There are several different types of faults; some set the CEL on the first occurrence, some on the second, some on the third. All will store until it doesn't re occur in a set number of cycles, then they will be forgotten.

 

The only way to know for sure if the car has been tuned is to pull out the existing tune and compare it to known stock file. Back in the day when these and the Cobalt SS came out there was a lot of experimenting going on to find out what the combination wanted, liked needed. I can tell you some of the early tunes along with manually adjusting the waste gate linkage did set overboost conditions and the limp home/no boost situations. The fact that you are boosting ~ 20 would lead me to think that is something you might want to have checked. If you can have some one with HPTuners to pull your existing file and save it I can compare it to one of stock files I have.

Also going forward, FWIW don't do the stage upgrade and tune. It has been determined that upgrading to the 3 bar sensors and adjusting/changing the stock file to work with the new sensors works best. I did have the Stage upgrade done and ended up redoing the file once I got the car home. Now I'm in the process of re-writing my stock tune with the above mentioned changes and doing a re-write into the ECM and logging to get the fuel trims back in order.

 

Thanks DonBrew, sounds like the earlier systems I have some experience with. It has been acting right lately after a few late night freeway rides into high numbers. My friend following me on a Harley on 2 of the adventures said sparks or some kind of ambers or something were exiting the tail pipe but it was a lot at first and has decreased each time. The idea was to blow the carbon out of this thing and get the turbo spinning full blast for a while, I'm thinking what he saw coming out was just that, carbon.. The adventure continues. I'm leaning more and more towards sticking components and suspecting the previous owner did not stand on it very much at all and when he did something stuck and was very intermittent from that point on so he bailed out of it.. Glad he did no matter what the reason. In a few weeks I'll take it on a long drive, first one since owning it, see what it does from there.. Thanks again for your input, suggestions etc..

 

DrLoch. My equipment is ancient as far as my OTC and cartridges go, my up to date scanner is only for pulling and erasing codes, sounds like I need something more technical to do what you suggest on the checking and pulling out the present tune.

In addition to the OTC I've used the Tech 1 and 2 when working for the GM Dealer in the late 80's and early 90's and a DRB 2 when working for Dodge when they had that SMEC system about the same time.. An accident changed my trade and I've been out of it for a long time but I'm not completely lame yet either and can follow instructions, was ASE Certified most of my time in the trade, matter of fact I was NIASE Certified when they first started the whole thing in the 70's. Any explanations you can give me including the type of device I need to get a hold of will be appreciated, I did Driveablity back then and don't give up on problems too easy and only have a gap in technology to bridge with this car, last school for GM and Chrysler was in 1989 and stopped turning wrenches in the early 90's, 2 back surgeries and one brain surgery later I'm back to play again but retired from all jobs for good.. that means time to play with this HHR..

I noticed you are in North Carolina, I was in that state at Fort Bragg in the 60's attached to 82nd Airborne Division, lived in Fayetteville for about a year and a half, nice state. loved the green forests etc.. used to go to Dunn Benson Drag Strip back then too..

Thanks for your input and help as well in this matter, remember most of you guys are ahead of me in the new technology but I'm a fast learner as well as driver too.. I'll catch on and have followed everyone's suggestions etc for that reason, I'm on here asking for help and many have kindly responded.. Have a good evening/night/morning .....

 

You could try to find a tuning shop nearby that may be able to pull the file out.

Yes I'm in North Carolina now, about 5 years now. Came down from Michigan north of Detroit. Much happier here. If you were at Fort Bragg in the 60's were you involved in the unfriendly war in southeast Asia? I was flying Navy 72 - 76. Made numerous rounds in and out of that country, was there for the fall ferrying people out of the country as well. Sad time for our military...

 

Welcome Home Dennis. I was in the unfriendly war 67-68. Was at Nha Trang, Phu Lam, Bien Hoa, Tan Son Nhut to name a few places, I know you had to land in at least one of them, probably one or both of the last 2 mentioned..

Thanks for the information on the ''Tune'' being pulled out too, I was hoping to find out about a scanner of any type that might do that and buying it, OTC say's they'll give me $1500.00 trade in on the one I still have but I'm not willing to make investments in equipment like that anymore and hoped for something under a Grand by far.

Migrated from New York to Texas in 1979, no regrets here either. The trick is to not let it get like the place we left, it is better where we settled than where we left so I say ''Don't try to make it like the place you left to anyone that complains about it here, if it was so great back ''Home'' why did you leave? That is the question posed to the local malcontents, not yourself however.

As the ''Saga'' continues on the HHR SS today I drove it a lot, over a hundred miles and kicked it in the tail end most of the way from dead stop to rolling starts and it performed well, no codes added to the ones still stored, my ''Theory'' of something stuck is starting to fall into place more and more.. Thanks to all in this matter that have contributed knowledge and suggestions, photos, replies etc. I might be premature in saying this but I think this problem is gone?

 

If your interested in scanning and code changing you can get HPTuners. HPTuners.com >> Performance At Your Fingertips Standard version is $499., Pro is $649. Once the scanner is configured you can get all the power train information you need. I have the Pro version now, started with the standard version. If your going to do it I would recommend that you get the pro version right off. It's more expensive doing it the way I did it.

Welcome home as well.

 

Thank's Dennis, on both information and "Welcome Home''..

 

Snoopy, upon answering your question posed my reply was based on records before me on the car from the dealer it was purchased and serviced at and what was stated on those records HOWEVER upon visual contact when replacing the air filter today it was a K+N filter in there so your answer is now YES it does or did have one at that time.

The car is fine now with the slight exception of some wavering turbo pressures however none exceeding around 16, it was the same with the K+N though, the change in the code setting, limp etc. problem was history after a bit of ''Blow it out'' or ''Blow it UP'' rides on the late evening interstate miles from town where a motorcycle rider both raced me and watched me give it my best shot before he blasted by me.. Conversation [Friend] afterwards told of sparks coming out of my exhaust in high numbers at first and then decreasing as the MPH increased and from that night on no fault codes nor overboost problems at all.

That was a good tip though, GM school many years ago showed us the difference between a GM filter and an aftermarket filter as far as over all engine performance was concerned so I lean toward Stock Engineered products more than aftermarket for that reason. C-3 and C-4 systems was the class attended, Feed Back Carbs etc.

A Belated Thank You and retraction of my ''Bone Stock'' statement..

 

Not that it matters now since you went back to stock, but some SS owners have stated that just installing a
K and N filter would lead to some random CEL's popping up.
Those CEL's usually went away when they put the stock filter back in.