:steering: Thought this day would never come, but that day is nearly here!:smile:

We're going to load up the car with all the camping gear tonight, after we go out for one last family dinner before we all head off in different directions for the next few weeks.

Can't wait for four in the morning to roll around, and we're in the Silver Streak heading for Glacier National Park. :banana:

For all of you folks who are going off on a traveling adventure, enjoy your trip and drive carefully so we can all enjoy our traveling stories.

Ya'll be careful, ya here !!!! And definately enjoy !!!

Have fun and be safe :thumb: :thumb:

We are so excited about taking our little HHR on this trip. We're glad that Chevy COULD put a roof rack on it, even though we didn't enjoy paying their price. It's going to be so nice.

Had to work a bit later tonight, which was a bummer, but we just got back from a nice family dinner, enjoyed the best Mexican food we'll be getting for awhile. Love the food at Valle Luna! Actually, after a camping trip we always come home craving meat loaf.

Thanks for the good wishes, we'll drive carefully and take it easy, it'll just be nice to have our time be all ours for the next few weeks.

For all of you great HHR folks along our route on I-15 as we head north through Utah, Idaho, and Montana, wave hi to us as we go through.

:steering: :bye:

Have fun :thumb: be safe

Not a good start to our vacation.

First we started off by having to fight our way through the smoke and traffic and detours caused by the fires in southern Utah.

Car started making a strange clicking noise which got worse and worse.....took it in to the Chevy place in Kalispell MT first thing this morning, seems to be something wrong with the lifters or some such thing, ordered the parts, we're now driving a rental, an Equinox.

That's the bad part. The good part is they're hoping to have it fixed by Friday, and they are going to wash all the ash off from the fires, and a friend of ours is dropping off a canoe for us to use while we're camping.

Hopefully the poor car will not have any more problems this trip.

UPDATE!

Our little Silver Streak is still in Kalispell in the shop, they told us to pick it up Friday, then they told us to pick it up Monday, then it was Wednesday. Today is Tuesday and we decided to go into town and stare at them, got there just in time to see the service man come up to the service manager with the paper work for our car, and another car, and we told them we hope they'll be working on our car first because we want to drive it and enjoy it, that's why we bought it!

On top of that there's a big forest fire going on near Glacier National Park, and the park hosts told us they talked about the possibility of evacuating in case lightning should strike and ignite all that dead timber from the 2003 fire. Hubby has severe breathing problems, and should that happen we would need to high tail it out of this state and head for home, and how can we do that when our car is in the shop?

We are not happy campers about this, and just as a heads up, we were told that the cam shaft and lifters are an issue which folks in HHR's might very well be having problems with.

It's back to camp for us now, though I have to say the little Equinox they've given us to drive isn't too bad, not great mileage on the gas and it's a hard ride, but over all, not bad. :frown:

Well I missed this the first time. That sucks. Hope you get Silver Streak back soon!!!

:( Okay, we left home soooo thrilled to have our new little Silver Streak to enjoy a great vacation.................ha!

We ended up having it in the Chevy shop for over a week, while we drove around in a Chevy Equinox, which they loaned us. We have to say that it was a very nice little car to drive, though it only got, at best 26 to the gallon on the highway. They kept putting off fixing our car, though they had the parts, and finally we decided to go in ahead of time and just sit and stare at them. We walked in one morning just as the service man was coming up to the service manager with two orders, one for someone elses car and one for ours. To which, my husband said, they'd better be fixing our car next, so it was ordered that they fix ours first. We were told not to pick it up till the end of the day as it was a big job and would require lots of time. We got there the next day right before closing, and Ken pulled the our car around so we could transfere all our camping gear into our car. By the time we were done they were closed and gone. I pulled out and got a block and a half away before pointing out to Ken that the car was STILL making the same ticking noise we took it in there for. This was NOT a happy moment. Next morning we were back at the Chevy dealer and as we pulled in the service manager noted right away, "gee, it's still making the same noise!" Is he alert or what?! They checked it out, and in the end told us they could not hold us up any longer to check it out and do the work it needed and so they told us to drive it home as is and let Chevy in Phoenix worry about it.

They had replaced the camshaft and done some work on the hydrolic lifters. Ken WILL be taking it in as soon as possible now that we're home. In addition to that, we get out in the middle of the Utah desert and the air conditioner decides to switch over to heat, and starts blasting out hot air. So there we were driving along with the windows down in southern Utah!

