Pheesh123

Hey all! What a title to the post right?!? Well, I am new here and wanted you all to know what you are getting into before you clicked in. I am having some car trouble and borrowed my grand mother's car. Low and behold she is having car trouble too! I decided that while mine is in the shop for engine work I'll look into her gremlins to help her out.

The story starts last night. Pick up the car. Starts up a little slow (had been sitting a little too long without having been driven) let it run for a bit before moving it giving the alternator a little time to juice up the battery. Get 5 minutes from her house and "power steering" pops up on the dash where the mileage reads. I think that's weird. The car isn't too hard to move, don't hear the pump whining at me like the fluid is low or the pump is dying... the check engine light pops on shortly thereafter and the car starts lunging from gear to gear. I'd say throughout my 20 minute drive it shifted fine 5% of the time and the others bogged really hard between gears. Not to mention that the speedometer didn't work, had to take out my gps to use the speedometer on the Garmin.


All in all here is what I can see is going on:

2006 HHR LT
Speedometer not working
Power steering reads on dash
Lunging from gear to gear
No temperature read out for external temp just says ( --- )


I have talked to her since and the car has been taken in last year because the 'rabbits' must have chewed some wires, she lives on a ranch. Don't know if it is rabbits, - bad wire harness, transmission control module... or what. Any input would be awesome. Hope you all have a great day. Thank you for your time.


Edit:

Spoke with grandmother, she said when she took it to chevy they told her that a piece of tape was the fix. A small piece of electrical tape somewhere did the job....temporarily.



Ediot 2:

Codes read from car.

4 Codes given:
1: P0700 Transmission Control Module Requested MIL Illuminated
2: P0722 Output Speed Sensor Circuit No Signal
3: P0700 Duplicate
4: P0722 Duplicate

donbrew

"I have talked to her since and the car has been taken in last year because the 'rabbits' must have chewed some wires, she lives on a ranch. Don't know if it is rabbits, - bad wire harness, transmission control module... or what. Any input would be awesome. Hope you all have a great day. Thank you for your time. "

That is the problem, something didn't get fixed right. The usual culprit is the fuse box halves have become unseated.

This has good info if you get past the obvious errors.

RJ_RS_SS_350

Welcome to the forums. The power steering is electric, so that's why you didn't hear it. No fluid, no pump. You need to get the Check engine light codes pulled(AutoZone, etc may help you out with this). Post the codes back here, we'll help you out. Just the codes, not descriptions, as they can be misleading.

Pheesh123

I'm working on getting the car up the street to an autozone as we speak. The hard shifts aren't hurting anything? I don't want to make the issues worse. I'll post back with more information when I have it.


Edited original post with additional information about a 'small piece of tape, being the check technicians fix.

Pheesh123

Watched the video. Thanks for the information. What are the errors you say are in the video? Still working on getting the code read but will also look into cleaning up and reseating the fuse box.

donbrew

The guy doesn't know what he is doing, the errors are obvious.
1. he calls the power steering lead "a positive cable".
Just watch it for how to do it right, since he shows how he tried to do it then how he ended up getting it done, he obviously recorded his first try.

BE ABSOLUTELY SURE THE NEGATIVE POST OF THE BATTERY (in the trunk) HAS BEEN DISCONNECTED FIRST. Put a towel or something over the hatch latch to avoid a lockout.

Varmint love to chew on HHR wiring, this is third instance this month. Even ground wires are important and there are a lot of them.

Pheesh123

Hey all, here is what I found...I guess California doesnt allow autozone employees to read codes. blah blah blah, bought a reader since it is seemingly becoming a good investment.

Codes read from car.

4 Codes given:
1: P0700 Transmission Control Module Requested MIL Illuminated
2: P0722 Output Speed Sensor Circuit No Signal
3: P0700 Duplicate
4: P0722 Duplicate

donbrew

I didn't notice you were in CA.

Those 2 codes indicate that the wire from the bottom of the trans to the TCM is compromised.

Number 62 in this drawing.

Pheesh123

I guess it is time to hit the floor and crawl around and look for this wire. I am having a hard time finding a manual on the site for pictures. Thanks again

donbrew

I posted the pic while you were typing.

Check your PM.