2010 Cobalt SS - Bought, some good, some bad, some oops.

[Ben Jammin]

Well the 2010 SS that I bought is home. It has some good and some bad.

It had a dead battery upon arrival, so I took it out and charged it. Car starts and runs decent.

The good,: low miles 60000 on the odometer ;D ;D ;D. Has the GM stage 1 kit and aluminum charge piping already installed so it has a little more HP and Tq than stock. The body and subframe look good no major damage that I can find. Should have a lot of re-sellable parts. Has the Multi Function Display which looks really cool and gives a ton of Data parameters.

The Bad: It did take a whack into something, maybe a spin out into a curb. The rear live axle is slightly tweaked and there is a smack mark from where the driver brake caliper contacted the frame. The driver rear wheel alignments appears to be off a couple degrees.

No G85 option! Grrrrr , I should have done my research better, but apparently I have one of the only 2010 SS cars to not have the LSD.

The worse: There is something definitely wrong with the driver front driveline . Car drives, but upon each revolution of the driver front wheel there is a horrible grinding sound. Car goes about 4 feet quietly and then grinds, repeat for each 4 feet driven. I havnt investigated yet, but might be a damaged drive axle, damaged wheel bearing, or in the transmission. Service ESC, Service ABS, and Service Traction Control on the dash. Due to a broken ABS sensor wiring harness.

This may be a fix up, flip and sell, and then grab a different car, not sure yet. Thinking about it now.....

 

[Jkean949]

If the engine is sound and able to start/run, tranny is functional...might be best to charge forward. I recognize there may be some parts needing replaced...but your major areas are operational.

 

[DanPerryy]

I have the 2010 factory service manual and only the MU3 transmission will take a LSD. The SM shows both differentials matching to the ring gear. I'll send you copies of the pages if you would like. Right now the manuals are at Lonny and Adams shop and I am in Louisiana and Pennsylvania next week.

 

[Ben Jammin]

Jkean, I think it is a good car, just may be a more valuable as a fix and flip.

There is hardly any body damage besides scuffs and a couple of trim pieces, the interior is decent, and all the glass is good.

Once the front drive axle is fixed it could be a good car for resale.

Dan, Thanks for the pages of the manual, I'm sure that will help!

I'll post an update on the driveline this weekend after I get a chance to jack it up and get the wheel off and take a look.

 

[Jkean949]

Ben, that's a really good point and making some extra cash never hurts.

 

[Ben Jammin]

Found my grinding noise in the driver front. Lol! Bent wheel. Pic attached.

Threw the back tire on the front and and spare on the back and took it for a spin.

Runs strong. Easily spins the tires. I think having the LSD may be important though.

The back suspension does look a bit off.

I need a couple parts to get this one up and running. It's looking like its a fix and sell and then get another with the LSD.

I need:

A rear axle assembly from a 5 bolt SS car.

And a SS/TC wheel.

Anybody have them already sitting?

 

[Jkean949]

Sorry, I am pretty certain that my axle is damaged...

 

[TomsGarage]

Found my grinding noise in the driver front. Lol! Bent wheel. Pic attached.

Threw the back tire on the front and and spare on the back and took it for a spin.

Runs strong. Easily spins the tires. I think having the LSD may be important though.

The back suspension does look a bit off.

I need a couple parts to get this one up and running. It's looking like its a fix and sell and then get another with the LSD.

I need:

A rear axle assembly from a 5 bolt SS car.

And a SS/TC wheel.

Anybody have them already sitting?

I think I can part with the rear axle, if I understand correctly that is not reused on the Goblin?

 

[Adam]

Do you mean the rear bearing hub? If so, it does get reused on the front of the Goblin:

Obviously yours are both 5 lug (which we can redrill to a more common 5 lug since the Cobalt pattern is bizarre).

 

[Ben Jammin]

You guys are the best!

I think I have located a rear axle beam here local. I have attached a pic of the beam/axle I am talking about. The driver side of this car's beam seems to have 2-3 degrees of camber, while the passenger side has none.

