2007 Cobalt shifting acceleration issue

My Daughter has a 2007 cobalt 2.2. Yesterday she put gas in the car and went to start but the car would not shift into gear. Tried reverse and drive a few times and it finally went into gear. Less than a mile down the road, car died once accelerating past 30 to 40 mph. Service traction indication light came on as well. I drove the car back home staying around 30 mph. Tested again today. Car starts but when cold you hear some knocking sound intially and then car idle levels off and idles normal with no noticeable noise. Check engine light is still on. Test drove the car today and again for me once I hit about 40 mph the service traction indicator comes on. Car tries to die unless you let off the gas. After that I also notice that as car shifts gear it jerks like the transmission has an issue. The car has a hard time getting up to 50 mph. Should easily accelerate to 50 mph easily but you can tell something is wrong. Ive looked on some other forums and some say it could be ABS/Speed sensor, the camshaft sensor, crankshaft sensor, some sensor in the tranny itself, clogged fuel filter, timing belt or various combinations. I will have to take the car to get diagnosed. In this case most are recommending taking to the dealership as guessing at this could be very expensive. Others have said, some or all of these were done and issues still remained. If anyone has experienced this, please let me know and if you were able to fix the issue.

Took to Autozone and got a p0016 OBD code. Crankshaft sensor or camshaft sensor issue. Could be timing misalignment as well. Decided to take to the dealer for diagnostic. Sensors not the issue so they are having to inspect the timing chain and camshaft to see if this is a timing issue (chain to loose, skipped a sprocket, etc..) or worse case the camshaft recluctor is misaligned. If its the reluctor, I'm looking at major repair dollars and probably will junk the car. Just to diagnose this issue is around $400 before any repairs are attempted. When will GM make cars that last like a Honda or Toyota?

Latest update to the saga. Chevy dealer tore into it and discovered the timing chain tensioner was in the lock position and the chain guide was missing. Basically the chain was very loose. They could not explain how the car was even running. Rest assured the car cranks and would even idle okay. This really makes no sense but I'll take their word for it. So after 400 in, they want to charge another 1100 to complete the repair with the caveat they can't guarantee they wont find anymore issues once they get it back together. The mechanic recommended a new engine ($6400). I stopped at another shop I used to take my cars to (the previous owner retired). Explained the situation and got a parts and labor quote for $800. So I will probably go that route. Very irritated it takes $400 to pull a valve cover and timing cover and diagnose what should be a very straightforward procedure. Please chime in. I feel like I'm talking to myself

I posted on your other thread.....yes a loose timing chain, should have made a loud noise in the timing cover, and have been an easy diagnosis...

1500 just seems too high.......Their diagnostic cost is a definite problem....if they took the car apart to find the loose chain and bad tensioner, that time should be subtracted from the time to replace the chain and tensioner...for example, if it took 1.5 hours to remove the timing cover to find a loose chain and tensioner, and the labor time to replace a chain and tensioner is 4.5 hrs, then added labor should be 3.0 hours, not 4.5.....

The tear down was 4 hours. I questioned this, but they said thats what it is. The other place said that was fairly accurate. I had no idea to get the valve cover and time covers off and do a simple diagnosis was 4 hours. I guess it must be a tight fit on these engines. Also, I was off on the cost. The written estimate was for a little over 1300 remaining so I would be in this for 1700. The other shop will do for roughly 900. Hopefully there will be good compression or now were looking at pulling the head.

Timing chain kit, new plugs, oil and filter did the trick. Total repair cost $1410. Hopefully the car will last a little longer.