so the bottom line - can we jump from under the hood, and can we use a regular charger [not a trickle] under the hood?

 

YES to both, but do know what you are doing. Too many people have mistakenly used the power steering terminal and blown the fuse and have had more troubles.

 

thanks..
power steering terminal?
where are these? and why are they there?

 

The power steering on the HHR is Electric and needs a lot of power. Thus the cable leaving the under hood Fuse Box is big and the connection “looks” a lot like a battery terminal – thus the confusion and why people make the mistake of using it for jumping their vehicles. If you do you will regret it.

The peculiar Electric Power Steering(EPS) terminal is located on the rear right/passenger corner of the fuse box.

The under hood fuse box is located on the driver’s side and has a black cover. On the front right/passenger corner of the rectangular fuse box is the Positive Terminal with a Red cover that flips down towards the passenger side. This is where one would connect the positive jumper cable.

According to the User/Drivers Manual the ground or negative jumper cable is to be connected to one of the driver’s side strut threaded studs – their tips are painted Green. I would prefer to use an engine lift tab on the block myself.

I have found such a tab just to the right/passenger of the Brake Fluid reservoir and it also has a threaded stud painted green. The location might be a little tight depending upon your jumper cable clamps. You don’t want those clamps to touch each other while connecting or jumping your vehicle.

 

 

I have had my HHR SS in storage since 11-6-10 with a Deltran battery tender hooked to the remote battery terminals under the hood. I check it every so often and it has been in float mode most of the time..so far so good. I did quite a bit of research prior to storing the car and this seemed to be the prefered method for seasonal storage. Hope this helps!

Oops...just realized this is an old thread!?