Hello From Sf, Michigan. My HHR Experience so far.
04-01-2017, 05:26 AM
#1
Banned
Thread Starter
Join Date: 04-01-2017
Location: SF, MI
Posts: 29
Hello From Sf, Michigan. My HHR Experience so far.
picked up a
Black 07 LT 2.4 a little while ago.
I have kinda been a saturn vue lover. Something about the VUE
not big not small... Handles good etc...
well my 02 VUE died... 246k miles on it
i kinda drive it till it wouldn't move any more.
i'm a very technical minded guy and just kept limping at along.
till finally was stranded at my office, (no spark), witch was caused by the sunroof leaking water down the drivers pillar and freezing and expanding some wiring, (well that is my hunch).
before this 02VUE that i got a crap ton of use from before it finally died... i played around with an 03 VUE, you see this one had our beloved Echo tech engine in it. 2.2.... HOWEVER with that was a transmission from H E L L!
they called it the VTi, was manufacture in HUNGRY for gm/saturn.... GM never used that transmission in anything except the VUE, 02 03 04, and then the saturn ION i believe all the way to 06, witch is lunacy because they closed the VTi plant MUCH before that because they knew it was a failed design. My dad completed durability testing to this transmission in 1999/00 and it was a complete TURD, it was blowing apart, anyway you could imagine. There was many different ways they tested this trans on the test stand and it was a complete joke... he was blown away when he herd these things were being installed/sold in 02 VUES... and not too long stories started to trickle down the pipes of people stranded in their new AWD saturn vues... People that were towing... witch LOL is just no way something you wanted to do... people that lived in ultra hilly or mountains areas... people that were doing some mild off roading or stuck in the snow or mud... and people in cold weather.... due to ice forming in the transmission right were all the electronics happen to be. I mean this thing was terrible....
after all that i still bought a vue with one in it(a VTi)... my spirit was high! paid 1200 for a Vue with only 109,000 miles on it... from a lady... trans still worked slightly, you could drive it and maybe get to about 35mph, but after it warmed up, you could barly get it to move. so had it towed to my house. and begin to drop the subframe... what a job... Needless to say... LONG story short... i was not able to be successful in any why with this and it was a complete fail.... i was able to sell it for what i paid for it to another guy that said that he had a hook up at GM where he could get his mits on a new transmission NIB....
anyways... with this 02 VUE i bought later for much more money with 160k miles... 3.0v6. all wheel drive, 5 speed automatic transmission. was a great runner all the way till it died on me as i mentioned earlier in this post. @ 246k miles.
- other then it being dead from no spark.
- i never changed the spark plugs the whole time i owned it
- the only thing i ever replaced was the Timing Belt, Water pump, Alternator, and serpentine belt and tensioner.
what was wrong at the time i go rid of it
- AWD carrier bearings were dead... @35-45 mph you would hear a BANG BANG BANG as the drive shaft slopped around.
- Caliper were sized up rusted.
- exhaust was falling apart muffler had fallen off
- OIL COOLER in the block started leaking oil into the coolent.
this was a big issue and drove it almost 10 k miles that way.
- throttle body, Ah seems like the HHR's have their run ins with throttle bodys as well.
- breaks... the flexlines were cracked... the rotors were warped ... the pads i kept changing they were 12.99 autozone special every 9 months, rear drums who knows? one of them the wheel cylinder was slightly leaking, shoes i never replaced.
- CV shaft.... the exhaust was so screwed up the flex pipe... well there is (3) flex pipes on the vue's system... the flexpipe was blowing ultra hot exhaust on the inner passengers cv boot and it melted and was decintergrated and was starting to knock.
- the sunroof would leaki took the headliner apart a few time to fix it but i don't know should have replaced the lines because it would end up leaking... the rear squirter hose was rotted in side the rear part of the celling would leak washer fluid if you used the squirters for the rear... so i didnt do that.
anyways, so i finally decided she was done for.
here at my office, the property manager is also a big car guy, he has a degree and everything from ferris.
he offered me 500 dollars credit towards a nice HHR.
i said cool.
anyways even though i bought this BLACK HHR for a good deal it was not with out its issues LOL....
UGGGG slaps head... however... it has an ECOTECH in it and my dad always praised the ECOTECH... he said we rape the **** out of those engines (when testing transmissions) and they hold up just about every single time. They would run them out of spec even to like 7-8000 rpm etc... and as long as the dyno showed it was putting out the right torque and hp... they would just keep using the engine to beat up the transmissions.
not sure if you guys know about the issues with 02 03 ecotech engines, the problem is LOTS of people are NOT good with their oil changes... so after 03 starting in 04 GM enlarged the oil passages going to the timing chain oiler... those passages would get plugged up in previous years due to poor maintenance. and then surprise surprise timing chain issues..... doesn't take long with plugged oiler.
