Whats up guys my name is Ted, ive been reading a lot on here and decided i would join.
I just rececntly bought a 2009 chevy Cobalt SS/TC with 4,000 miles on it. I bought it from my neighbor who didnt drive it and kept it in the garage. It's a very nice looking car, inside and out. (I don't know how to add pics, otherwise I would). It's red with black racing stripes.

A couple things I noticed about the car-
-it's not as fast as I thought it would be.
-Sometimes the car is faster on certain days, the outside weather effects it.
-It handles like a beast
-The brakes are good
-It has a small turbo on it

That's what I can just think of for the time being.
I've been looking for a tuner around my area and I can't find one (I live in Delaware)
So I was thinking about getting a zzp canned tune. It's cheap. I just want a little more power, and a downpipe lol.

Another thing I noticed is I get really bad gas mileage, like 13-15mpg! I have that Torque OBDII scanner and something came up as "fuel system monitor bank 2" I have no idea what that refers too. So if anyone has any ideas as what it could be, I'd appreciate your help. And I'd appreciate anyone's help if they could help me find a tuner in my area.
By the way how do I add pictures? I have a lot of pics.

 

Welcome and thats an awesome find what you lay for it? You can add pics by getting a photobucket, then upload your pics then copy the IMG code and paste here.

You probably need to drive the car a bit more since it seems he didnt drive it much and might be giving you that code since it probably hasnt completed the monitors. Also are you basing your mpg by what the dic says or you did the math to calculate the mpg?

 

It sure is an awesome find, i paid 10k for it. I'll make a photo bucket account so i can uplod pics. I put about 1,500 miles on it since I had the car. For the mpg I'm doing the math and going off what the dic says, the dic isn't far off. I get bad millage even when I'm driving normally so I don't know what the hell it is. But filling up the tank with 93 every week sucks.

 

Wow thats one heck of a deal man congrats on that end. hmm seems weird your getting such bad mpg do you have the actual code in hand? Also how many miles do you usually drive it?

 

That's a great deal, congrats. Unless you're driving around in first gear you should be getting at least 10 more MPG.

 

Yeah its a great deal i got my car for like 500 bucks cheaper but 61k miles about a year ago tho

 

The weird thing is with that Torque app is when you run the ECU test it won't come up with any codes, like I said before it just said "fuel system monitor bank 2" highlighted in red. So it's not much help, it could be a bad O2 sensor but that would throw a CEL I would think. I don't drive much, most of the time I drive from work and back, but about 2 or 3 days outta the week I'll take her out and do a lot of WOT pulls (like tonight). I put less than 100 miles on it a week. I just had it out on the highway and it probably got 25mpg and used up a good amount of gas. I don't know what's up with it, I really don't wanna take it to the dealership.
What's your mpg like driving around town and doing a few occasional pulls?

 

What are your fuel trims like?

Oh and welcome to the show!!!

 

Well according to my dic its like 29mpg but havent really done the math. But i drive around 30+ miles a day. since its one of the monitors i would think you need to make a mini road trip like 40+miles so the ecu can run the test it needs. Have you done maintenance to the car like oil change, plugs ect i know the car doesnt have many miles but its been sitting for a long time. Also doing lot of pulls hurts your gas mileage

 

My average is 19.5mpg. Got a bit of a heavy foot. Lol

 

Lol a bit?

 

Lol

 

I believe my LTFTs are 0 to -5. Does that sound normal? I know my AFRs are in the right range.

 

Man I wish I got 29mpg. I should make a mini road trip, I will in the next few days. The guy I bought it from said he changed the oil twice but Im actually gonna change it this weekend. I haven't changed the plugs though, maybe I should pull them and take a look at them? I know the guy drove it at least once a month, but I know what your getting at. Yeah I know doing a lot of pulls hurts gas mileage lol. But it's not like I drive like that everyday.

 

I've never got worse than 23MPG, and that was a lot of racing. Normal driving is about 60% highway, 40% city and I get 26ish MPG overall.

 

Welcome to Cobalt land, Once you enter there's no escape.

 

My driving i would say is like 70 %highway and 30% streets and i think i get more like 26mpg but i havent done the math i usually cruise at 70 or 75 mph so why i think my milage is a tad lower.

But yeah check your plugs and all that stuff. Idk if you have $ to invest in a powell oil separator before your valves start to get all gunked up as well

 

Wow, very nice find on the cobalt. Welcome

A couple of things:

It only has 260 hp. It's quick, but it isn't that fast in stock form . A tune, downpipe, and maybe an intercooler and you'll be sitting another 60+ whp higher.

Since the guy you bought it from only drove it 4k miles in 6 years, maybe the gas is really old. I mean, 4k miles should be less than 15 tanks of gas, over the course of 6 years, is an average of 1 tank every almost 5 months .

 

Btw, to make everyone feel better, the worst gas mileage I ever recorded was approximately 4 mpg and that was when I was doing hot laps at Road America.

 

OK I'll check the plugs. What's a Powell oil separator and how exactly does that work? Do you think the valves could be gunked up already? My bad for the noob questions.

 

Yeah I was planning on tuning it but can't find a tuner in my area so I might just get a zzp canned tune with a downpipe and a few other things. He said he put fuel stabilizer in it and when I got it, it drove fine then I've been filling it up every week with 93 octane, I put about 1,500 hundred miles on it so far.

 

It is an air/oil separator that goes inline between the air outlet on the valve cover and inlet on the turbo. Crank case gasses are vented out that line so with nothing there to filter them, the oily air eventually builds up gunk on the valves. The Powell separator filters the oil out of that air and drains it back into the oil pan via the dipstick tube. Your valves should be ok now but after time they do get dirty and need cleaned

 

Yup its not the cheapest part but i say well worth it with your miles

 

Buy hptuners and get a remote tune, worth more power for the money

 

HPtuners and a downpipe and it will be alot faster. cool find. your mileage should be better than that.

doubt the valves are coked up already with only 4,000 miles on it.

enjoy the car. a tune will wake it up and you'll love it!