Chevy Cobalt Transmission Stuck in 1st gear

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Hi, my coworker asked me about this problem and it had me stumped so I figured i would ask the forum. He has a 2005 chevy cobalt automatic, approx 110,000 miles. His car intermittently gets stuck in 1st gear and wont shift out of it until the car is shut off for a while (minutes to an hour). No engine lights are on. Any thoughts?
 
He says that the fluid is fine but unsure whether it has ever been changed. He has owned the car for 3-4 years. His description was "the car drives just fine but after 10-15 minutes it will just change to 1st gear and stay there". Really weird sounding problem but I am a manual transmission person so I dont know anything about automatics.
 
Sounds like a broken spring in the valve body. Or a sticky valve. Most likely not an electronic issue.
 
Is he sure it's stuck in first and not second which is limp mode? Did he see if there were any transmission codes? There could be a transmission specific code and no CEL.
 
I would certainly start with a fluid and filter swap. Other than that as some have mentioned, there may be something clogged up in the valvebody.
 
I checked the codes today and took the car for a test drive. Codes are:
P0035 Turbo Charger Bypass Valve Control Circuit High
P0135 Oxygen Sensor Heater Circuit Malfunction (Bank 1 Sensor 1)

Car is stuck in 1st gear, is running smooth but will not change gears. The speedometer does not budge at all, the tach works. Surprisingly no transmission codes are showing. Any ideas?
 
Any suggestions where the vehicle speed sensor's are located and whether I should be replacing one or both of them?
 
Reviving an old thread. We finally got around to working on the car. Transmission fluid and filter changed, vehicle speed sensor changed, transmission control module changed, upstream oxygen sensor changed. Problem is still there! Any other suggestions?
 
No, speedo is still dead, tach works fine. No engine codes shown because the battery was disconnected during the repair process (several days).
 
Last edited:
Check the sensor plug and harness, make sure power and ground are being supplied to the sensor if it is a 3 wire type. You have to get the speed signal working before the TCM will be able to shift.
 
Any directions on how to test the sensor plug and harness. I have a multimeter. A quick google search did not give me any good leads.
 
Try this:

Originally Posted By: Manual
Check for a consistent AC voltage signal from the Vehicle Speed Sensor (VSS) between the Yellow wire, terminal 41 and the Purple wire, terminal 16, at the Transmission Control Module (TCM).
 
Originally Posted By: clinebarger
VSS Sensor or VSS Sensor Wiring, GM products do not usually set VSS Sensor Codes.


+1 for the above comment. At least on Ford Escorts, if the VSS is not working, you only get first gear.
 
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