Well... something happened that's never been encountered before. Was running the town last Saturday (day) and hopped in the HHR after my last stop just to find that the radio wasn't producing any sound!?
The interesting part was that the radio HAD POWER, would switch channels, and would goto CD (or AUX)... BUT NO SOUND!?
Seeing that the radio was ON... figured it was just a fuse-related issue. Drove it home, soundless, and fidgiting with it all the way. Turned it off and on, up then down, etc, etc... nothing.
Got home, checked the fuses... NEITHER WERE BLOWN (e.g. Radio, AMP). :confused:

Miffed at the results, I pushed them back in and turned the car on and Viola!... it worked!!
:wtf:
Still have no clue as to what happened...? It's almost as if there's a breaker on the amp that shuts it down if it gets too hot, although we were listening to it at 1/4 volume (pretty quiet).
Thoughts?
BTW- I've got the (stock) premimum sound system that comes with the 2LT.

Gotta be gremlins under your hood. :lol:

Seriously...sounds like it's probably fuse related or the overheating issues you mentioned. Mine did that once and once I turned the car off and restarted it...everything was fine with the world. No idea what happened and it never happened after that either. Have since upgraded to 6 disc and haven't had a single problem.

Maybe someone with more knowledge about stereos can enlighten us though. ;)

My Guess is you were plagued with the "Fuses are loose at the factory" issue mentioned a few times here on these forums

And you pulling and replacing the fuse just re-seated it where it should have been in the beginning and now it's all good.

Go and push in all the rest of the fuses (One's under the hood too) to ensure you don't have anything else go all funky on ya. :D

mute button on steering wheel maybe?

Thanks for the responses! Nope... not the mute button- that was the first thing that came to mind... then again, whenever you touch the volume control (when it's muted) it "UnMutes" automatically.
As for the fuses... 1day I got the HHR I re-sat all my fuses- under the hood. I was unaware that the kick panel may have had the same issues. None-the-less... I did seat all those as well.
Hmmmm... the problem hasn't surfaced since!

O-yea... I also turned the vehicle off, then on (twice) ... no cure.

I've been having this very same issue. The day I went to pick up the car from the dealer I went home in a rental because they couldn't figure out why there was no sound coming out of the radio while everything else worked. They replaced the amp and I took the car home the next day - that was two weeks ago. After three days the radio went out again. It came back on by itself a day later. I seated all the fuses the first time it went out, both in the engine compartment and passenger side footwell kick panel. The service manager thinks its a loose connection somewhere else.

I'm dropping it off on Monday for the dealer to look over the whole thing again. It's definitely not temperature related. I thought that at first since it seemed like maybe the amp was overheating and cutting out. The radio (and all other sound) cuts out and in as I go over large bumps in the road. It's getting a bit ridiculous.

I still love this car though. People give me thumbs-up wherever I go.

MARS, if your radio is cutting in and out going over bumps I would agree with your dealer that you probably have a loose connection somewhere. My dealer tried that with me when I had my problem but fortunately my radio quit all together and they had to replace it and I have not had a problem since.. Good Luck..

Julain

Mars...I just thought of something that Mike from SoCalHHR's mentioned several times. Here's an excerpt of what I found regarding intermittent electrical gremlins. Might have something to do with it occurring when you go over bumps jar the seat.

It was discovered in a few early production run HHR's that seat mounting fasteners had punctured part of the wiring harness - causing many electrical problems. This has since been sorted out (by re-routing the harness), but perhaps you got one that had been sitting around a while - or it may have been a recurring problem.

I've only had this car two weeks. There's a marking inside the kick panel dated 04-04-06. I'm sure there's a way to trace the VIN or some other marking elsewhere that gets you the build date. I would be inclined to think this was later in the production run. I will metion that issue when I bring it in. Thanks for the heads up.

Cheers,

Mike

:beer:

MARS (Mike)
Haven't had the problem since... never had it before 7/1/06 either...:confused:... Still not really sure what the deal is.
Good luck to you and yours in getting this fixed promptly. "If" the dealer finds anything out, be sure to post the solution for all to reference!!!
:thumb:

Mike...from what I have read, the build date can be found on the sticker inside the drivers door. Haven't gone out to verify that yet, but hope it helps. :thumb:

There is a sticker on the driver's door that indicates the build date. Accross the top line of information all the way to the upper right hand corner. For mine it was "04/06". That corresponds to the date written inside the passenger footwell kickpanel. Must have been final sign off for the last attempt to fix the radio.