In spite of all this, the little Silver Streak..............which we've renamed Little Ticker, for the time being, performed well, didn't chug or give out on us, and had tons of space for all our camping gear, and plenty of comfort in the room and ride. Bless it's little ticking heart! So all that being said, we still LOVE our little HHR. We also feel the folks at the Chevy place may have tried to fix it, even though it took longer than we hoped it would. Montana is a laid back state, and folks are never in a hurry to get anything done there. We're hoping for the best when we take it in here now that we're home.

So that's the scoop on our three week adventure. We really think it all started when they changed the oil here at Midway, because it started ticking right after that, though it quit, and would only tick on and off, and was not ticking when Ken had it in to have the roof rack put on. It started up again when we got up north of Flag. Poor little car. :confused:

Sorry about the little tickers problems, but at least you are back home safe and sound and the little ticker can go back to his own Dealer.

Poor Little Ticker (AKA Silver Streak) is in the shop at Midway Chevrolet in Phoenix :frown:

The service people didn't want to give hubby a rental till they found out if the car was still under warranty. That being done, after all, we did just buy the car brand new the last day of March, and it only has six thousand miles on it, we got a rental.

Next they were wondering just how often we get around to changing the oil....okay, Midway was the first to change the oil when the car had under three thousand miles, right before we left on vacation..........and it didn't start making any ticking noise till "MIDWAY" changed the oil!

Had the oil changed again (another 1300 miles later) in Kalispell MT at Eisinger chevrolet after they tried to fix the ticking noise by putting in that new camshaft and doing some kind of lifter work.

One thing hubby always does is to make sure to take good care of our cars, and he never takes them anywhere other than to a dealer for any kind of work or maintenance.

Haven't heard a thing on what they may have discovered so hopefully they'll be able to fix the problem. We are not unreasonable people, it's really simple, we bought a brand new HHR at the end of March, it worked great till they changed the oil at Midway, these things can happen, and all we want is for them to fix our little HHR properly. What we don't like is the attitude they seem to have that "we" didn't have the oil changed or that we must have done something to it, anything that will take the responsibility away. We're hoping they get things right because we'd sure hate to part with our little HHR.:frown:

I wish you the best of luck with Midway Chevy and your little Ticker! :D Only way I know to avoid problems like this with what could be "shady" dealerships is to make sure the little maintenence section of your owner's manual gets filled out by them at Oil Changes, Tune ups and so on. That way theres never a question. Sometimes its the only way to deal with people like this.

But I digress.. again.. GOOD LUCK! :D :twothumbs

What a freakin' horror show!

Before jumping all over the customer, they may want to check their own records first! If they had, they could have seen that they had done the oil change. Asking questions is one thing, but being idiots is another...

Hopefully they figure out what the problem is sooner rather than later.

Little Ticker update:

They're taking the top part of the engine off to see if they can find the noise.

We're hoping for good news.

I hope they get her right as rain soon. I know i would be lost without "Tiffany".
My wife named her says its cause she's little blue and kinda boxy like the jewelry store box

:( Yep, we sure miss having our little car. They gave us some kind of Buick to drive while ours is in the shop, I have not even been out there to see what it looks like. Hubby hasn't even driven it anywhere other than home. Same thing with the first part of our vacation, they gave us a Chevy Equinox to use, and it's not a bad little SUV but we wanted our little car.:(

Little Ticker (AKA Silver Streak) update:

We still don't have our little HHR back, it's still at Midway Chevrolet, and they've been tearing it apart trying to figure out what's wrong with it. They have not been nice about anything either, so sorry we took it back there. It was after Midway changed the oil that our problems started. In Kalispell they replaced the camshaft and did some valve work, told us there was a piece missing from the camshaft. We had the oil changed at Midway "under" three throusand miles before going to Montana. In Montana we had the oil changed again when it only had the mileage we used getting up there. When we got it back it was still making noise and the folks at Chevy in Kalispell told us to drive it home like that and let the folks in Phoenix worry about it.

The folks at Midway asked my husband how often we have the oil changed, as though we neglected to do that and caused the car to malfunction. Guy in service made a big fuss because it was missing about a tablespoons worth. Now they are trying to blame the folks at Chevy in Kalispell for the stuff that may be wrong with our poor little car.

Poor sick Little Ticker! Wonder if we'll ever get it home again?:( We bought it brand new March 31st and we want it well and home!

