Hi folks!

My HHR is an automatic 2LT with 3700 miles on it. I have had it for almost 5 months. I have noticed that the steering wheel will make a squeeking noise as if it is rubbing against something. It doesn't happen consistantly, however yesterday it was squeeking on a regular basis. I wish I would have been near a dealer so I could let them hear what was going on. I was going to go to the dealer today, however, the wheel did not squeek at all. Is anyone else out there experiencing a similar situation?

I noticed on the GM technians info bulletin that the '06 Caddy's have this problem, but HHR's are electric steering rather than power steering so I dont know if the same fix GM suggested applies to the HHR.

Anyway, this is a great forum, very helpful! By the way, I do love this car, and this is the only "gremlin" I have had with it so far. I have been purchasing Chevy's for the past 20 years because I hardly ever had them in the shop. On the other hand, I never purchased a first year model. My car was "born" in December 2005, so hopefully I wont experience any more gremlins. I traded in a perfect -working, wonderfully loaded, '01 Malibu LS for the HHR. I haven't had buyer's remorse, but I am concerned with some of the major problems I am reading here and at Edmunds forums.

THANKS FOR ANY ADVICE!!!!

The squeaky (steering) wheel needs some grease! :lol:
Can't say I've had any problems at all with mine so far. Well, except there was that one time that my wife drove it. Just that once, though.......

I like your humor! By the way, my hubby and I just returned from your neck of the woods...we were amazed at how many HHR's we saw out there. Beautiful country, and we are saddened about the wildfires... we spent a day in Sedona, Coconino, and Oak Creek canyon...glad we were able to get beautiful pix of those areas two weeks ago.....

Yup - my neck of the woods is on fire, indeed. There is another thread (or two) going on right now regarding visiting the Sedona/Flagstaff/Grand Canyon area - several HHR owners from the Southwest states are planning on visiting the area and I have advised them to keep a close eye :eek: on the fire activity going on in those areas. Currently, the wildfire in Sedona is growing and they are estimating it will take 2-3 weeks to control it / put it out. They've also said that rain would help, but good luck with that in AZ - chances are slim to none for a while!
Anyway, :welcome: to the forum, and I'm glad you had a good time in AZ. Most pictures in the northern country are pictures that people frame and look back on w/fondness - the scenery up there is amazing.
If you need any help getting pointed in the right direction on some of the threads, let any one of us know - you have the option to send private messages on the board, which has worked out pretty cool for people who don't want to share their actual e-mail addresses. Have a great weekend! :cool:

Hi Phoenix, Thanks for your help. I hope you hav a good weekend as well, and that the fires will get under control soon!

No problem here. The car is great and I love it.

:welcome: to chevyhhr.net - We look forward to seeing your around the boards and getting to know you. :smile:

Please tell us more about your HHR. What color, what model, what mods have you done...and most of all...we'd love to see some pics. We're a very inquisitive bunch here as you will soon find out. :nuts:

Hi Courthouse Deb!
Thanks for the welcome! I have a 2.2 Silver HHR. It is an automatic, & has an after-market sunroof (thrown in by my dealer as an incentive to purchase this car...yep, that worked for me!)

I've only had my car for 4 months, so I haven't thought through any mods yet. Any suggestions?

By the way, the first time I test drove the HHR, it was the same color as your car, which looks quite cool! I really and truly liked my test-drive model, but ended up finding better HHR pricing with another dealer:thumb

I will get my hubby to take some pix with the digital tomorrow and get them on this board!

I've only had my car for 4 months, so I haven't thought through any mods yet. Any suggestions?

Too many to mention. :lol: Start with simple stuff like tint or a stubby antenna and then go from there. ;) :welcome:

Welcome to the forums. Sorry to hear about your squeeky wheel. No problems here.
On a side note I just got back from your neck of the woods. Spent a week in central Indiana visiting family. Have to say I seen alot of HHR's. Even the little town I went to visit, must of been about 4 running around. Not bad for a town of under 10,000 people

One of the things to keep in mind is that a lot of car rental companies currently have HHR's on the lot, ready to get driven by anyone! I recently toured the new rental car facility at Sky Harbor Intl. Airport here in Phoenix - it can hold 5,700 rental cars, and I can tell you that there were many HHR's ready to be taken out on the road. :smile:

Hi dbarberaz! Thank you for your welcome. I hope you had a good time in Indiana. I also wanted to mention you are right about many HHR's in Indiana. I saw more HHR's this afternoon than ever before! As a matter of fact, I was at a store this morining when a silver HHR with mods, pulled in the parking lot. We spoke, and they gave me several ideas for modifying my silver HHR. For example, they put rain deflectors on each passenger window and had them painted silver to match their car. They also added a special muffler to give it a sporty sound. I dont think I could do that to my wonderful neighbors, but this couple was way younger than me, so I can understand their fun. They also lived out in the country where the extra sound would bother anyone. I have to admit it sounded pretty cool when they reved it up for me as they were leaving!

