter and it's weird. I pull the ball off again, and try to put the shifter back together better.

At this point, everything goes terribly wrong. All I did was place the shifter ball back on, but it jammed up the whole assembly. I can't shift over to first or second, and the shifter is stuck in dead neutral. Shitty. When I try to shift towards reverse or 5th, it makes a terrible clicking noise and doesn't go all the way. Shit. I can only shift into third, because it's above dead neutral. Called Chevrolet roadside assistance this morning. I had to pull the car out of the garage and behind the towtruck in 3rd gear.

The towtruck driver told me this isn't the first cobalt he's towed that had this problem. He explained to me about two rods running under the shifter boot, and how they can become jammed---which doesn't allow you to shift much at all. The car probably got to the shop at about 12:00, but they close at 1:00PM on Saturday, and they aren't open on Sundays. I won't be seeing my car until at least monday.

Has anybody else had this problem?

I'd like to point out that I haven't had to many other problems with the car. It has 2117 miles. Unfortunate luck for the shifter to get messed up though. The car's awesome anyways, and I can't wait to get her back. I miss my baby.

im sorry dude but thats some funny sh** ... im glad i didnt see that happen because i would have busted out laughen my ass off... :lol: :lol: but thats why we have warrenties



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haha, yea that's funny dude. Reminds me of how the SRT-4 shifter ball is not threaded on there and some people have thrown the ball off during races.

This apparently happens with the redline as well...a friend of mine shifted hard into second and tossed the ball into the backseat. He got the car home shifting with the shaft the same way you did but didn't even attempt to re-attach it because he couldn't...the parts that had flown off were completely destroyed :lol:. Hopefully it's no a huge deal...sux losing your car for a few days though.

Permafried-

Well i just called the service department, and he said that the shifter was completely broken and the piece was on national backorder. Looks like this may be a big problem. He said it would be awhile before it was fixed...Stupid.

my button fell off on top of shifter and i got a whole new shifter assembly

Funny how your knob pops off, when mine was STUCK on there.
I just installed my B&M shifter last week, and had to smash the knob off with a hammer. :lol:
https://www.cobaltss.net/forums//showthread.php?t=4891

You might as well order one, if you don't mind paying $145.59 shipped from www.carcustoms.net

You wouldn't have to wait for the part, you'd have a far superior shifter, and you'd never have to worry about this happening again.

The B&M assembly is all metal, includes upgraded aluminum bushings, nice solid feel, and shorter shifts. You can't go wrong ordering one, WELL worth the money!

I'd even see if the dealer will throw it on for you, since this is such an inconvenience.

Good Luck! :cssNET:

So what does it look like? Are there splines?

Has anyone else noticed all SS/SC shift knobs look like they aren't on strait? The whole shifter assembly sits at an angle.

The shifter sits onto a very smooth metal shaft. The inside of knob is smooth except for a few protruding rectangular bumbs that run along the sides, about 4 in all. Seems like pretty mediocre way to keep the shifter knob on. Just me .02 cents. I think I may go for that B&M shifter. Going to call the service department now and see if they will install it and if it would affect my warranty. Keep you guys updated.