snowfamily1

I am a new member that bought my HHR in March. I had to get my windshield resealed in June and now I have two other problems. The first problem is the radio. After the car has been running for about 10-15 minutes "all" the radio buttons stop working. The other problem is a thud sound when starting the car. Has anyone else had these problems?

omega015

the thud or crack that you hear has been talked about on here before and there is a tsb to resolve the problem. haven't heard about the buttons not working. i would take it to the dealer.

SCOOT

Well... because it wasn't stated- be sure to check all of your fuses. Make sure they're seated properly (there are 2 fuse boxes, one under the hood- another in the cabin). Use the search function...

snowfamily1

Sorry... I am new to the board. What does TSB stand for?

SCOOT

"Technical Service Bulliten"... it's jargon your service people will look for when you complain about a problem at the dealership. TSB's are released by (all) the manufacturer to aid in addressing/fixing issues. For example... if your radio goes "PoP" every now and again, the TSB that relates to it basically tells the service person to download the 'latest' software ... which corrects the problem.
It's helpful to both YOU and the dealer by showing up with TSB's that fix known issues (as witnessed by others here on this forum) because a.) your problem should get fixed, and b.) the dealer doesn't have to waste a lot of time or "guess" as to what a fix may be.
TSB's are common with *ALL* vehicles!!! Just so happens to be a little more common with 1st model year releases (2006 HHR). Another thing... TSB's also help the manufacturer *fix* common problems AT THE FACTORY (during production) to avoid similar complaints from future owners down-the-road.

snowfamily1

OMEGA015 mentioned that the engine problem was on the TSB but I couldn't find it. Do you know what I should look under?

courthousedeb

There is a list of all TSB's that have been located in one of the stickies above on this Problem/Service Issues board. One of our members dbarberaz has done a wonderful job gathering and updating the info for us.

snowfamily1

I looked in there. I didn't see this issue. Do you know what the topic was called?

courthousedeb

Can you or someone else point us in the right direction? I have looked through the TSB's here and have not seen anything to this effect and I'm pretty good at finding things here.

I even went to the NHSTA site and did a TSB search and didn't see anything directly relating to what snow is referring to. Only things I have seen is the clunk when turning...and snow states it's when starting.

Quick question for you snow...do you have CGS installed or have you tampered with or removed the big black box on top of the engine?

crowbar

yup the thud sounds like what everyone else has had