jmarines

Yesterday I picked up my hhr from the dealer, they had it a week due to inproper injectors/fuel rail being installed when they replaced my engine about 6 months ago. Anyways, went to work this morning... everything was great, but as I drove home this afternoon, I started smelling a rubber burning smell and smoke started coming from under the hood. I looked at my display on my gauge cluster and noticed it read somthing about cooling .... I looked at my temp gauge and it was pegged out on the red. I pulled over and turned off the engine. I scrolled through my info and it said my temp was about 250....OUCH... anyways, as I waited for the tow truck I popped the hood and started smelling around for that burnt rubber smell... I did locate it.. It was from the cooling fan, apparently the fan motor took a dump because it was hard to turn and kind of ****eyed. I am now worried that some type of engine damage may have occurred. The engine has aready been replaced due to overheating when it had 1000 miles on it, now I have 9400 miles and again, overheating, but this time it looks to be because of the cooling fan not working. What do you guys/gals think??? I hav already been on the phone with gm for the last few months, they seem insitant on not wanting to "buy it back" I would assume after 13 times back to the dealer for repaires in 7 months you would think they would buy it back or replace it, but nope... all they want to do is apologize for the inconvience and go on there merry way. I have looked into the lemon laws here in texas, It qualifies if its been in the shop 4 times for a non safety issue, 2 times for a safety issue or 30 days total that the car has been in the shop and not in use by the owner. As fo the 30 days, I do qualify for it , but I'm not to sure about what qualifies for the safety issue , If I had to guess, My fuel line rupture would be 1 but would installing a new engine be another? Any insite would be greatly appriciated....

InkTheFlesh

Driving down the road, your engine should not peg out on hot. You don't even need the fans when driving, so it sounds like you have an issue other than just the fan motor.

esmarkey

Yep, unless it was stop and go driving the fan shouldn't even come on.

jmarines

which it was stop and go traffic... rush hour in houston texas on the freeway

dbfruth

When they replaced the engine did they also replace the radiator?

hhrcrafty

You really shouldn't have a problem with the engine until about 300-400 degrees. 250 is bad because your coolant is starting to boil over and that can hurt the cooling system. Oil has a MUCH higher boiling point than coolant and won't break down until you get into the higher temps.

One thing you can do in a pinch is turn on the heater and fan to max and that'll draw some heat off the engine if you're just completely stuck. If it hits 260-270, stop, let the car cool a bit, then you can go again until it hits the mark again.

tireman1554

Although I believe your engine will be ok after a good fluid change; I still think you need to get an attorney.

jmarines

I didnt see on the work order that they replaced the radiator, only the motor. I just picked it up and they informed me that thecooling fan motor shorted and thats what caused the overheating. The smell came from the melting plastic cover. They also informed me that the motor wuz fine. I didnt see any type of cooling leak down test or pressurized test on the paperwork so How would they know for sure that the engine didnt get damaged? A friend of mine insisted on either paying a shop to do a pressure test or just leave running for about 1/2 hour to see if it overheats.

hhrcrafty

Like I said, unless your coolant was waaay overheating and a hose burst causing coolant loss, you did not damage your engine. It takes a lot more than 250 degrees to boil and breakdown engine oil.

You could always send your oil to Blackstone for an analysis to see if there's any metal in it, but unless you're burning oil or coolant now, there shouldn't be any engine damage.

oneton

I'm with hhrcrafty on this. 250 is high but if it still had coolant it should be fine. I have seen V/8's that run a bog pump at 3500 RPM over 250 for 8-10hrs and run for years. It was let it run or loose the crop, [ cranberries ] the exhaust manifolds would be cherry red and you could see each time a cyl. would fire it would pluse,,