you mean there is no airbag in front pillar? wifey has been wanting a grab handle there. i guess i go around turns a little too fast for her. also wanted to put gauge pod on drivers side, can use a oil press and voltmeter.

 

Adding some pictures regarding this patch.

I know some went to the dealership for a new patch, but I went the way of some others and made my own metal patch.

After following the earlier steps provided in this thread, I moved the plastic cover down on top of the air filter. I did not disconnect the washer fluid line:



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The old, torn, and poorly made patch. Ready for the garbage :



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This is the view inside the hole. The plastic piece at the bottom has a small area to drain any water that gets inside. There are also two pieces that you'll find under each front wheelwell for it to drain. However all of them were heavily clogged with debris. You can also see the entry for the cabin air filter which is now the final piece to be changed:



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This is the new piece of metal I placed on top. I cut it to match and used gasket maker/sealer. Got a regular tube of it from Canadian Tire for ~$6.00 and a sheet of metal from Rona for $2.50. Pretty close in colour to the factory black so that's an added bonus. Obviously, it is will be needed to clear the area before sealing, since it will be rather dirty.



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Took some old farm tools and placed it on top of the patch waiting for it to set. Gave it roughly 3 hrs while I had supper and visited with my Grandpa. After that had set I put a top layer of sealant around the path so it is fully locked down from both ends and made a drill hole for the one screw that would otherwise be covered but did not take pictures of that.




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Happy HHR with the luxury of a working fan. It was 35 Celsius (95 F) so it was much appreciated!

 

Good job !!!

Believe late 2007 models had the butyl patch done away with, & not to return..

 

I wonder if this is something I should do on my HHR. Granted it doesn't leak, but it might be a good idea to prevent it.... I wonder if I should just use silicone to seal the original, or buy the $10 new design....?

Be a good winter project I suppose.

 

I am glad to know where the water comes from in my passenger side floor. My car does not set out in the weather often, when I am at work or out shopping.

I will know get my old man to work repairing the point of leaking. Thank you for all your helpful info.

 

My car is not made the way your is. Mine is a 2008 LT. We removed the wipers and the black panel and it is all open under the panel. There is nothing to seal around it is all open from side to side only thing there is a small piece of metal that goes up the middle. Dont know how to stop my leak. We have to call the dealer.

 

Look at the door wiring rubber seals (door open).. A wipe of Silicone 1 around these boots is cheap insurance..

 

Ok will look to see what can be done there.

My HHR is a 2008 2LT. Is fully loaded minus onstar. Love the car but I am beginning to worry about the life expectance of my car. I used to drive a 99 Mazda 626 which was fully loaded the only reason I traded it off to the HHR was my old man took a notion to change the transmission filter we ordered one per vin number and car did not have filter all it needed was flushing. We had a terrible time getting a gasket that would not leak. Tranmission started slipping so the car was outta of here. I dont know why he does some of the things he does but I loved my Mazda. It only had 149,000 on it. I had a 1994 Dodge Ram 1500 was just a plain work truck package and we had 13 yrs and 265,000 miles great service. Got rid of it because we didnt drive it anymore. Still going strong see it occasionally. Must be pretty stong truck it survived 4 teenagers learning to drive.

Dont get me wrong I love my HHR it runs great, looks great(when clean never buya black car), it is just the little things that are adding up. Like the water leak (good thing I park in the garage at home), the keyless entry not working correctly (have to take to dealer for checkup), we just changed out the sway bar links the old ones had a terrible clunking noise in front end (new ones have grease fittings), under warranty the dealer had to replace the steering column and adjust the drivers side door and replace the tire sensors. Which I bought the car used it was one year old with 25,000 miles on it. I have had it for 3 yrs and it now has 58,000miles. I guess they dont build cars like they used to. We service the car every 4000 miles we do not go by the oil life meter. The air filter is changed every 6 months wheter it needs it or not. The car lives an easy life I only life 5 miles from work.

 

It sounds like you will be enjoying your little truck for a long time to come! There are always some problems with any machine, but when you take care of them like you do, you should see many miles on it.

Please keep us up to date on how your HHR serves you.

 

Herman just had the lower speeds go out on the blower, and it looks like the most likely cause is water getting in through the "seal" when I washed the car yesterday. I stopped at the parts store and ordered a new resistor, picked up a cabin air filter while I was at it, and I have some left over sheet aluminum laying around for a new water deflector.

If my other half doesn't volunteer me for anything tomorrow afternoon, I'll hopefully have everything back together by then.