i just bought my 2006 Chevy Cobalt with 74,500 miles on it, from my aunt. I know this car very well, and have done most of the work on it myself. it just hit 75,000 miles so i was wondering if it was possible that it was just letting me know it was due for a tune-up, or if there was an actual underlying problem
a little bit of background: i just did an oil/filter change using 10w-30 (i live in southern California so i need the added viscosity as i don't think it will freeze in the next 3 months), i reset the oil timer on the HUD. i also just changed the spark plugs (first time they had been changed) i gapped them to 0.40 just like the manual says, and they were factory replacement autolite double platinum spark plugs. the car is not misfiring, and as far as i know is running better with the recent work done.
in california, auto zone will not put a diagnostic reader on it, and i know that it is expensive to have somebody else do it, is there a way to self diagnose if it is an o2 sensor? and if so, which one, intake or exhaust? in either case, the computer shouldn't be reading anything wrong with what i did, if anything there would be a bad connection or a dirty spark plug (that's the only internal component i touched that has any sort of link to the diagnostics) and, as stated, it's not misfiring, it's actually running more efficiently, and has more power, so it shouldn't even be reading lean/rich fuel/air ratios, it should actually be cleaner at the exhaust o2 sensor. p.s. luckily i don't have to run through smog for quite a while, as it was done recently, but is there another place (aside from the local mechanic that i don't know since i just moved to town) that would read the code for free somewhere in the Los Angeles area?
a little bit of background: i just did an oil/filter change using 10w-30 (i live in southern California so i need the added viscosity as i don't think it will freeze in the next 3 months), i reset the oil timer on the HUD. i also just changed the spark plugs (first time they had been changed) i gapped them to 0.40 just like the manual says, and they were factory replacement autolite double platinum spark plugs. the car is not misfiring, and as far as i know is running better with the recent work done.
in california, auto zone will not put a diagnostic reader on it, and i know that it is expensive to have somebody else do it, is there a way to self diagnose if it is an o2 sensor? and if so, which one, intake or exhaust? in either case, the computer shouldn't be reading anything wrong with what i did, if anything there would be a bad connection or a dirty spark plug (that's the only internal component i touched that has any sort of link to the diagnostics) and, as stated, it's not misfiring, it's actually running more efficiently, and has more power, so it shouldn't even be reading lean/rich fuel/air ratios, it should actually be cleaner at the exhaust o2 sensor. p.s. luckily i don't have to run through smog for quite a while, as it was done recently, but is there another place (aside from the local mechanic that i don't know since i just moved to town) that would read the code for free somewhere in the Los Angeles area?