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Chevy HHR: Problems & Solutions

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Comments

  • lightkeeperlightkeeper Member Posts: 2
    My '06 2LT HHR has the compass on the mirror. Looking at the HHR booklet, it seems this option is available on the LS and 1LT however note this:
    On the LS it says head-curtain side-impact air bags are required while on the 1LT is only available in conjunction with OnStar.

    Please post if you find out other information.
  • rbowen1063rbowen1063 Member Posts: 4
    I replaced my van with the HHR. I choose the HHR because I thought it had a good cargo area. Much to my surprise, I was able to get 30 bags of mulch (2 cu ft) in the back and still get a passenger in the front. Just some good info. I'm impressed! ;)
  • justlarryjustlarry Member Posts: 5
    when i first start my HHR in the mourning or after sitting at work all day it will sometimes make a loud knocking noise from the engine then runs fine until it set for awhile any ideas i have the 2.4 with auto it also has that clunking noise i read about earlier
  • vamonticellovamonticello Member Posts: 6
    same problem here EXCEPT its not a knocking noise, its a rattle.......Took it to the dealer, they restarted it 50 times and no rattle(that was 3 months ago).....it did it again once since then.....now it does not do it anymore

    Your knocking noise?...do you fill up with Supreme only..2.4 liters only run on supreme

    When i took it to the dealer they couldnt find anything.....
  • pacermanpacerman Member Posts: 62
    After doing a lot of research and reading on the Ecotec "piston slap" I am begining to have second thoughts about buying this vehicle. All the "experts" say that it is nothing to worry about, I think spending $25K on a NEW vehicle with piston slap is just plain nonsense, I will be doing some more research before I lay the big ones down......... :(
  • justlarryjustlarry Member Posts: 5
    where did you read up on this id like to check it out
  • bertvbertv Member Posts: 6
    Anyone out there having issues with the cloth seats getting dirty very easily and impossible to clean up? I have a grey interior and it is getting nasty - I have tried the GM recommended cleaner with poor results
  • scw4catsscw4cats Member Posts: 1
    I bought my Chevy HHR in January and it has 6,000 miles on it. When exiting on a freeway ramp, the car suddenly shot to the right, went up on the curb then down, and came to a stop. Inspection showed that the right front lower control arm had snapped off. The tires are still inflated and there is no body damage, except from not having the running boards like some people have mentioned. GM says there is no defect so I have to pay for the damage. The dealer will do nothing. I have a problem with paying a $500 deductible and having this go against my insurance when it is not my fault. Someone else posted a message about noise when steering - I have that too. What else can I do?
  • bn_here_b4bn_here_b4 Member Posts: 2
    I bought a 2006 HHR 2LT last May. When there is a heavy rain, the front floorboards get a significant amount of water in them. It always seems to happen when the car is parked - flat ground or hill doesn't seem to matter. I've seen several other posts by people having the same issue, but haven't seen one yet where someone got their problem resolved.

    The dealer tried the A/C repair the first time I took it in. The second time, they found a hole in a front cowling that they covered. It rained all day today and when I went to my car after work there was water standing in the driver's side floor. The carpet was soaked and there was at least 1/2 inch of water on top of the carpets and floor mats. I took it straight to the dealer and they are keeping it to show to the "leak expert". They've given me a loaner HHR to use until they fix the problem. The loaner is bottom of the line with no XM, sunroof, or heated seats.

    I'm really frustrated. I want my car, without a pond in the floor! Can anyone comment with possible fixes to this issue that I could suggest to my dealer?
  • msmel50msmel50 Member Posts: 2
    I feel your pain as I am having a similar problem. I just bought my car in July 06, and twice the passenger side floor board is soaked. It was a virtual lake after some rain last night. Unfortunately, my dealer has not been very helpful, but have given me a rental and parts are on order for the air conditioner. In the meantime, the car sits in their lot in the rain, collecting yet more water. Called the Chevy national service center and I am waiting on a resolution. I am extremely upset about this. :cry:
  • bn_here_b4bn_here_b4 Member Posts: 2
    The leak expert found 3 leaks in my car. There was one under the cowling that fits up against the windshield. Water was also entering the car through the passenger door, getting inside the door and coming into the car through the stereo speaker. The third was coming in at the rear of the car and the water traveled to the front to collect in the floorboard.