Black 07 LT 2.4 a little while ago.
I have kinda been a saturn vue lover. Something about the VUE
not big not small... Handles good etc...
well my 02 VUE died... 246k miles on it
i kinda drive it till it wouldn't move any more.
i'm a very technical minded guy and just kept limping at along.
till finally was stranded at my office, (no spark), witch was caused by the sunroof leaking water down the drivers pillar and freezing and expanding some wiring, (well that is my hunch).
before this 02VUE that i got a crap ton of use from before it finally died... i played around with an 03 VUE, you see this one had our beloved Echo tech engine in it. 2.2.... HOWEVER with that was a transmission from H E L L!
they called it the VTi, was manufacture in HUNGRY for gm/saturn.... GM never used that transmission in anything except the VUE, 02 03 04, and then the saturn ION i believe all the way to 06, witch is lunacy because they closed the VTi plant MUCH before that because they knew it was a failed design. My dad completed durability testing to this transmission in 1999/00 and it was a complete TURD, it was blowing apart, anyway you could imagine. There was many different ways they tested this trans on the test stand and it was a complete joke... he was blown away when he herd these things were being installed/sold in 02 VUES... and not too long stories started to trickle down the pipes of people stranded in their new AWD saturn vues... People that were towing... witch LOL is just no way something you wanted to do... people that lived in ultra hilly or mountains areas... people that were doing some mild off roading or stuck in the snow or mud... and people in cold weather.... due to ice forming in the transmission right were all the electronics happen to be. I mean this thing was terrible....
after all that i still bought a vue with one in it(a VTi)... my spirit was high! paid 1200 for a Vue with only 109,000 miles on it... from a lady... trans still worked slightly, you could drive it and maybe get to about 35mph, but after it warmed up, you could barly get it to move. so had it towed to my house. and begin to drop the subframe... what a job... Needless to say... LONG story short... i was not able to be successful in any why with this and it was a complete fail.... i was able to sell it for what i paid for it to another guy that said that he had a hook up at GM where he could get his mits on a new transmission NIB....
anyways... with this 02 VUE i bought later for much more money with 160k miles... 3.0v6. all wheel drive, 5 speed automatic transmission. was a great runner all the way till it died on me as i mentioned earlier in this post. @ 246k miles.
- other then it being dead from no spark.
- i never changed the spark plugs the whole time i owned it
- the only thing i ever replaced was the Timing Belt, Water pump, Alternator, and serpentine belt and tensioner.
what was wrong at the time i go rid of it
- AWD carrier bearings were dead... @35-45 mph you would hear a BANG BANG BANG as the drive shaft slopped around.
- Caliper were sized up rusted.
- exhaust was falling apart muffler had fallen off
- OIL COOLER in the block started leaking oil into the coolent.
this was a big issue and drove it almost 10 k miles that way.
- throttle body, Ah seems like the HHR's have their run ins with throttle bodys as well.
- breaks... the flexlines were cracked... the rotors were warped ... the pads i kept changing they were 12.99 autozone special every 9 months, rear drums who knows? one of them the wheel cylinder was slightly leaking, shoes i never replaced.
- CV shaft.... the exhaust was so screwed up the flex pipe... well there is (3) flex pipes on the vue's system... the flexpipe was blowing ultra hot exhaust on the inner passengers cv boot and it melted and was decintergrated and was starting to knock.
- the sunroof would leaki took the headliner apart a few time to fix it but i don't know should have replaced the lines because it would end up leaking... the rear squirter hose was rotted in side the rear part of the celling would leak washer fluid if you used the squirters for the rear... so i didnt do that.
anyways, so i finally decided she was done for.
here at my office, the property manager is also a big car guy, he has a degree and everything from ferris.
he offered me 500 dollars credit towards a nice HHR.
i said cool.
anyways even though i bought this BLACK HHR for a good deal it was not with out its issues LOL....
UGGGG slaps head... however... it has an ECOTECH in it and my dad always praised the ECOTECH... he said we rape the **** out of those engines (when testing transmissions) and they hold up just about every single time. They would run them out of spec even to like 7-8000 rpm etc... and as long as the dyno showed it was putting out the right torque and hp... they would just keep using the engine to beat up the transmissions.
not sure if you guys know about the issues with 02 03 ecotech engines, the problem is LOTS of people are NOT good with their oil changes... so after 03 starting in 04 GM enlarged the oil passages going to the timing chain oiler... those passages would get plugged up in previous years due to poor maintenance. and then surprise surprise timing chain issues..... doesn't take long with plugged oiler.