I noticed you are from Mesa. You live in a nice city, and it is very scenic. We were just in Mesa two weeks ago and visited Goldfield Ghost Town. We went down into the mine on the tour, and our tour guide was such a hoot! That place gave us a feel for what the Old West really must have been like. I do have to ask one question though, are there really swarms of rattlesnakes in your city, or was our tour guide trying to scare the beejeebers out of me?:lol:
Have a great weekend!

Hi dbarberaz! Thank you for your welcome. I hope you had a good time in Indiana. I also wanted to mention you are right about many HHR's in Indiana. I saw more HHR's this afternoon than ever before! As a matter of fact, I was at a store this morining when a silver HHR with mods, pulled in the parking lot. We spoke, and they gave me several ideas for modifying my silver HHR. For example, they put rain deflectors on each passenger window and had them painted silver to match their car. They also added a special muffler to give it a sporty sound. I dont think I could do that to my wonderful neighbors, but this couple was way younger than me, so I can understand their fun. They also lived out in the country where the extra sound would bother anyone. I have to admit it sounded pretty cool when they reved it up for me as they were leaving!

I noticed you are from Mesa. You live in a nice city, and it is very scenic. We were just in Mesa two weeks ago and visited Goldfield Ghost Town. We went down into the mine on the tour, and our tour guide was such a hoot! That place gave us a feel for what the Old West really must have been like. I do have to ask one question though, are there really swarms of rattlesnakes in your city, or was our tour guide trying to scare the beejeebers out of me?:lol:
Have a great weekend!


Glad you enjoyed your trip out here in the warm state. I like Mesa not to big yet but lots to do around here. I would not say there are swarms of rattlesnakes but we have are fair share of them. More on the outlined parts of town and now it is getting to hot for them. Goldfield may have alot since it is at the foot of the moutain.
Once again welcome and hope you enjoy your HHR like the rest of us :thumb:

Has anyone else experienced the squeaky wheel? I have noticed it on mine and am concerned that it is more then 1 HHR out there that has this problem

Does it squeak only with turning or say when you drive over bumps with the wheel straight? We have heard a very sligth sound that I think comes when driving over uneven ground, (steep driveway for example), I think it may be the collum sligthly moving in the firewall with sligth body flex. I have to really listen for it and it's only happen a few times.

That noise is Chevy's discounted power steering. They actually have a hamster inside the wheel that starts running when you want to turn it. Don't forget to feed it once every 3000 miles.

the noise is noiced only when turning the wheel to the right it is a rubbing noise.

I have just started noticing the squeaky steering wheel myself. Also my stereo has been acting weird the last two days, it doesn't like to come on with the car at times, no display or music at all for about 30 seconds or so. Stopped by the dealer on my way home today and they are going to look at it next Wednesday the 19th. I will post any updates if they figure out what is causing that steering wheel squeak.

nss79...don't know about the squeaky steering wheel. As far as the radio goes, have you checked to make sure all your fuses are seated properly? This has been the root of many of the electrical gremlins that HHR owners have been experiencing.

There is a sticky at the top of this board with all the details. :thumb:

I did check the fuses a little while back after reading some posts on the issue, and as many others my fuses were not seated properly. I just checked them again after reading your reply in case I missed one and they all seemed good. Thanks for your help though. Guess I will just have to see if the dealer finds anything.

hi nss79
I noticed the squeaky wheel last month and posted the situation. Let me tell you what I found out when I took it to the dealer today. It was squeaking on my way to the dealer, but of course it did not make the sound when I got there. Thankfully, the tech was patient as I tried to describe the sound. I told him it was similar to the sound you hear when you wipe Windex off of glass with a paper towel, and that it also sounded like it was rubbing on something. At that point he looked to see if there was a notice about this problem via GM. There wasn't. Anyway, at no charge to me (HHRvey is only 6 months old) the service dept. lubed the upper and lower intermediate shaft, and stub shaft seal. It wasn't squeaking when I left the dealership, but sho nuff' it started squeaking again just a few minutes from home, this time even louder! :confused: Soooooo, I took it back to the dealer, squeaking all the way! Well, you know the rest... it wouldn't do it at the dealer. They let me drive it all around the lot just to see if it would squeak again so they could hear the sound, but alas, it did not. So with a red-face, I drove it home. :red: Well, it squeaked one time, but at least it wasn't as bad as it was earlier in the day. By the way, my steering wheel only made the noise on left turns, but today, it was making the noise on ALL turns. Here's hoping I heard my last squeak:nuts: No matter, I still LOVE and enjoy my HHR:thumb:

