I was over at a friend's house today and the guy has an HHR. Not too long ago he jumped the thing from the battery (not using the post under the hood) and he said it caused all sorts of electrical problems - along with locking the doors with the keys in the thing. The issues were so great from this that he almost got rid of the car. This guy has been building show cars and doing all kinds of work on cars for the last 40 years so he knows his way around most problems. He described the crazy stuff he had to go through just to eventually get the door open, then, we had to leave and I didn't get the chance to ask many questions. But he said the whole deal really screwed up some electronics and he did a bunch or reading & watching YouTube videos to finally get the thing fixed.

We've got two HHRs and I'm detailing the older one and fixing some minor problems - and about 5 days ago I used a portable battery charger to jump the car from the battery in the back - caused no problems. I had the plastic parts in the back out of the car and it was just handy - and, again, it caused no problems, whatsoever.

So obviously I am wondering why I jumped my 2006 from the battery and nothing bad happened and this guy said it screwed up the electronics in his so bad that he almost junked the car. I think his is newer....looks like a 2010 or something. Is it safe - or when is it safe - to jump an HHR from the battery? As I said, in my case it appeared to cause zero problems.

 

Perhaps his battery was weaker or had a dead cell or 2 or his under hood fuse box bolts are loose.

 

Nothing wrong with jumping at the battery as long as done correctly. Millions of people have been jump starting cars at the battery since the invention of 12 volt batteries.
Hooking up the jumper cables incorrectly and causing a power arc is most likely what happened to him.
I’ve seen techs with many years of experience make simple mistakes.

 

I bet he thinks the battery is the black box under the hood.

 

Thanks for all the replies - I have no idea what the guy is talking about, now. Like I said, it didn't do anything bad to my car so I have no idea what the guy's on about. He's just done so much more auto work than me I presumed he knew what he was talking about - guess not.

 

More auto work doesn’t mean he’s paid attention all these years, we all make a mistake now and then

 

Do what the owners manual says. Deviate only if you know what you're doing. Hint - way more people think they know what they're doing than actually do.

 

Jeez, thanks!! I'm gonna formulate another plan. Will have someone with extra long cables try to jump it from the front! God bless ya!!

 

Yep, we're gonna get the owner's manual and become PhD's in HHR's before Christmas.

 

Okay, we'll do it, thanks a bunch! If I get an instant perm, I'll upload the photo (not) :))