My tech writer at Martin Chevrolet called to say that the actuator had arrived, has been installed, and all is right with the world. 21 pound sustained boost, no drop off. He's driving it again on Wednesday, having it detailed and I'm back in business. GM sent along a complete turbo unit with the actuator. The writer hestitated when I suggested he just lay the extra turbo in the back my panel for a rainy day. Never hurts to ask, I guess.

Thanks to all for hints and suggestions, all of which I plan to keep close by in case this happens again. Now I'm off to the exhaust shop for a bit of cat-back work.

 

Grats, glad its fixed. Now let the fun begin

 

I'm glad you got yours fixed, but well I'm not so lucky.

The pipe they have ordered finally has a date associated with it... MAY 31! I am so upset that I don't know what to say to them. This is so f@*#ing ridiculous! At least my dealer now wants to try replacing the one part they do have to see if I can get my boost back until May, but I'm not sure if that will work at all. The GM tech line recommended they replace both the hose and fitting, and I don't think replacing one is likely to fix the problem for long, if at all. Oh and the dealer is TERRIBLE about returning my calls in a timely fashion. Most of my anger at this point is directed towards GM, but they are quickly getting me upset as well... They claim there isn't much they can do for the parts availability, but if you know you have an upset customer, the least you can do is keep them informed! And oh after all this crap, they said they couldn't get my car in tomorrow and it had to wait till Thursday.. I know it isn't long, but after already waiting 3+ weeks, couldn't they work me in?

 

Well, after my rant from a couple days ago, I actually have good news... My car is now working properly. The dealer replaced the one part that they did have.. and that was enough to get it working properly. The root cause of my problem was the original Stage kit installation. The dealer that installed the stage kit apparently broke one of the pipe nipples and also failed to remove the boss as the kit instructions state they should have. The dealer that fixed the car gave me pictures of the stage kit work and it was really bad. I know others from the chicago area have used the same dealer that installed my kit and been happy... I sure hope my install was a fluke and not the norm. Anyway, I still don't understand why GM can't supply a part in time, but overall I am much happier than a couple days ago. The car runs GREAT again :)

 

Glad to hear that you've got the issue resolved Pitbull!

 

Just for the heck of it, here are pictures of what was wrong. Here is the messed up pipe that the current dealer found (and the dealer that installed the stage kit apparently did). Notice the nipple is about 1/2 the proper height and the boss was not removed from the sensor like it was supposed to be:



Now this is the new part, with the sensor properly installed, and nothing broken:


The hack work in the first pic was done by a dealer that quite a few folks here have bought the kit from and a few local to the area have used for the installation. I sure hope this was an anomaly ... I will never go there again or buy anything from them for sure.

Final thoughts:

- The problem (obviously) was not GM's fault. There was no defect
- GM should have still been able to supply the parts in a more timely fashion.
- I am happy that the current servicing dealer took their time and fixed it right
- I still wish my current dealer was better about getting back to me in what I feel is a reasonable time... but no one's perfect. They got my car fixed :)

 

Also notice how the sensor itself was COMPLETELY redone and installed a full 180* in the 2nd picture as well... Can someone tell me where this lower sensor is? I want to take a look at mine now.

 

the lower sensor i know is right behind the a/c unit on the lower pipe, the tech told me it was close and under hard rapid acceleration it could hit .

 

Thought we had it in the bag with the acutuator replacement but, no so much. HHR is back to most of the original symptoms and this seems to get worse the longer the car is driven. Back to the dealer with latest posts and pictures in hand. Man, this is getting tedious.

 

Pitbull, exactly which part was it that was replaced?
Thanks.