04-01-2017, 05:26 AM
#2
Banned
Thread Starter
Join Date: 04-01-2017
Location: SF, MI
Posts: 29
see the biggest mistake anyone can make that has an ecotech
its assuming the engine is just an economy grade engine,
The deal is this engine is nothing but... its a High Performance, High output, engine. the compression is high... the engine needs to run and likes to run hard.... but NEEDS its oil changes!! needs clean oil!
She needs high quality gasoline.... she needs fuel system cleaners run every other tank to control carbon build up! carbon build up is the death of these engines. you have to get on the gas and clean er out on the E-WAY. not to mention getting the oil pressure up is a good thing to keep that timing chain nice and tight. witch is especially important to those of us with VVT.
Once you get the rings all carboned up from babying it... then the blow by starts, All that nasty gets sucked and up and ran through the PCV and then exhaust valves stick.... and there she goes, death of a good engine.... And not to mention THROTTLE BODY issues, that nasty blow causes TB issues in 2 ways...one, it causes the mechanical movement of the butterfly plate to unnaturally stick... and as the butterfly bushings wears out, that blow by moisture can get into the TPS, from accl and dcel that hot moist oily blow by gets in there and screws over the TPS...
Giving you the beloved "Reduced Power" P2135
here is the deal... ( you need a code reader )
so you get a code, MIL is flaged.... Check engine light is on....
that is one thing... before that even... you have a PENDING stage...
witch honestly would be good for you to know.... because
things like p0301 p0302 p0302 p0204 or p0300.....
If you are getting any of these codes OF CORSE its good to always
change your plugs... only use ACDELCO OEM replacement. REPLACE THE BOOTS springs and resistor too.... those tend to build up moisture.... its worth the extra 19.99 to get new COP BOOT KIT...so DO IT.
Chances are though this will not fix your MISFIRE issue if you get any of the random misfire codes....
Do not take a random misfire code lightly.... its easy to blow it off....
you might say ... well... its only an occasional pending code.... or it only flags the check engine light when i sit and idle for a while... no big deal...
Nope.. it is a big deal... this is engine death looking right at you in the face
more then likely an exhaust valve that is starting to stick... especially if it only shows at idle.... now there is a chance your already screwed even to this point the head will have to come off and especially the exhaust valves will need to be replaced and the head will need a full service.
witch is not cheap.... and still probably does not account for the fact that your probably getting blow by even after the head service....
assuming its not too far gone....
Change your oil now.....
Do the Engine flush....
get a full tank of highest grade shell or something quality.
Dump in an aggressive fuel system cleaner... CHEMTOOL or CONCENTRATED Injector Cleaner (5 or 6 dollar a bottle stuff even STP is ok)... With Lucas Fuel system in there too... a bottle of each....
to the oil:
add Lucas oil treatment. about half a bottle.
add Motorkote atleast 8OZ
RUN IT HARD... on the eway... up the mountains would be nice or set the cruze and try to run it 75 80 mph... the whole time... drive it and get it hot, and keep going, run that whole tank of gas through.
when you get back change the oil again.... you dont have to put moterkote in again as its already soaked into the nooks of your engine but you do want to dump the other half of lucas oil treatment in with the new oil.
This goes with out saying ... make sure your air filter is clean. you do not want to restrict the air going into these ecotech engines. because again that leads to carbon build up on the exhaust valves...
so after all that let it idle, for about 5 to 10 minutes... check to see if you get any random misfire codes at all.... if you NOW dont... then you DONE good ... really good... just make sure to keep the oil as clean as possible... and keep running agressive fuel system cleaners every other tank and keep running HIGH grade gas... non of that low grade crap. its not worth it...
if you still get a mis fire... or maybe just a pending misfire still on occasion ... just keep your oil clear and clean.... and keep running agressive fuel system cleaners as you have nothing to lose just MIGHT TAKE MORE TIME TO break down that carbon build up. you have nothing to lose because the, next thing is engine tear down. as once a valve sticks, its a goner... its only a very limited amount of time before you get a FULL Blown misfire and the check engine light will be flashing at you... and at that point its done park it or have it towed because the engine is gone.
So anyways... lol... back to my HHR.
I ended up needing all of the below
- Steering Wheel Clock Spring
- Thermostat
- Plugs, Boots springs resistors.
- Tensionser and Serpentine Belt.
