Kroric

Hello everyone!

My names Josh. I dont own a Cobalt SS but a friend of mine does. Known this guys for 15-ish years and have never been able to get him to join a forum so I figured I'd just help out and do this for him. I dont usually join a forum and instantly start asking for help. But I know VERY little about these cars. Basically only what I read on wikipedia. Im a Mitsubishi guy so this platform is a bit alien to me right now. So any help would be GREATLY appreciated!

Anyway he recently purchased a 2006 Cobalt SS supercharged no LSD.

Mods that I have seen: It previously had a bullydog tuner hooked up to it, its still in the car but was having some sort of issue so it was disconnected. And it has a K&N cold air intake. As far as I can tell everything else seems stock.

On to the problems. He started noticing a popping noise when he would turn right, and if he is at speed turning right it grinds. We jacked up his car last night to see what we could find. So I took some pictures of some of the strange things I found.

First off I noticed some fresh looking oil on the transmission. Didnt know if this was a serious leak or not. Just noticed it when crawling under.


This is what I am suspecting the popping/grinding noises are coming from. Before crawling under the passenger side of the front end I wiggled the wheel and noticed no play in the wheel so I ruled out wheel bearings, and tie rods. But again I am a newb at these cars so i could be wrong. But I noticed all these washers on the axle and checked the driver side to see if it too had these and it didnt. Not sure why someone would do this...


The other strangeness was all this grease. Im not sure where it came from but it is slung all over everything on the bottom passenger side of the engine bay. Here it looks the freshest behind the splash guard in the passenger side wheel well.


Its all over the sub frame and control arm under the axle with the washers.


Its on the boot for the tie rod. I felt the boot and found no holes in it just to rule that out.


And even slung up on the firewall.


Im starting to think that maybe the passenger side axle went bad and slung grease on everything. And then someone replaced it with an axle that was too short because it looks relatively new. But again. I know nothing about these cars and thats why I have come seeking help from you all.

EDIT:: Forgot to mention. He is also getting water in his passenger side floorboard. Just guessing I thought it may be related to his AC. But Im not sure.

Again any help would be greatly appreciated!
Thank you very much!!

crashher0

iTrader: (2)

popping and grinding when turning is usually a sign of axle problems, with that much grease spattered everywhere i bet the boot ripped or came loose or somethng and thats what is caked all over the engine and area around it.

Pop the wheel off see if you can see any tears in the boot or where it came loose if you cant see too well then unbolt the suspension from the hub (2 bolts) and lower the hub down.You may have to pop off the wheel well plastics.

Inspect. If you find any tears around the boot then take it out its probably dried and bad, get a new one.

Take a crowbar and pop the axle out of the hub then out of where it meets the engine. this may be a little difficult but once you pop it loose it should slide right out.

I am banking ripped/torn/loose boot

As for the oil on the trans, get under there and scrub it with a sponge and some dish soap try to locate the leak once its clean. Dish soap will help break down the oil instead of smearing it around

If i can see it properly it looks like it may be coming from the axle meeting the trans its probably the seal on the axle. Dont pull that axle out of the trans unless you have a replacement seal or axle because any trans fluid left above that axle will drain out.

If its engine oil I have no idea what its coming from that far from the engine.

REDi DEViSTATOR

Stop one, replace axel, step 2 replace that damn belt. Step 3, sell cobalt lol

swanman35

The water on his floor is probably the ac drain tube plugged up. It will leak out of the black cylinder under the glove box. The drain tube is on the passenger side in the engine bay. It will be coming from the firewall. Shoot some air in there from a compressor or use a pipecleaner(not as effective) and unplug it. Lots of water will come out.

Kroric

I took a good long look at the boot on the axle while we had the front end off the ground. Spun it round to check all sides and didnt see any holes. It was also the only thing on that side WITHOUT grease on it. Still thinking it is the problem though.

And I'll do that on the tranny side to see if we can isolate that oil as well.

Thank you so much!


LOL The belt is already on the ToDo list. I pointed that out to him before he bought the car. LOL

Thanks!


Awesome. I thought it may be something like that after seeing the drain on the firewall while under the car last night. I'll take a peak behind the glove box and try to clean it out.

Thank you!!

crashher0

iTrader: (2)

The tear may be tiny on the axle boot especially if its the only clean thing. Run your hands around it stick your fingers in each of the gaps (Thats what she said) and try to feel if there is a hole anywhere. Remember if this boot is the cause it obviously happens when the car is moving since its sprayed everything on the inside of the engine bay so it has some centripetal force opening the hole. It may look perfectly fine just sitting but moving it could look like a fat lady playing cave explorer with her fat roles.

And don't cars like blow up or short out if those drain pipes get clogged? I think it was toy-yoties were shorting electrical unites inside the cab while driving and causing the car to stall and crash and burn and people to die.

Thats kinda an important one too even though we dont have them there toy-yoties.