So sorry to hear about your HHR problems. However, I'm impressed by your attitude (blaming the mechanics instead of the car itself!). Frank and I thought we had missed the July trip, but in reading some of the posts here, it sounds like it didn't happen. We are definitely looking forward to the next one. Hope that they find the problem soon. Well, off to get an oil change ... thanks for the reminder! :)

I think our big mistake was NOT taking our little ticker back to the dealer where we bought him. Fact is, we bought it at a neighboring town, but opted to take it to a dealer who's close to us for service......BIG MISTAKE!

The update is that someone from the dealer where we bought it, called us today to see how we're enjoying our new little HHR and they now know what we're going through and are going to notify someone to look into it and call us. We made it clear that one way or the other, it would be nice if the folks at Midway Chevrolet were at least courteous enough to at least call us and let us know if they've discovered the problem, or if they are planning to fix it anytime soon. She said she'll notify someone, and they will be calling us in a couple days. Lets hope so.

Heads Up Everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just Got A Call From Midway!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11

They're Waiting For A Gasket And They Say We Can Pick Up Our Car Tomorrow Morning!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wooooooo~hooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Might Be Doing A Happy Dance Tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11111

:( Update, No Car.........they Say Maybe It Will Be Ready Monday.:(

:( Monday Update......................starting Our Fourth Week With Our Car At Midway Chevrolet...................no Car And No Word On What They Might Be Doing To It.

Real sorry to hear what you're going through. Have you tried contacting the regional GM rep? Or maybe just put in a call tothe 1-800 number.

We're checking into the Lemon Law, we know there's something about trying to fix one thing three times, and there's something about 30 days without your car being fixed. Our car was in the Chevy shop for just over one week when we got up to Montana on our vacation, and now it's been in the shop here for over three weeks. What we don't know is if the 30 days must be consecutive, if not, then between Montana and Arizona, they've had our car for 30 days.

"If" they have that 30 days in mind here in AZ then maybe they will get a move on and get our car fixed this week. Hubby is going to call a lawyer and see what the deal is.

What we find very irritating is that they don't have the courtesy to let us know what might or might not be going on, even when Ken goes over once a week to check on the progress. Last week when he went over to check on it, they still had it parked in the same place. Too bad he didn't take the camera every time to document that it was sitting in the same spot week after week.

Someone from Chevy did call to see how we were enjoying our new HHR, that was Wednesday of last week, and we told them just how much........we are NOT getting to enjoy it, and why. She said she'd turn it over to a rep who would be calling us in two days........that person NEVER called, although one of the salesmen from the dealership did call us on Thursday to ask us questions, as he heard what has been happening from the gal who called on Wednesday. Thursday they did call from Midway to tell us we could pick up our HHR on Friday morning, Friday late afternoon, Midway called to tell us that "maybe" it would be ready Monday. Okay, yesterday was Monday and we didn't hear a word. We didn't bother to call because we figure the longer they take now, the better case we'll have when we DEMAND a new car, or that they drop a NEW engine into our car. We paid for a brand NEW car in good working order, not a new car they can't seem to fix.

FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We finally got our Little Ticker home. Hubby went and got it when they called us this afternoon. He picked it up and the air conditioner would only blow hot air, which happened to us coming home from Montana while driving through Utah. The guy in service told my hubby that it does that so that it can driy up the moisture which can gather in the car and make it smell sour. Do we buy that story................NOPE!

We will be taking it back to the dealer where we bought it, even though it's 30 miles away, so they can go over it with us, as they requested when they found out our problems.

Do we know what they did to fix our car? NOPE! We will be trying to figure out what they wrote down on the repair list, hubby says it looks like mumble jumble to him.

Midway told my hubby to bring in the questioner they'll be sending us and they'll give us a free oil change.......HA! NOT on your life will we be taking our little HHR back to Midway! They are not going to like anything we have to say when we answer the questions, no doubt they would tear it up and not turn it in for us.

NOT happy with that place at all and we will not ever take our little car back to them.

So...that being said, I'm done with work, Hubby's brother just left, and we are going to take our Little Ticker for a drive and see how it checks out, and if there's no more ticking, we'll go back to the original name we gave it, Silver Streak, even though Little Ticker seemed like a cute name while it had it's ailment. Poor little HHR is thrilled to be back home and out of the AZ sun and in it's own garage. :bow: