I just fired up my 2008 HHR SS with only 39,000 Km (24,000 mi) on it and drove it a couple of blocks today and all of a sudden the clutch pedal stayed on the floor and I could no longer shift the car into gear. Now it's parked on the side of the road and I can't start it because the computer doesn't know the clutch is in.

I had no issues with the clutch slipping or any problems shifting into any gears before this happened. No leaking or other signs of trouble and there are no leaks beneath the car right now and the brakes work fine. The brake fluid reservoir seems full so I don't think it's a fluid leak or clutch disk issue. All I can think of is that it's either the rubber seals on the clutch slave cylinder are gone or there's a linkage problem.

Any suggestions as to what is the most likely source of my problems?

 

Did you smell anything funny when you burnt it out?

 

Take a look at this thread. https://www.chevyhhr.net/forums/prob...r-fixed-46413/

It seems that some have had this happen before. I don't have any experience with this myself but it seems that the mater cyl for the clutch can become detached from the fire wall.

 

I didn't burn anything out. I started up the car, backed it out of the driveway and then started driving it gently down the street in my neighborhood at about 50 km/hr (30 mph). I went about 2 blocks and then all of a sudden the clutch pedal stayed on the floor and I could no longer shift gears. I have never driven the car very hard and certainly haven't been very hard on the clutch. Just normal driving.

This car has less than 40,000 km on it. I just bought it a couple months ago and it is the first GM/American car I've ever owned. Can't say I'm too impressed right now and wondering if I should just stay with the '95 Volvo 940 Turbo that I've got with over 200K miles on it. That car is RELIABLE and durable and also really easy to work on. Not as sexy or as fun to drive as the SS is though...

Not happy at all with this turn of events...

 

Yeah "burnt it out" - don't know where that came from.

That thread Lucky posted will hopefully help you out a bit. I bet the other SS guys/gals would love to see a picture from under the car etc. showing the problem, and it might prompt some good suggestions on a fix.

It's a pretty rare occurrence from what it sounds like - and too bad the clutch detect circuit is there, else you would have been able to limp it home (like I had to do a couple of times with my '74 Volvo - don't ask how reliable that one was).

Hang in there man - the SS is kinda special.

 

Is this a case of the return spring? If so, there have been some threads on it, give search a shot.

 

One thing I don't understand here. If the clutch pedal is stuck down, you should be able to start it in neutral. ( you said above that it won't start)
Yes, the "computer" would recognize the clutch as being depressed because the Pedal Position Sensor(PPS) is at the top of the clutch pedal.
The only reason I can see that it wouldn't start is if something has broken on the pedal assembly itself.

If you have a bad clutch assembly, master cylinder, or slave cylinder, you should still be able to start the car.
I would be taking a look at the clutch pedal area first.

PPS #2

 

So I left my car on the side of the road a few blocks from where I live while I decided what I wanted to do with it. It was there a couple of nights.

On the way to work yesterday I stopped to have a look at the clutch pedal assembly to see if something had broken or come apart as per the advice of FiremanGeorge. I get in there with the flashlight and give a light tug on the clutch pedal and SPROING!! the clutch pedal snaps right back into position!

I give the pedal another push and it seems to be working normally again. I sit in the driver's seat, push on the clutch, turn the key and she fires right up and shifts normally. Problem solved. Guess I should have tried that moment it happened! Pretty embarrassed about that . For a guy who has the mechanical ability to convert his Volvo 940 Turbo from an automatic to a manual, that's pretty humbling and at the same time kind of comical to have not tried that before going off all mad and ranting about the car's quality on this forum.

Lesson learned.

Thanks to all who pitched in and offered to help with suggestions.

I'm still curious as to why the clutch pedal got stuck right at the floor like that. There was nothing interfering with the pedal anywhere. It's a pretty odd thing to happen. Hope it never happens again, especially when I'm driving through the mountains on windy roads at high speeds...

And the real bummer is that someone stole my license plate while it was parked waiting for me to wise up and fix the clutch pedal.

 

I'm glad to hear you're back on the road, but in this day and age, you should be happy they only helped themselves to your tag.

But you can think of it as an opportunity to get yourself a Vanity Plate since you have to do the "replacement tag song & dance" with your DMV.

 

Don't assume it won't happen again. This happened to me also. Check the center bushing for the clutch pedal return spring. Mine was cracked, yours may be cracked also. Now the clutch pedal arm rubs metal to metal on the clutch return spring. I had quite a groove worn in both the arm and the spring. I bought the spring kit, filled the groove in the arm with epoxy, carefully filing away the excess epoxy, and installed the spring kit. Problem solved. Cover your floor mats so epoxy doesn't drip on them.