Okay,I am new here to this forum so I would like to start off by saying that up until I got this car, I didn't know much about cars in general. My dad always fixed anything that went wrong. But now since I got this car, I've been slowly learning the basics - because it keeps giving me problems.
the car is a 2009 Cobalt LT 2.0. it has 69k miles on it. I have had it since april 2013.
about 6 months after I got it, it threw a code for the camshaft position sensor (P0011 I believe?) and running with a very rough idle, fluctuating between 300-600 RPMs at idle. I replaced the sensor since it was very easy. However, this turned out to not be the problem, because the symptoms have not stopped since then. The car only stalled out once when the problem first arose, hasn't since then and it starts fine. While driving it will 'stutter' randomly and it runs rough while decelerating. The lights will dim/flicker and the needles will swing.
I researched a lot and I cleaned the throttle body, replaced the air filter, about a month apart from eachother. The new air filter fixed the problem for about 20 minutes, as had cleaning the throttle body - even got the engine light to go off - but then it promptly returned and began running bad again. Throughout the process I have disconnected the battery for an hour several times.
Today, I brought it to autozone to have the codes read, and it came up as the camshaft sensor again (although I didn't get the code this time, because the guy was a jerk due to me being a 17 year old girl)
I will not bring it to a shop because the people in this town will mess with your car. If I could only figure out what it is, either my dad or I can most likely fix it or I will get the help of a mechanic friend.
My thoughts were to do an oil change, replace the oil and fuel filters, clean the MAF sensor and change the spark plugs. At no point has it thrown a code for a misfire.
Something just occurred to me - I was in an accident a while back in this car, I got clipped on the rear passenger side and pushed about 15 feet. the car itself was fine, just some trade paint and a bent arm - but it hit almost directly where the battery is located. could the battery have been damaged and is causing this?
really sorry for how long this post is, I'm just at my whits end with this car - I haven't had it long and it is only 5 years old!
one more thing - it keeps alerting me to random things - low tire pressure & it wouldn't allow me to start it because the anti theft system kicked in for an unknown reason. it seems maybe electrical to me... urg
the car is a 2009 Cobalt LT 2.0. it has 69k miles on it. I have had it since april 2013.
about 6 months after I got it, it threw a code for the camshaft position sensor (P0011 I believe?) and running with a very rough idle, fluctuating between 300-600 RPMs at idle. I replaced the sensor since it was very easy. However, this turned out to not be the problem, because the symptoms have not stopped since then. The car only stalled out once when the problem first arose, hasn't since then and it starts fine. While driving it will 'stutter' randomly and it runs rough while decelerating. The lights will dim/flicker and the needles will swing.
I researched a lot and I cleaned the throttle body, replaced the air filter, about a month apart from eachother. The new air filter fixed the problem for about 20 minutes, as had cleaning the throttle body - even got the engine light to go off - but then it promptly returned and began running bad again. Throughout the process I have disconnected the battery for an hour several times.
Today, I brought it to autozone to have the codes read, and it came up as the camshaft sensor again (although I didn't get the code this time, because the guy was a jerk due to me being a 17 year old girl)
I will not bring it to a shop because the people in this town will mess with your car. If I could only figure out what it is, either my dad or I can most likely fix it or I will get the help of a mechanic friend.
My thoughts were to do an oil change, replace the oil and fuel filters, clean the MAF sensor and change the spark plugs. At no point has it thrown a code for a misfire.
Something just occurred to me - I was in an accident a while back in this car, I got clipped on the rear passenger side and pushed about 15 feet. the car itself was fine, just some trade paint and a bent arm - but it hit almost directly where the battery is located. could the battery have been damaged and is causing this?
really sorry for how long this post is, I'm just at my whits end with this car - I haven't had it long and it is only 5 years old!
one more thing - it keeps alerting me to random things - low tire pressure & it wouldn't allow me to start it because the anti theft system kicked in for an unknown reason. it seems maybe electrical to me... urg
I will go order that and do the maintenance in the mean time. Hopefully i can put an end to this