Howdy yall, I've looked through the forum and I can't seem to find the right answer. My 06 cobalt LS is having shift problems. Sometimes at a dead stop, it is difficult to get into first gear. Sometimes I have to let the car roll forward or rev the engine a bit to get into first. There's slight resistance when shifting through the other gears and occasionally I have to rev match to get the gear to fall in smoothly. My current clutch has about 35000 miles on it and the car is at 189000 miles. I've already done some of the exterior things such as checking the master and slave cylinder. I've been hearing everything from syncros to shift linkage to replace the cylinder and of course a brand new clutch. I do all the repair work my self so if someone could help me narrow it down that would be great.

 

If you have it in 1st gear with the clutch pushed in and rev the engine, does the car creep forward?

 

No the car does not at all

 

I know on some cars with higher mileage it helps to put it into 2nd and then into first. My car doesnt really like to go into first unless youre almost stopped anyway. Possibly the 1st gear syncro is just worn from years and years of speed matching when it really shouldnt have been put into first rolling at 20mph in the first place.

Have you ever replaced the transmission fluid?

 

I got the car at 125xxx in the time that I've had I don't think I've ever replaced it.

 

Try shutting the car off and then push the clutch in and see if it goes into gear easier. If it's a night and day difference you may have a clutch dragging concern, if it's the same and your having a decent amount of drag into all the rest of the gears with the engine off then I would look into the shifter cables.

 

If all gears are affected it is most likely a clutch issue. As C0Balts5 mentioned, shut the engine off at a stop and attempt to put it into 1st gear. If it goes in easily as soon as the engine is off, the clutch is dragging. Clutch drag can be caused by everything from a faulty pressure plate to a hydraulic issue. The most basic first step is to bleed the system; air in the hydraulic system is a very common cause for clutch release problems.