when should i change the spark plugs, tranny fluid and plush the raidiator,
and with general wear and tear when should i change my brake pads how long do the stock one's usually last?

 

Spark plugs 100,000 miles, Engine coolant 150,000 miles, auto trans fluid 50,000 miles but only under severe duty, otherwise doesn't need to be changed. Brake pads will squeel continuously when they are bad, probably around 40-50k miles

 

i was told by other cobalt owners that they needed to change there spark plugs around 40K-60K so they must hav really worn their plugs them didn't they

 

You will need to change your spark plugs at 50K, the 100K that they say they last for is just hype. Tranny fluid is typically around 30 - 50K. As far as engine coolant, GM says dexcool is good to 150K but I say bull ****. I drained mine out and refilled at 40K. It isn't that expensive and is fairly easy to do.

 

im doing all the flushed at 40k. it helps that i can do it at my shop and they only charge me for fluids

 

is there any how to: that anyone knows about on how to change ur tranny fluid, i just havn't done that before so i want to make sure i do it right

 

Automatic or Manual? Automatics need there fluid flushed out more often then manuals. I believe the cobalt manual says that the manual transmission fluid never needs to be changed, but I would still do it somewhere around 50K. Someone posted the manual transmission drain and fill proceedure a bit back. All there is to it is taking out the drain plug and fill plug, letting the fluid drain, then putting the drain plug back in and filling the tranny then put the fill plug back in. I believe the torque settings for the plugs were 21 or 23 lbs/ft but you should be able to find it if you search for it.

For an automatic, I don't know if there is a way to do a drain and fill but I doubt it. Drain and fills on automatics are a waste of time anyways. You will have to take the car to a shop and have them do a flush on the automatic transmission with their machine.

 

Flushing an auto trans can do more harm than good. Just simply draining and refilling ought to be fine. I don't know all the facts and the person I'd ask is running his lab in Angola. So if you need to know more hopefully there's an honest mechanic around to ask.

 

Never heard of flushing a transmission being bad. All you are doing is replacing old fluid with new fluid. If this is bad for the car then I guess my old Ford Probe with 300K miles on the original transmission was just a fluke since I did transmission flushes on it every 30K like clockwork. The key to doing it is having the fluid transfer machine.

On probably 90% of all automatic transmissions on new cars the transmission has no drain or fill plugs. The only way to drain the fluid is to take off the pan and to fill you have to put fluid through the dip stick. So, what do you do when the car has no dipstick? Just NEVER change the automatic transmission fluid? I can guarantee that the transmission is not going to last long if you never change the fluid.