Thank you for this pic. I need to replace this part as well.

 

Thanks for all the PiCs. Wife has the car down at the dealership now. This doesn't seem to be to terribly hard to do, if in fact this is my issues. What do you think the average dealership cost might be to do this repair. I have a feeling they are going to tell us 3 to 5 bills to get it done.

 

My 2006 model leaked water onto the pass-side floor after driving in heavy rain. The butyl patch was intact, yet the cavity below it was littered with debris. I understand the drain to the pass-side wheel well needs to be clear for this system to operate normally, but what’s the purpose of the elongated hole at the bottom of the cavity, please? Please reply so that I can confidently wrap up this adventure. I’ll make an aluminum patch for the cowl hole as suggested.

 

But was the patch sealed? If you have a sunroof that's the drain that gets clogged and causes water on the pass. side floor.

 

donbrew,

Thank you for your reply.

Yes, the butyl patch was 99% sealed, and I do not have a sunroof. There was a questionable potential leak point on the rear edge of the butyl patch, but it was very small; I think it was NOT the source of my problem. Water can leak into the cavity below the patch through the two pass-side screw holes, and that's OK as long as it drains out through either of the two drains in the cavity. BTW, the answer to my question of 04 Jul is that the elongated hole at the bottom of the cavity is a drain; it drains to a point a few inches above the steering gear (rack).

Is there a way to flush debris out of the pass-side drain? If I pour water into the hole around the pass-side windshield washer arm, it drains out through the center (elongated) drain without ever getting to the pass-side drain.

I'm considering sealing the gaps between the left and right ends of the black plastic water deflector and the body sheet metal with silicone to keep debris from entering the cavity below the butyl patch.

Alvis

 

Somebody recently had a water problem related to the rubber electrical conduit seals between the door and body.

Luckily, I have never had to chase down water leaks in my cars.

 

eagle021,

You made a good point on 30 Apr 2013 about complaining to Chevrolet in an attempt to get a recall. I sent Chevy a detailed email today from their web site, http://www.chevrolet.com/help/contact-us.html. I've learned that fixing my water leak was just the tip of the iceberg. I think that my water leak damaged the blower motor, and the damaged blower motor caused two blower resistors to fail from excessive current. Now my blower is VERY LOUD and needs replacement.

Alvis

 

I made my case to Chevrolet to get a recall of model year 2006 and early 2007 HHRs because they are prone to water ingress through the HVAC fresh-air inlet, but they didn’t go for it. My initial hopes were high when they offered to diagnose the problem at no charge to me, but then they declined to cover any of the repair costs because the car is out of warranty, and the problem was not the result of a manufacturing defect. The repair costs me $406 (blower kit $210, blower resistor $ 44, labor $152) at the Chevy dealer. I would have done the repair myself had the weather not turned cold and rainy.

 

After 8 years of owning my HHR I had the water leak also. The Butyl patch had been cut when I had a new windshield put in my car and with the rain it started leaking. I went to Lowes and bought a 18"X18" self adhesive tile and cut it the same as the Butyl patch and then used the rtv silicone to seal it. Worked great and no more leaks. Had to replace the cabin filter too.

 

You might want to remove the fan resistor pack and dry it out real good and check for corrosion, or your next problem may be "my fan only runs on high".