Intermediate Steering Shaft!
 

For those of you that have 10k or more miles on your hhr...you might start to hear a clunk coming from the front of your car...I took mine to the dearlership and they told me that Intermediate steering shaft needed replaced...most of the hhrs will end up having this problem...so if you hear the clunk...take it to your dealership.

gm has been having trouble with that design of the intermediate steerig shaft...for years!! my mechanice told me that they recently redesigned it.


well i went and go it replaced today...and for most of my ride home...the loud clunk was gone! but then...i was almost home...and a new clunk was coming from the front end....so back to the dealership i go!!!!

Interesting.

Just hit 20k and no problems here

I have heard it as well.mostly while turning sharply a slow speeds.I am headed to the dealer soon,and armed with the TSB information found here:Steering - Front End Clunk When Turning
http://www.alldata.com/tsb/General-M...05C/index.html

Was that intermediate shaft covered under warranty? I just took mine in and they said it was not covered. I hear it most when coming to a stop (no its not a rotor issue, its is clunking) it sounds like the strut mounts or possibly the sway bar links but an inspection ruled those out and the dealer confirmed it was the intermediate shaft. I have had the colum replaced and that was covered so is this just the next piece in line to fail?
Thanks for the help.

I just found this in the cobalt forum, it includes our HHRs. It is very long but very informative. This will allow people to be informed before heading to the dealer, you can do your own diagnosis and see if they agree or come up with another story.
http://www.cobaltss.net/forums/showthread.php?p=3787448
Thanks Cobalt guys

I've had this problem 4 times with my 2002 Silverado. GM came up with a "fix" that didn't work. Then they regreased the shaft, that didn't work, then they replaced the shaft. That didn't work. Just 2 months ago the dealer I bought my HHR from did a "courtesy repair" and replaced the shaft with "new style".

This has been an ongoing issue with GM's design since at least 2001.

clunk in front end
 

I've got 62K miles on my 07 hhr. For the last 15K miles I've noticed a clunk in the front end. It is progressively getting worse. At first I only noticed it going through the street gutter leaving my driveway. It was noticeable when going through at an angle, loading and unloading the suspension on the corners. I've had it in the shop and they replaced the right transaxle, but his did nothing to fix the clunk. I read on another forum that replacing the lock nuts on the end links fixes the problem, but it didn't on mine. I called gm and gave them my vin number. Found out my intermediate steering shaft was replaced just before I bought it at around 30K miles. This leads me to think the intermediate shaft is clunking again. My next step will be to replace the intermediate shaft again.

I have the other problem too, the one when the temp is below 32 degrees and when I hit a dip in the road it sounds like the front spoiler dragging the ground, but after the temp warms up I don't hear the sound. This is a seperate problem and is definatly due to temperature. Since I live in Louisiana, it's really not a problem, but the dang CLUNK is something I can't live with.

Everybody gets the shaft
 

I had an 04 Avalanche, really *****in ride. The intermediat shaft went at around 12k. Tranny shot it's wadd @ 70k.I still wish I had it back though. Maybe one day I'll learn to just keep repairing what I've got, and not buy new OR used. At least then I can keep up with what might fall off next.

The clunk might be the steering column, but more likely its the swaybar end links. Both are known issues and the dealer should have experience with diagnosing them.
The grinding/creaking in cold weather is probably the swaybar bushings.