My HHR RPM needle bounces a lot and it then it drops to "0" and the car shuts off.
>>Nothing else happens, no engine light,.. nothing,. everything seems normal.
I put the car in PARK and then re-start the car and it starts fine without a problem.

The car shakes right before it turns off when the "RPM" needle goes to zero.

 

First off, WELCOME to the forum.



Now for the questions:

From your description it almost sounds like you are out of gas?

How many miles on the car?

Once it starts, is it drivable, or does the engine die again very quickly?

When was the vehicle last serviced? any recent work done on the car?

 

Well the erratic tachometer needle is a symptom of a larger problem.

It'll naturally drop to "0" when the engine stalls, because a stopped engine is not turning.

The stalling and shaking are indications of a possible fuel starvation issue like a failing fuel pump, or failing fuel pressure regulator. Or something "simple" like running out of gas as whopper has pointed out.

Even though your instrument cluster isn't currently displaying a CEL, there are probably trouble codes stored in the vehicle's memory.

If you can limp it to an auto parts store, have them "pull the codes" and post them up here exactly as they appear. Like P0010 for example.

And do the obvious things, have you checked the oil level, coolant level, etc.

And to the forum!

 

My car has 125,000 miles on it.

I looked at all my gauges, and fuel was at 1/2 a tank

It happens when I am breaking at at stop light/sign,. I feel the car shake look at the RPM needle and it is fluctuating and once it gets to "0" it shuts off,. So i place the car in park and re-start the car. There is no problems when it re-starts,.. normal start-up and drives fine.

If I am accelerating I dont have the problem at all, only when i start slowing down breaking.

The most recent thing ive done is an oil change.

 

I always thought that you can plug the scanner only when you had a light lit up, since I havent had that yet I hadnt taken it to a local place.

I did have this same problem with a Dodge Stratus I had before, same symptons but that time an engine light did come up and went to a local place they said i had to replace the cam and crank sensor (something about when you replace one you have to also replace the other),. either way the car worked fine and never had the problem again.

Thank you for the help,.

 

Good points there 843de - fuel seemed to be the first thought to me.

Question: how does it run when going up a long steep hill (ie: when the engine is under a heavy load)? Does it seem to accelerate as fast as it used to, without stumbling?

 

Thinking back to my dodge what used to stumble and almost stall only on hard right turns - turned out to be fuel pump even though the tank was full. Might be related to your problem.

 

You can have stored OBDII codes stored without the CEL illuminating.

Your issues could be fuel related such as low pressure, you might have a dirty throttle body, a MAF sensor in need of cleaning, etc.

The reason we always go straight to the "Codes Question" is that knowing what codes are stored can help you avoid needless expense and futzing about when trying to nail down a problem.

And in the absence of stored codes, it does happen, then a good starting point would be a fuel pressure test.

 

There is no Stumble when going up or down hill, i never carry any heavy loads.

When I am coming up to a stop sign and i start breaking and notice the RPM needle start fluctuating between 0-1 as it does it the car starts to shake/vibrate. On some occasions,.. the needle will stop at "o" and the car turns off. Other time it will bounce between the 0 and 1 and after about 20 seconds the needle will stop bouncing around.

So I put the emergencies lights on and put the car in park,. and re-start the car. The car starts up fine w/o delays.

I took a video of it but i couldn't find a way of posting it.

I am going to take the car to get it scanned,.

thank you for all your insights

 

Do let us know how you make out when the codes are scanned.

There isn't much, if anything anymore, that an HHR can do that we haven't seen at least once.

We're here to help.