BTW, I am now pretty convinced that the LSD is an important item on the higher horsepower cars. This cobalt is modded, and has a ton of power. When it breaks the tires loose, the passenger front tire is the one doing all the spinning and smoking. It may be different when in the back of the Goblin, but having had many cars with LSD differentials this would be no fun one-legging it all the time. ....

 

[Gage]

BTW, I am now pretty convinced that the LSD is an important item on the higher horsepower cars. This cobalt is modded, and has a ton of power. When it breaks the tires loose, the passenger front tire is the one doing all the spinning and smoking. It may be different when in the back of the Goblin, but having had many cars with LSD differentials this would be no fun one-legging it all the time. ....

Please forgive me if this is a dumb question, but was the LSD optional on the Cobalts? Was it only on the SS model? Was it on all SS models?

 

[TomsGarage]

BTW, I am now pretty convinced that the LSD is an important item on the higher horsepower cars. This cobalt is modded, and has a ton of power. When it breaks the tires loose, the passenger front tire is the one doing all the spinning and smoking. It may be different when in the back of the Goblin, but having had many cars with LSD differentials this would be no fun one-legging it all the time. ....

Please forgive me if this is a dumb question, but was the LSD optional on the Cobalts? Was it only on the SS model? Was it on all SS models?

The LSD was only available on the Cobalt SS models, and was a $400 option I believe. Unfortunately it was not standard and many models did not have them. You can check easily by looking at the silver build sticker in the trunk under the carpet and looking for the G85 code.

 

[northvibe]

the LSD, G85, is also hard to verify as you have to get a print out of all the vin options which I cannot find a free one that works OR you have to visually look in the trunk behind the carpet to see G85 on the sticker list of options.

As for adding in an LSD. I hear it is a PITA. Almost better off buying a used/new trans for it. You could get a F35 from an SS or even go with a 6spd F60, I know zzp has/had them. Not sure how the goblin would take the 6spd though....

 

[Gage]

the LSD, G85, is also hard to verify as you have to get a print out of all the vin options which I cannot find a free one that works OR you have to visually look in the trunk behind the carpet to see G85 on the sticker list of options.

If I understand you correctly, there is a site somewhere that you can pay to research all the options that a particular car had. I might pay for that. Do you know where to find the information?

There is no way to look under the carpet in the trunk of a car that we are bidding on long distance.

 

[northvibe]

the LSD, G85, is also hard to verify as you have to get a print out of all the vin options which I cannot find a free one that works OR you have to visually look in the trunk behind the carpet to see G85 on the sticker list of options.

If I understand you correctly, there is a site somewhere that you can pay to research all the options that a particular car had. I might pay for that. Do you know where to find the information?

There is no way to look under the carpet in the trunk of a car that we are bidding on long distance.

I cannot recommend a specific one, as I haven't used one yet. Mmm maybe someone here or on CSS.net would have a vin decoder site recommendation? I was hoping GM would have something. You are looking for a Vin decoder, so it gives you all the option, hell even a window sticker would be helpful, not sure why we should have to pay to see what a vin includes...seems odd.

 

[TomsGarage]

the LSD, G85, is also hard to verify as you have to get a print out of all the vin options which I cannot find a free one that works OR you have to visually look in the trunk behind the carpet to see G85 on the sticker list of options.

If I understand you correctly, there is a site somewhere that you can pay to research all the options that a particular car had. I might pay for that. Do you know where to find the information?

There is no way to look under the carpet in the trunk of a car that we are bidding on long distance.

If you have the VIN you can get the build list from GM support. That's what I did for mine.

 

[Gage]

If you have the VIN you can get the build list from GM support. That's what I did for mine.

How did you contact them?

 

[DanPerryy]

I did a lot of research on this - the VIN - as far as I have been able to determine the VIN does not contain the transmission at all. I posted a free VIN decoder link in another post.

 

[northvibe]

I did a lot of research on this - the VIN - as far as I have been able to determine the VIN does not contain the transmission at all. I posted a free VIN decoder link in another post.

The free "general" vin decoders only give you the super super basic things. Car make, model, year. We need one that breaks down the options that were given, like on the window stickers.

 

[smithvmi]

What about CARFAX? My report was pretty detailed.