- new breaks... pads shoes rotors drum's
- Knock Sensor
- New Air Filter
- (2) oil changes to get it clean enough.
- Transmission Flush
- Throttle body 2.4L Tb's are not easy to get... i ended up taking mine apart the very hard way and discovering moisture and corrosion around the TPS. Cleaned it up and was lucky enough to put it back together and still use it as it its working fine after the fine clean.
after all that was still getting a p0301 witch means random misfire cly#1
sometimes it wold stay pending sometimes it would flag the MIL light.
i was lucky enough to have a trip come up 10 hours one way to the poconos, I am a licensed Ham Radio Operator, and was buying/picking up some equipment from another ham. so i ran it hard there and by the time i made it there... i could idle the car all i wanted, no p0301, the mixture between the oil and the varius additives i put in the fuel and oil was able to get that stuck exhaust valve clean enough to where it was no longer randomly misfiring.
gas millage ... before the long trip i was getting 22 23 mpg... on the way there the MPG's really started to go up!!! as the engine was cleaning its self basically. was getting around 26.5 there and 28 to even 30.5 on the way back...
so that is the end of my little story thing... hopefully some of you can make some use of it...
I like my hhr... the traction control works good... i like how it handles.... the engine is very powerful.... its a good car... its got 150k miles just now... and I plan to drive it for another 10 years.
its assuming the engine is just an economy grade engine,
The deal is this engine is nothing but... its a High Performance, High output, engine. the compression is high... the engine needs to run and likes to run hard.... but NEEDS its oil changes!! needs clean oil!
She needs high quality gasoline.... she needs fuel system cleaners run every other tank to control carbon build up! carbon build up is the death of these engines. you have to get on the gas and clean er out on the E-WAY. not to mention getting the oil pressure up is a good thing to keep that timing chain nice and tight. witch is especially important to those of us with VVT.
Once you get the rings all carboned up from babying it... then the blow by starts, All that nasty gets sucked and up and ran through the PCV and then exhaust valves stick.... and there she goes, death of a good engine.... And not to mention THROTTLE BODY issues, that nasty blow causes TB issues in 2 ways...one, it causes the mechanical movement of the butterfly plate to unnaturally stick... and as the butterfly bushings wears out, that blow by moisture can get into the TPS, from accl and dcel that hot moist oily blow by gets in there and screws over the TPS...
Giving you the beloved "Reduced Power" P2135
here is the deal... ( you need a code reader )
so you get a code, MIL is flaged.... Check engine light is on....
that is one thing... before that even... you have a PENDING stage...
witch honestly would be good for you to know.... because
things like p0301 p0302 p0302 p0204 or p0300.....
If you are getting any of these codes OF CORSE its good to always
change your plugs... only use ACDELCO OEM replacement. REPLACE THE BOOTS springs and resistor too.... those tend to build up moisture.... its worth the extra 19.99 to get new COP BOOT KIT...so DO IT.
Chances are though this will not fix your MISFIRE issue if you get any of the random misfire codes....
Do not take a random misfire code lightly.... its easy to blow it off....
you might say ... well... its only an occasional pending code.... or it only flags the check engine light when i sit and idle for a while... no big deal...
Nope.. it is a big deal... this is engine death looking right at you in the face
more then likely an exhaust valve that is starting to stick... especially if it only shows at idle.... now there is a chance your already screwed even to this point the head will have to come off and especially the exhaust valves will need to be replaced and the head will need a full service.
witch is not cheap.... and still probably does not account for the fact that your probably getting blow by even after the head service....
assuming its not too far gone....
Change your oil now.....
Do the Engine flush....
get a full tank of highest grade shell or something quality.
Dump in an aggressive fuel system cleaner... CHEMTOOL or CONCENTRATED Injector Cleaner (5 or 6 dollar a bottle stuff even STP is ok)... With Lucas Fuel system in there too... a bottle of each....
to the oil:
add Lucas oil treatment. about half a bottle.
add Motorkote atleast 8OZ
RUN IT HARD... on the eway... up the mountains would be nice or set the cruze and try to run it 75 80 mph... the whole time... drive it and get it hot, and keep going, run that whole tank of gas through.
when you get back change the oil again.... you dont have to put moterkote in again as its already soaked into the nooks of your engine but you do want to dump the other half of lucas oil treatment in with the new oil.
