2010 HHR LT/ gauges going crazy
 

I've had my gauges on several occasions go crazy. The security light and the traction control light come on during this time. A couple of times I did not have power steering (when the gauges where going crazy). Gauges stop and work like normal and powering steering back to working. It would also flash "power steering, low fuel, service traction control, ESC now off". I would turn car off when going into daycare, turn it back on and the security light and the traction control light are off. One place had to adjust the steering sensor, reprogram the ECM. They told me if this did it again, I would need a new "ELECTRONIC STEERING ASSEMBLY". Any help would be great to figure out this problem.

Most likely a problem with the under hood fuse box or a ground strap.

Check the red wire connection to the fuse box. Check the fuses are secure, Check that the fuse box halves are secure.

Check all of the ground strap connections.

Welcome to the site! X2 on Don's diagnosis!

X3

And :welcome8: aboard!

Thanks for the info, will update later if that fixed the problem.

Keep us posted, cliffhangers leave us on the edge of our keyboards BDR.

Maybe this will help?

:lol: Well, glad it worked for the Cobalt guy but what a mess. No crimped ends on his ground points. Looks like he just "jury rigged" it by wrapping bare wire around the ground bolts.
And using a red colored wire for a ground strap ?

If you're gonna do it, at least do it right.

x2.

"Pretty" it wasn't for sure. And it will be prone to just flopping around - no zip-ties etc..

The BCM grounds on the radiator support, that's where I would start looking on the Cobalt.

Took it to a shop in town Saturday. They could do nothing and referred me to the dealer. They say its a loss of communication to the computer. They didn't think it was a bad ground. What do you think? If its the computer, is it an easy change and what else should I change along with it?

Loss of communication can be as simple as a loose wire in the wiring harness connection, a burnt ground wire , a result of a loose ground.
It could also be a dying battery or a dead cell in the battery.
Try a lobotomy, remove the battery ground cable at the battery for at least 30 minutes, whilst it's disconnected check the ground cables in the spare tire well and under the hood.
Check the fuse box under the hood are the two wires tight n the left of it , is the red single wire tight, that's the wire going to the EPS motor.
Check to confirm the fuse box halves are tight.
Check to confirm the ECM and TCM connections are tight.
Check all of the fuses and relays are pushed in firmly.
Have a cold drink or cup of coffee!
Now reconnect the negative cable at the battery.
Start the HHR .
If the problem still exists then off to your dealer, as suggested in last post

I had virtually the same thing happen to me last weekend (also '10 LT), I didn't see all the messages cause I was too busy trying to find a safe place to stop. But spedo would rapidly drop to zero then back up to speed over & over: I saw the "service traction control message: & at least 2 other messages that I didn't see enough to read. PS never went out, but gas pedal was partly non-responsive, as in: I would step on gas & sometimes it accelerated & sometimes it didn't.


At the time, I thought maybe it was because I didn't let my OBDII reader sync with my phone before taking off. As soon as I found a safe stopping place (about 1/4 mile after I started out) I shut her down, unplugged the OBDII reader & started on my way again without anymore problems. I've put 88 miles since then & no more issues, & the reader never did send anything to my phone, but I know the reader still works cause I checked it on my Hyundai Accent & still getting codes from the Accent.


I hope it never happens again, but at least with this thread, I have a starting point if it does happen again.

Did anybody bother reading post #2? Do you suppose a loose fuse box connection could cause a "failure to communicate"?

I think I'll go eat some hard boiled eggs.

chaosdsm - You might consider checking a few of the items that have been suggested NOW, rather than wait for the incident to occur down the road. At the very least it will isolate some of the possibilities. If it comes back, you might not be so lucky to have a safe stopping place.

nobody got the reference in 1.25 hours?

I hope you let those eggs "cool"

I had an issue where the check engine light would come on and the DIC would display "SERVICE ESC" SERVICE TRACTION" and "REDUCED ENGINE POWER" and it ended up being a dirty throttle body that was causing it. I also had the gauges go haywire when the battery was virtually dead. Your issue is likely not caused by either of these things, but you should consider that whatever is causing the issue might not be obvious.

Not happy after taking it to CHEVY dealer. They said it was a bad ECM, replaced it and problem showed back up on way home. Will update later, I just don't have to time to do this myself.

"Not happy after taking it to CHEVY dealer. They said it was a bad ECM, replaced it and problem showed back up on way home." - well go straight back and raise $hit!!!!