Mine just started about a week ago. Sometimes it is loud, sometimes quiet, and sometimes not at all. It seems to be doing it most of the time now so hopefully it will do it for the dealer, but you know how that usually works out. If my dealer does anything different that fixes the squeak I will definitely post it. I too really enjoy my HHR and I think that I like it a little more every day.:one:

My squeaking has become extremly load now i will be taking it in on Saturday and post results here.... Damn.... if its not one thing its another.

anyone think this could be the cause of the problem? This tsb list under cause sqeuaking.... Well i kinda think i'm having the rubbing problem when turning the wheel... going with this in hand to the dealor to have corrected.

Hi nabate, and nss79,

We drove HHRvey around quite a bit last night, making intentional turns, to see if the dealer did indeed fix the squeak yesterday. At least for last night, there was no squeak. I am going to go out again this afternoon and see what happens. I will let you know. Hopefully, your HHR's will squeak when you go to the dealer, and maybe that would help all of us get a better diagnosis from the techs. I will be very interested to see what you guys find out. Besides you know what they say about the squeaky wheel:lol:

well guess what it isn't squeaking today.... this is becoming a hassle now

i feel your pain. the inconsistency of that noise is frustrating. So you'll know, an hour ago, I took the car thru a car wash, drove it around town, and then on the interstate. No squeak. Maybe the lube at the dealer was the cure. Still, I will remain cautiously optomistic.

My steering wheel has also started to squeek.

Mike

Took mine to dealer today, and the squeak is something that they have came across before. They said the sound was probably traveling up through the column so it wasn't even the steering wheel. They Lubed the rack and pinion joint and said that should fix it and to bring it back in if any more problems. As far as my radio problem they just reprogrammed it.

I just got off the phone w Cliff in Wichita Falls who was at our run and he told us he had a squeek when he turned his steering wheel a certain way. i think it was when he turned it to the right.

anyway before he tood it to the dealer he unloosed the steering wheel lock, move the wheel up and down full motion several times. reset it to the place he wanted his wheel at and he now says there is no problem.

i told him that i would post for him.

Thanks for the info CJ. I'll try that when I get home and report my findings.

Mike

I was having a problem with my turnsignals canceling after making a turn. And at the same time I was hearing more of a light grinding when I turned the steering wheel. It turned out to be the airbag coil, it has a ribbon that runs through a series of "wheels" I'll call them, that are used to lenghthen or shorten the ribbon as the wheel turns left to right. They replaced my defective one, and all seems to be ok for now. I'm not saying that this is everybody's problem, just what has solved mine (for now).......Regards

Hmm forgot about this thread, seems mine is doing the same thing on right turns.

I have the squeeking steering wheel. I took it to service and of course it was not making the noise. They lubed the intermediate shaft - that worked for about oooohhh five minutes. I took it back the next day since I picked it at closing time and it made the noise the entire way there - until I showed the technician the noise or at that time no noise. They ordered a complete intermediate shaft. I'll let you know if that fixes the problem.

CJ.. That did not work on mine.

Mine is in the shop right now for various issues.. One of which is the squeaky wheel. I'll report back with what was done.

Mike

I heard a little Squeek in mine for the first time this morning!

I just got my HHR back from the shop. Steering Wheel squeaking. This was verified by the tech as coming from the gear box. They replaced the entire rack and pinon rack.

Seems to have done the trick, so far.

Mike

Update

It's been a week and the squeak is gone.

Mike

Wife says ours started squeeking real loud for a day and quit now... I have an appointment the 10th to see if they can get it fixxed......

At 1900 miles I had my steering gear replaced. That was 2100 miles ago. My dealer is Pedigo Chevy in Indianapolis. Maybe you can have your dealer contactthem. It seems to be working fine now.

For those that took theirs in for service on this issue, is there anything that has certainly worked? I've had the same issue for a few months but I would prefer to not just get some lube and run.

Back in September I had my entire rack replaced. No problems since.

Mike

My steering column has been sqeaking intermittantly for the past few weeks. I've noticed it mainly on right turns, and then back to center. Strangely enough, it doesn't do it on left turns. I stopped by my Chevy dealership a little while ago and talked to a service advisor. He didn't seem interested in helping me with the problem, and wouldn't look to see if there were any TSB's issued on the problem. I wasn't very happy with him, needless to say. But I am very interested in finding out if anyone has been successful in finding a solution to this problem. Does anyone know if there is a TSB on this problem? Please email me direct at rwltcowboy@aol.com. Thanks!

Not for a squeak, but......

TSB 05-02-32-005C is for "clunking" in steering at low speeds and driving over bumps.