This goes with out saying ... make sure your air filter is clean. you do not want to restrict the air going into these ecotech engines. because again that leads to carbon build up on the exhaust valves...
so after all that let it idle, for about 5 to 10 minutes... check to see if you get any random misfire codes at all.... if you NOW dont... then you DONE good ... really good... just make sure to keep the oil as clean as possible... and keep running agressive fuel system cleaners every other tank and keep running HIGH grade gas... non of that low grade crap. its not worth it...
if you still get a mis fire... or maybe just a pending misfire still on occasion ... just keep your oil clear and clean.... and keep running agressive fuel system cleaners as you have nothing to lose just MIGHT TAKE MORE TIME TO break down that carbon build up. you have nothing to lose because the, next thing is engine tear down. as once a valve sticks, its a goner... its only a very limited amount of time before you get a FULL Blown misfire and the check engine light will be flashing at you... and at that point its done park it or have it towed because the engine is gone.
So anyways... lol... back to my HHR.
I ended up needing all of the below
- Steering Wheel Clock Spring
- Thermostat
- Plugs, Boots springs resistors.
- Tensionser and Serpentine Belt.
- new breaks... pads shoes rotors drum's
- Knock Sensor
- New Air Filter
- (2) oil changes to get it clean enough.
- Transmission Flush
- Throttle body 2.4L Tb's are not easy to get... i ended up taking mine apart the very hard way and discovering moisture and corrosion around the TPS. Cleaned it up and was lucky enough to put it back together and still use it as it its working fine after the fine clean.
after all that was still getting a p0301 witch means random misfire cly#1
sometimes it wold stay pending sometimes it would flag the MIL light.
i was lucky enough to have a trip come up 10 hours one way to the poconos, I am a licensed Ham Radio Operator, and was buying/picking up some equipment from another ham. so i ran it hard there and by the time i made it there... i could idle the car all i wanted, no p0301, the mixture between the oil and the varius additives i put in the fuel and oil was able to get that stuck exhaust valve clean enough to where it was no longer randomly misfiring.
gas millage ... before the long trip i was getting 22 23 mpg... on the way there the MPG's really started to go up!!! as the engine was cleaning its self basically. was getting around 26.5 there and 28 to even 30.5 on the way back...
so that is the end of my little story thing... hopefully some of you can make some use of it...
I like my hhr... the traction control works good... i like how it handles.... the engine is very powerful.... its a good car... its got 150k miles just now... and I plan to drive it for another 10 years.
Last edited by hardwaremack; 04-01-2017 at 06:05 AM.
04-01-2017, 05:29 AM
#3
Senior Member
Join Date: 03-25-2017
Location: Ventura, CA
Posts: 235
Welcome to the forum, and congrats on your new to you HHR.
SuKi
SuKi
04-01-2017, 05:44 AM
#4
Banned
Thread Starter
Join Date: 04-01-2017
Location: SF, MI
Posts: 29
I always wanted to go to GUAM :)
maybe someday!!
maybe someday!!
04-01-2017, 05:51 AM
#5
Platinum Member
Join Date: 12-06-2009
Location: Alabama
Posts: 11,099
Welcome to the site. 
04-01-2017, 06:25 AM
#6
Senior Member
Join Date: 12-02-2010
Location: Roanoke Va
Posts: 840
Welcome to the site, just be careful HHRs are habit forming as several of us have more than one.
04-01-2017, 09:13 AM
#7
Administrator
Join Date: 10-13-2011
Location: Welland,Ont Canada
Posts: 36,519
Welcome to the site, have a look about the crud in the throttle body, this works for my 2.2
https://www.chevyhhr.net/forums/2-2l...ormance-58332/
At your HHR's mileage I'd consider replacing the timing chain and guides with a new style tensioner!
https://www.chevyhhr.net/forums/2-2l...ormance-58332/
At your HHR's mileage I'd consider replacing the timing chain and guides with a new style tensioner!
04-02-2017, 07:10 AM
#8
Senior Member
Join Date: 09-07-2008
Location: Mebane, NC
Posts: 1,016
hardwaremack, Welcome, was originally from Michigan, east sider in the corner of Fraser, Warren and Roseville.
SuKi
I was stationed on Guam, NAS Agana, Flying Navy 72 to Dec 75.
SuKi
I was stationed on Guam, NAS Agana, Flying Navy 72 to Dec 75.
04-09-2017, 05:14 PM
#9
Senior Member
Join Date: 06-07-2011
Location: SE Mich
Posts: 2,180
Where is SF, MI?
Welcome!
Your story above was a bit long, but interesting. I roam SE MI, so maybe you'll see me.
Welcome!
Your story above was a bit long, but interesting. I roam SE MI, so maybe you'll see me.
04-11-2017, 03:40 PM
#10
Senior Member
Join Date: 10-04-2013
Location: Gateway to the West
Posts: 902
Welcome. . !!