Originally Posted by Samp42

Thanks to all who contribute to this channel. We still enjoy our HHR after 15 years with some ups and downs along the way. First car I drove was a 1954 Chevrolet Sedan...yep I am that old. Over 60+ years have owned a lot of GM cars and only twice had to call a tow truck.... This week it is time for annual maintenance and inspection of the HHR, including oil, coolant, and a general check of everything bumper to bumper as we hit another 5 year interval in the life of our HHR. FYI it still has "like new" compression. Never have had to add any oil between changes. Oil still looks good (5,000) mile/1 year change intervals with Mobil 1 5W-30. But did I say coolant?

In the past I thought the periodic ritual of draining/bleeding/burping, etc. was a rite of passage we DIY guys had to endure to enjoy the independence (and pride?) that goes with seeing that our maintenance is done well. Recently I performed a cooling system flush and refill on 3 high mileage (at or near 100K miles) Mercedes Benz vehicles. Like our little retro HHR, they all had a 2 gallon +/- cooling system and included a 300E, a ML320, and our Benz, an E320. When doing the drain/flush/refill on the Benz, just connect a 3/8" hose to the radiator drain port, drain the old coolant out, flush with distilled water until clear, let that drain, and refill the system with 2 gallons of coolant mixed with distilled water. Can't say if all the Benz vehicles are like the ones I have worked on, but have never done a cooling system service on anything from Ford or GM that was that easy. On none of the mentioned MB vehicles was it necessary to "burp" anything or use any kind of vacuum bleeder or park the car on an incline and top it off for several days. On the MB just drain it, flush it, refill it, and put the cap back on the cooling system and done...with the assurance that 2 gallons came out and 2 gallons went back in.

We have reached the point in our lives where we only need one vehicle. So our HHR and Benz are getting a thorough going through making sure everything is in order. Since many people are desperately looking for an affordable car to take them to work, etc., want to make sure whoever gets ours will have a reliable vehicle to drive. Neither of ours are GDI which is one of the reasons we have kept them. Now we need to get one vehicle that meets all our needs. Unfortunately it will either be "macht im Stuttgart" (or Alabama) or the Toyota plant in Indiana. Good bye GM and other US brands. The cooling system mess is but an indicator of how little practical engineering goes into turbo charged mini engines and GDI in over priced plastic cars. Atlas shrugged?

Originally Posted by Oldblue

Today is cancer patient exercise class then we drove to Niagara Falls for lunch!

Originally Posted by mongo

You might want to check into MB reliability of new vehicles, they aren't the indestructible tanks like they used to be. TBH, if long term reliability is your goal, can't beat Toyota.