Hhhmmmm as Don points out .... FUSE box loose ????

Interruption of 12V to the ECM, either the hot side or the ground!!!!!!!!!!!

Well the dealership will have the car for another night. Gauges have not acted up for anyone since they had it. The only thing showing up now with the check engine light is (fuel trim/running rich) They where nice enough to give me a loaner for these two days (2016 cruze). DONBREW, what would you use to clean out the connectors on the fuse box.

Not the connectors, the fuse box halves. Sometimes the halves separate. There is a video on youtube. It is posted somewhere on this forum, but I can't find it right now.

Got car back. Gauges never acted up for them. In process of looking over car, found a crack in exhaust manifold, needed a tune up and misfire in cylinder 2(replaced coil pack). On way home check engine light back on. Here are the codes: U2105 lost comms with ECM (just replaced this past monday), U2106 lost comms with TRANSMISSION CONTROL SYSTEM, C0561 system dusabled, P0171 bank 1 system too lean (again). I'm about done with this f#$king CHEVY HHR. Can't catch a dam break for anything I do. This will probably be the last chevy I will ever own again.

Check the ground wires at the transmission case to the lower right of the oil filter housing, I believe there will be a loose or burnt wire

What did the propose to do for a "tuneup"?

YOU HAVE A BAD WIRE CONNECTION, EITHER GROUND OR 12V!!!!!!!

Was that loud enough to hear? I guess you may just be looking for reasons to hate the General.

first it has over 115,000 miles and was going to do the spark plugs my self. But since it was at dealership, let them do it. plugs changed due to engine code P0300-engine misfire in cylinder 2 due to worn spark plugs and faulty ignition coil. picked car up Friday after work and it was back at dealership Saturday morning. How many ground locations are there and where are they. I'm just frustrated with this, love the car but not the issues it is having.

P0300 refers to random misfires between any/all of the cylinders, not just cyl 2. P0302 would point specifically to cyl #2.

Several people have already given you a list of various ground straps, as well as tips on the fuse box halves needing inspection - have you checked them all already?

car is still at the dealership. its hard for me to find the time to look it over right now. but this is the last time I take it to the dealership. since it is there, I've asked them to check my ground connections. will it hurt my car if I keep driving it this way till I find the problem.

this Saturday will mark three weeks at dealership for my problems. Forgot what module was bad on the steering column that is bad and needed to be replaced. So now its a new steering column, a new clockspring (its behind the air bag). the engine light is still coming on as a fuel trim problem. the last two times I was to go get it, they test drove it again and engine light keeps coming back on. Don't even know if my gauges are fixed until I drive it. Since it never does it for them.

Been trying to work on this on my HHR. I haven't found any loose wires so far, but I did find 4 relay's that were not fully seated. #26 (pwr/trn) was up by more than 1/8" (by my rough estimate), #34 (crnk) & #51 (run/crnk) were out by about 1/16" - 1/8", the 4th one was #50 (cool fan), but only one corner of it was up a little. All of the big fuses look good, & no signs of thermal stress on any of the fuses or relays.

What is meant by "fuse box halves" ??? It looks like one piece to me.

I'm still getting intermittent issues, radio cut off then back on over some hard bumps, dash lights dim temporarily, etc... but the "everything going haywire" thing hasn't returned so far.

Oh, & no codes come up.

This eBay ad has photos of the two halves of the under hood fuse block


2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 Chevy HHR 2 2L Main Fuse Box Panel Fusebox Relay | eBay

Got my car back on this past Friday after almost three weeks at dealership. They found multiple DTC'S for loss of communication with POWER STEERING CONTROL MODULE. They said only way to fix this is replace the STEERING COLUMN. So far no more issues with the gauges going crazy. I still have a clunking sound on the left front when hitting bumps. Keeping my fingers crossed that it stays fixed.

Your left front clunk could be

A sway bar end link
B sway bar bushings
C LCA rear bushings
D strut mounting bolts not torqued correctly

other than that, I have a lean condition that the dealership cant find. They did a vacuum test and could not find a leak. Other than that, will keep the car.

Lean? As in broken spring or did they give you a code? Does the CEL light come on?

My bet is a cracked flex pipe.

Yes the engine light is on.They just said a lean condition and gave me no codes to go by. One time it said purge valve stuck and they replaced that, reset and engine light came back on for lean condition. Will stop by and get code and post tomorrow.