chooch

THOSE of you that already own the HHR turbo ss, what are your thoughts and opinions of this turbo charged engine? Any of you ever owned turbo charged cars before? Do you expect this motor to be fairly reliable and trouble free? I realize this same motor is used in the pontiac solistice but i really dont know anything about its reliability. Back in the mid 80's buick had their grand national and i believe that that particular turbo had its share of problems. Some could also argue that turbos have improved a lot in the last few years, with volvo, mitsubishi and a few more others having good track records.Normally i stay away from superchargers and turbo'd motors as i worry about the maintenance and reliability issues. Who here can restore my faith with some positive feedback and experience? thanks

hhrcrafty

Hahn Racecraft has pulled 400 reliable horsepower out of a turbocharged Ecotec with no internal parts changes. The engine itself is very robust and can take a lot more power than they're giving it off the assembly line.

The key to making any turbo engine last is simply doing the routine maintenance and letting the turbo cool down at idle before you turn the engine off. A lot of people cooked those old Garrett turbos on the 3.8 and 2.0 in the GNX and Sunbird GT by not changing the oil or flogging the car and not letting the turbo cool down before shut down.

The 3.8 turbo was a very reliable engine, problem was a lot of the GNX and GTA drivers cooked 'em by turning up the boost and not tuning the primitive ECMs or adding bigger fuel injectors when doing so. Amazing how these new SIDI Ecotecs are making close to the same power.

MOTRV8D

turbofreak, how about chiming in here. You had experience with a turbo motor, how reliable was it?

Retrorod

My Corvair Spyder (factory turbo) I had back in the '70s ran flawlessly.....it just leaked a little oil.

mizzouHHR

I don't own an SS HHR, but I did own a 1987 Dodge Shelby Charger with a turbo 2.2 for several years. As HHRcrafty said, the key to turbo engines is maintenance. Oil changes are a must, and never rev the engine, then shut it off. If you do the turbo will continue spinning without oil being supplied, and you will damage the bearings. I'm sure turbo technology has drastically improved since 1987, but I had no problems at all with mine at that time, even with 100,000 miles. The ONLY problem I experienced was my turbo stopped providing boost, so I tore everything apart to try and fix it, and all that was wrong was a "C" clip popped off on the waste gate. Replaced that and all was fine again. I thought for sure I needed a new turbo, so you can imagine how excited I was to find out it was a 50 cent repair.

turbofreak

These motors are very strong and with the Bosch ecm acting as a nanny to try and prevent owners from intentionally raising the hp or saving the engine when owners opt to use regular gas. There is a very good thread going on
now on the Solstice forum where after over a year of trying some have
learned how to bypass some of the controls and get higher boost and hp
without seriously affecting reliability.
As an example, there is now a mod to readjust the wastegate rod and a mod
to the IAT2 sensor. This allows quicker boost and more boost for a siginificant
hp increase. To be really correct, you need to have HP Tuners software to
increase the fueling for the additional boost. You ask about reliability and here
is where there will be different results. Those that do the mod without investing the $$ to also change the fueling will have it probably work ok but
will be on the edge of reliability and if they live in CA with only 91 octane,
the ecm's knock and other controls may not be enough and they have a
problem. But if you do it RIGHT and keep the factory fueling margins correct,
the the motor has been amazing. Bill Hahn has run 400 plus hp and no
problems but he does it right.

I ran my GXP turbo hard and never had a lick of trouble and I measured
a REAL 0-60 mph at 5.0 sec flat with a hard launch.

Picked up my new HHR SS tonight. BFM color which my wife said changed
colors as she drove behind me and the headlight played over car.
Only a few miles so far but light clutch action, VERY nice shifting, and in
a quick blast I saw 15 psi on boost gauge which is about right for the cold
temps in MI. Saw same 15 psi on my GXP when i drove it to dealer to
trade it in.

TY&HHR

For those who have a SS does it say to run Sythetic oil only. I know with my Typhoon it was required or the warranty would be voided. With turbo engines oil and fuel is key....you can't skimp, use only premium oil and premium gas.

MOTRV8D

awlll right, you got BFM! You really need to post some pics of your new baby as soon as you can. I wanna see it in BFM!

and thanks for the info on the turbo motor. Comforting to know the Ecotec can take it. And with a 5yr, 100k powertrain warranty what's not to like about that?

turbofreak

I had a TY too with a TE60 turbo. Ran like stink.
The oil cap on my new SS has Mobil 1 symbol and it is the factory fill.

turbofreak

TY&HHR

How is the SS in comparison to your Ty. I know different weight to power ratio but, is it close.