    I have my car back and now I'm waiting on the next rainstorm. I think it will end up back in repair before that as the gas mileage has dropped significantly since the dealer "fixed" the leaks. I think they disconnected soemthing and forgot to put it back, or else the plugging up of the leaks under the hood restricted air flow to my engine and it isn't running properly now.

    I am also going to insist they replace the carpet due to discoloration.

    Good luck with your car!!
  • mamalunymamaluny Member Posts: 2
    I bought my HHR in Dec 05. Yesterday my gear shift went out. I couldn't remove the key from the ignition and had to use the safty under the steering column to remove it. I can drive it but the gear shift does not engage in park and slides up and down. The lever that you press while stepping on the brake is not functioning. Anyone have this problem???
    Thanks in advance
    Lucy
  • ray80ray80 Member Posts: 1,655
    I have not heard of that before. If it is a continuing thing, take it to dealer.
  • mamalunymamaluny Member Posts: 2
    I did take it in right away. They are replacing the gear shift but I still don't know why it happened and just wanted some feedback. Thanks
  • aggiedaggied Member Posts: 1
    YES!!!!! I've had my HHR for almost 1 year and I'm going thru the 2nd round of trying to get my seats fixed. Whenever I get a stain, I've used mild dish detergent and water to wash it up and then I get a WORSE stain on the material once it dries. The dealer has already replaced my fabric seats once and right now we are trying to resolve this issue AGAIN. They want to send out a professional detailer (again) and my husband and I are just sick of dealing with it!!! And what do they say "we haven't heard of anyone else with this problem." So I'm printing you blog to show to them. Please keep me posted as to how your's is getting resolved. :mad:
  • 1racefan1racefan Member Posts: 932
    My parents have an '06 HHR LS, Daytona Blue with the light grey cloth interior (they have had the car for 12 months now). In my opinion, the light grey plastic, carpet, and cloth used in the interior is too light - almost as bad as a white interior. I just finished detailing it for them a few weeks ago, and here are some cleaning "tactics" I found to work well:

    One thing I found that works wonders for removing some of the ground in dirt and grime from the plastic pieces (emergency brake handle, steering wheel, plastic panels in the cargo area, etc...) is the "Mr Clean Magic Eraser". You simply get it wet, ring out a lot of the excess water, and start wiping down interior pieces (no cleaning solution needed). You would have to actually try it yourself to see how well it works.

    As a test of the Magic Eraser, I tried the following - There was some grime on the emergency brake handle. I took a terry cloth towel with a little cleaning solution and tried cleaning half of the handle. I scrubbed quite a bit with the towel, and made little progress. I then took the damp Magic Eraser, and after about 30 seconds of wiping (no exaggeration), it was spotless. After seeing how well it worked on the handle, I then used it on the rest of the plastic interior pieces that were dirty. When I was finished, all of the plastic interior pieces were spotless.

    Regarding the carpet, my wife has an upright carpet cleaning machine we use for our carpets in our house (looks like an upright vacuum cleaner, but has a tank for hot water, and a second tank for cleaning solution). It also has a hose with and upholstery cleaning tool you can use to clean a sofa or chair. I found that using the standard cleaning solution (I think made by Bissell?), and cold water, I was able to get the carpets looking brand new using that hand upholstery tool.

    As for those light colored seats, I have found the least amount of water/dampness used to clean spots the better. They seem to water spot easily. They had a couple of small dirty spos on their seats, and I started by using soft bristled brushes on the dirt spots. I finally took the aforementioned Magic Eraser, got it wet, rung it out, and wiped it over the dirt spots. That process seemed to pretty much get rid of the dirty spots.
  • kfwpurduekfwpurdue Member Posts: 1
    I just picked up a 2006 HHR and love it, however, today I noticed several fingerprints on the INSIDE of the gray/black plastic surrounding the instrument cluster...behind the clear plastic. I'm not sure how hard this will be to remedy, or more importantly, how much grief the dealer will give me when I bring it up. I don't know why I didn't notice it before. This one must have been built after siesta...Anyone notice this on their HHR?
  • hhrsuckshhrsucks Member Posts: 1
    if you are driving your HHR at 45 mph and up with your back windows down and your front windows up you are going to notice a relly bad buffeting noise in the entire car and it rattles really bad too. If this is hapening, just think in few more months your car is going to breake a part,evrything is going to start getting loose. SO, DONT BUY THE HHR,ITS SUCKS!!! OPEN A CASE NUMBER TOO,DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.OK
    I complaint, and i have a case number with chevrolet and the BETTER BUSINESS BUREAU, they are in it.I'm sure is goin to be a RECALL.KEEP ALERT FOR THOSE WHO HAS THIS SAME PROBLEM.BYE AND GOOD LUCK! :sick: :sick: :sick: :mad:
  • paopao Member Posts: 1,867
    you are going to find this buffeting in just about any car as you describe above....it gets worse if you open the sun roof and lower the rear windows as well..its not specific to the HHR...this has been mention several times in the HHR threads here...nothing new..do you really have an HHR??
  • msmel50msmel50 Member Posts: 2
    Well, I have my HHR in for the third time for the water leak. It was scheduled to have the carpets replaced, but on Saturday it rained and water was coming in from under the heater onto the floorboard. So far the air con seal and the deflector have been repaired. So now the dealer is going to water pressure check to find out exactly where the leak is coming from. I am ok with the dealer, they are doing everything they can......what I am unhappy with are the defects that exist in a new car. I am not happy with GM and the way they are handling the situation. I will update after I have had it in for the pressure test..... :sick: Unfortunately this car is close to becoming a :lemon:
  • djm2djm2 Member Posts: 712
    I am in the market for a "new" vehicle. One of the vehicles of interest is the HHR. After reading some of the postings on this and other sites, I am starting to question my desire to own this piece of "Junk"! Can't GM build a vehicle with some level of quality? And they wonder why people purchase Honda vehicles. Wake up GM!!!!!!!!!!!Best regards. --------- Dwayne :cry: :confuse: :(
  • djm2djm2 Member Posts: 712
    Hi "thebigal"
    Lets look at the listing of defects of the HHR just on this site, (Edmunds).
    Water on the floor when it rains
    Check engine light on
    Wind noise
    Radio off "static"
    Radio on loud crackling pop
    Paint problems
    Drive train vibration
    Bad front rotors
    Bad fuel pump
    Growling / groaning noise from the engine when taking off from a traffic light
    Engine knock on a cold start
    Lower control arm snapped off while the vehicle was being driven
    I think that this vehicle has some VERY serious operational problems.
    At this point in time, I am looking at an Impala, Honda Accord, Ford 500, Toyota Camry, Chevrolet HHR, and the Honda CR-V. The Impala LT2 is a VERY nice vehicle.
    QUESTION: Did General Motors forget how to design and manufacturer a vehicle? This is more than just "teething" on the part of the HHR. GM has a nice vehicle that could be making them some money, and they "dropped the ball" in terms of quality. I hope the 2007 HHR has more quality! --- Best regards. ----- Dwayne :confuse: :(;)
  • rv1rv1 Member Posts: 1
    Any word on the steering rattle? I have the plague too
  • dancermandancerman Member Posts: 220
    I was considering an HHR and recently had a rental for two weeks. Now I'm not interested. Besides my concern about the mysterious water leak, here's my other disappointments.

    1-No power; you need to anticipate every hill and accelerate before it's too late.
    2-Turning radius too large.
    3-Huge blind spots.
    4-Plastic cargo floor; everything slides around.
    5-At highway speed, I smelled exhaust inside (I believe the rear hatch was not sealed properly).
    6-Cup holders too hard to use without looking down away from the road.
    7-No decent storage compartment.
    8-Window controls are behind shifter and hard to use.
    9-Can't open doors without pushing power unlock first.
    10-With rear seats up, the headrests are in your rear view.
    11-Poor quality radio/sound system.

    It did ride nice, seats were comfortable, climate control more than adequate and mileage was good. Still.... NO Sale.
  • paopao Member Posts: 1,867
    you should have driven the 2.4 LT engine, with the upgraded MP3 headunit and Pioneer sound system...the rest are personal ergonomics.....I remove the headrests in the rear...no one sits there, cup holders....well if you buy a car based on those.....blind spots..mirrors can be adjusted to cover the entire field of vision...you have to learn to trust your side view mirrors, plastic cargo floor...rubber mat fixes...and most others have the same issue....decent storage.....for what?...again all personal perferences....but you do say its a nice comfortable ride, good gas mileage etc....and thats what most look for today.....good luck with your search
  • djm2djm2 Member Posts: 712
    pao:
    What about all of the other issues listed on this site. Does GM just get a "pass" on these issues???????????? -----Best regards. ---- Dwyane :confuse: ;)
  • paopao Member Posts: 1,867
    most issues are worked by the dealerships...not GMs.....I have some issues with my Pontiac Solstice.....I work with the dealership under warranty to correct the problems.....I see many of the issues being the dealership service departments..untrained, unwilling or simply incompetent when dealing with the problems of the HHR and solstice...some are as easy as the radio reprogram..slip in a CD..run it and its fixed, bad fornt rotors...have an 04 maxx LT with the same issue...determined it was improper torque of the wheel lugs that was casusig it....I could go on and on here........others.....are TSBs published by GM....and yet others are model year enhancments....no car is perfect...and no Im not giving GM a pass either...but work with the dealership service department..if you find them unwilling or incompetent...find another.......and be informed as to what the fixes are.....
  • PF_FlyerPF_Flyer Member Posts: 9,372
    Please check the discussion list here in the Chevrolet HHR Group for the appropriate "problems" discussion to post in.

    We're moving away from these large generic discussions, and setting up smaller more focused ones. This is a work in progress, so if you don't find a discussion that fits the issue you want to talk about, please feel free to create a new one and we can adjust things later if need be.

    Thanks for your patience and assistance as we move the furniture around!

    I'll be moving posts out of this discussion to help get the new ones rolling, so if you find that some posts seem to have disappeared, that's the explanation. Just check the discussion list for the group by clicking on the link in this post to find the appropriate discussion.
  • the_big_althe_big_al Member Posts: 1,079
    Actually, the only major recurring problem I see is the water leak issue. I would like to say, that while GM may not have a sterling reputaion when it comes to build quality, they do build quality vehicles and that with most new models, there do tend to be some "teething" issues. Even with Honda. So I would hesitate to call the HHR a piece of "junk". I would own it over the PT Cruiser. Actually, as cool as some new models are, like the HHR, now the 07 Silverado, the Colbalt, I would be hesitant to own any 1st yearer. (I know it's not a word, but you get my point :D). I would much rather wait until they get the kinks worked out and then buy one. Hey even by then the prices will have dropped and I might even be able to buy a good used one. :D I bought a new 04 Impala, which has been perfect with no problems. I also bought a used 01 S-10 which has been a fairly reliable vehicle, and it has had it's share of repairs, but nothing major. Both of these vehicles were at the latter end of thier production run after most of the major issues had been discovered and fixed and they have been the best vehicles I have ever owned.
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