BY the way, it came back on yesterday for a few hours. Doesn't work as of this morning! Tomorrow AM to the dealer finally!

I have had this problem one time also but all seems well now. First thing I did was check all fuses again and it was fine when I restarted it.:wtf:

I've had the same thing happen to me. It is not the fuses, it has something to do with the computers.

If you leave the ignition off and key out for 10 mins. the issue resolves it's self. It seems as if the condition (at least for me) is triggered by shopping, that is, driving, getting out of the vehicle, coming back and driving to another store. It happens to me on the second stop, almost every time.

Anyone know if there's a TSB or fix for this...? Like a trip to the dealer to get the most recent flash? Seems like if it's a computer thing, it happen to all across the board- OEM HU's or not>>>>
Just curious.

Anyone know if there's a TSB or fix for this...? Like a trip to the dealer to get the most recent flash? Seems like if it's a computer thing, it happen to all across the board- OEM HU's or not>>>>
Just curious.

There is noting on the TSB about this type of item.

Sounds similar to what I'm going through now.

Anyone find out what's going on or still having the problem?

That is really wierd, I have also had the same problem...Got in the car started it and no audio from the stereo and then i kept on driving and when i used the blinker i didn't hear the normal clicking noise...Pulled in to a parking lot and checked the fuses and they were fine, but the sound that you normally get when the key is in the ignition wasn't on either...So i got back home and was going to get up to the dealership the next morning....Started it up that morning and everything worked...Just dumb-founded me:confused: That was like a week ago and haven't had the problem happen again...So i'm just guessing it was a hiccup...

wish my hiccuop would end

Any chance that everyone with this problem has remote start? When you use the remote start only the radio and a/c seem to be live. Perhaps the gremlin's in that part of the system. Just a thought.

No remote start here...Standard, the only way to drive...LOL

These stock radios are pretty much crap and have overheating issues. Mine started by not responding to any buttons. It would keep playing, you just couldn't do anything. Really annoying when you had the music up a bit on the highway and get off into the city and can't turn the damn thing down. After that I had the same problem of no sound. I said screw it and just replaced it with a Kenwood unit.

No remote start unit here (MTX tranny)... Plus have NEVER experienced the same problem since!!!? I'm miffed :wtf:

Now, we've had days 'close to' 100* here (Michigan)... and that was AFTER this episode... so I highly doubt it's heat related. Plus- I havn't really heard from members living the in Oven-region (Az, etc...) where 100*+ is a common, daily occurance.

Just wanted to provide feedback that it hasn't happened since... just be sure to check BOTH of your fuseboxes (under hood and in cabin).

Good Luck :thumb:

had the same thing happen the other day, went into a place and came out about 5 minutes later (didn't use remote start) and the radio was on but no sound, also no turn signal sound. Drove for about 10 minutes and got out of the car and turned it off, then immediatly turned it back on and the radio worked fine. It hasn't done it again but I'd still like to know what the hell is going on.

Update - see post on No Sound From Anything. I had a short in a wire/connector that also shorted out the amplifier.

Mike R.

Thx for the update! Gotta get it in for the intermitent "pop" of the radio...

Thx for the update! Gotta get it in for the intermitent "pop" of the radio...



I had that popping crackling sound and had the dealer check it as i noticed it would happen if i put my foot in certian areas of the floor like just below the brake pedal and where that foot pad is on the left upper of drivers side it was speaker wires tangled up with main power wire for the radio causing it!! they rerouted the wires and no popping since!!

I had a strange thing happen tonight with the radio.

Started the HHR with the remote. When I opened the door to put the key in the ignition, I heard a hissing sound that you hear when you have an amplified cranked up but no audio being fed to it.

Turned on the radio...CRACK!!!! :scared: The radio is working fine, but damn that was loud.

While that was going on, the air filter cover on top of the engine was happily chirping away. Popped the hood and put my hand on it. Sound went away.

black rose that crackin sound is the same issue i had with mine with the wires entangled take it to the dealer and tell them its an easy fix!!

black rose that crackin sound is the same issue i had with mine with the wires entangled take it to the dealer and tell them its an easy fix!!
That is now 3 issues that I need to take it in and get fixed :(

i had same problem with mine
one night no sound but c d worked made appt at dealer
next day it worked but the dealer replace the radio anyway
how cool is that