Driving into work this morning about 75mph the SS began to almost hiccup for air and then total loss of power and the boost is negative double digits. Still going at a reasonable clip and not in the mood to get greased on the side of the road I went a ways for an exit ramp, but before I did that the turbo began to SCREAM. Pretty obvious the turbo just failed... at 36,720 miles, but the car ran fine so I nursed it too work with out an issue. I called my dealer and was told to bring it in so they can check it out, so headed out and got it there but by there the squeal was gone and so was the power. ZERO get up and go... about as fast as a riding lawn mover with out it... to the floor in 5th it would go 65mph.

HERE IS THE KILLER!

The service guy want to know if I am the guy that called with a blown supercharger? I told him I am the guy with the blown turbo. He informs me that my HHR SS has a supercharger in it, to which I just chuckle... but he thinks I am wrong!!!! So he pops the hood and see what on the airbox?? "TURBOCHARGED" ... he get quite, but insists it says supercharged on the back hatch SS emblem, so he walks back there and REALLY looks and says "Oh... well been wrong all day" Over his desk are several elaborate gold GM service awards for excellence... too bad he doesn't know the products he's selling or working on.

... no wonder dealers don't know crap about the 2.0L GMPP Stage 1 Kit... they don't even know it's got a #$%#@ TURBO!

BTW, the turbo is on the 100K warranty and drove out in a loaner, so I did get a little.... what a mess.

... and right now, fresh out of BooSSt!!! LOL

 

Do you think they will clean out the intercooler and duct work????...bein' it's all down stream from the turbo. I'd almost have to question the whole deal if they didn't.

 

lmao, and that is exactly why i did not go with the stage 1 upgrade. good luck, i hope he does not replace your tubo with a supercharger while it is in the shop!

 

Why didn't you go with HP Tuner? You seem bitter about the Stage Kit for no reason.

 

No, I dont have a Stage Kit but I have been reading about people going to dealers to get the kit installed and they dont know about it. This guy didnt even know they had a turbo! When the time comes for a upgrade I will go with the programmer; I had awesome luck with my duramax diesel and simply reprogramming kicked it up 120hp all by itself!

Good point about the duct work, and I'll make sure that is done plus I want them to make sure the oil pump is operating to pressure and the line feeding it isnt plugged.

 

If you're going to get a programmer, I would recommend getting HP Tuner. So much more you can / will be able to do with it. Also, if you get the stage kit, you can also improve over it with HP Tuner as well.. You'll want those maps for future mods.

 

I would agree...if you do plan to "mod" (more than just a tune), get HPTuner hands down, then everything can be perfect, the hand held tuners are very limited...though they do work GREAT for diesels...just not the same for gasoline engines imo.

With that said though, I'll probably get Trifecta since this is just my daily driver. I have my drag car and Corvette for fun times :)

 

Sounds as if a bearing on the turbo went out. This is something that can happen to any turbo.

This has nothing to do with the stage kit. Once the bearing goes it makes noise and locks up. Then no boost and no power. If the seal goes it will smoke. In some cased the bearing will just stop and the seal remains.

The reason many service people do not know what this is as most have never had a LNF engine in to work on. They do not sell the cars just fix them.

I bought mine from a large dealer but mine was only the second turbo sold and the first one in for service.

 

Mine was built in month 2 of production for the 2008 MY. I had a friend of mine who's a broker locate only 5 in michigan at the time and he brought it to a dealership to processthe paperwork and at the time the dealer never saw one before and people were all over it checking it out. It's sort of funny and also sad that GM isnt educating people about future and current products. If it was still new I would have just ignored it, but I have had it for a year and a half! If they put a cheap turbo in the car it has a bushing not a bearing, I am hoping it has a bearing, but sad it puked so early and it's a freeway queen with no mods, so it's not like I am hammering on it... Thank the stars it's under warranty!!!

 

Pretty sure your mechanic had never even seen an HHR SS in his service bay, so that may be good news for all SS owners. What he "thought" was true was prolly his experience with the older Cobalt SS cars, with the "SUPERCHARGED" emblem on the back and motor under the hood. I betcha the guy was thinking the Cobalts and HHRs share the same engines, so they must still be supercharged... right?