2009 HHR Panel Model, about 112k miles.

I'm seeking advice to help me zone in on the issue since to date I have not had to do much to this car so I am not familiar with the common failure points.

About 15 minutes from getting home I noticed the AC wasn't cooling and the battery light was on. My first thought was the serpentine belt let loose but I kept an eye on the temperature and it stayed ok (water pump working) so I kept driving.

As I got closer to home I saw other systems shutting down like ESC, and as I pulled into my driveway it seemed like there was no power steering. I left the car running and measured voltage at the fuse box lugs under the hood, zero volts. I shut it off and it gave the ratcheting click when trying to restart, indicative of a low battery.

Measuring straight off the battery I get about 11.5 volts. I can also measure that from a chassis ground. The battery terminals are clean and not corroded.

So, no voltage going to the fuse box under the hood. Battery not charging. My first thoughts are bad alternator, bad connection, or bad battery. I'm leaning towards alternator or poor connection.

I don't have a lot of free time right now so I am hoping for some pointers on common places to target for further diagnosis.

Thank you kindly!

 

Disconnect the negative cable from the battery and test the batt voltage. Still 11.5? Take it out get it charged, then have the system checked.

If the battery is connected in the trunk there is no magical reason that batt+ is not reaching the fuse box. IIRC, it is a straight run wire. Unless you are one of the many people that think the other post on the fuse box is Batt-, it is the power steering +. GROUND is one of the small nuts on the strut tower.

 

And place a folded towel or the like over the latch for the rear hatch so it won't close while the battery is out. Or you can charge the battery while still in the vehicle if you have a charger.

 

x2 what they said. Get that battery charged and measure the voltage at the battery once it is running again. If the voltage is not well in excess of 14V, i'd suspect the alternator. It should be something in the neighbourhood of 14.4V


(tip: the water pump is driven internally in the engine via a chain, not an external belt)

 

A 2009 OEM battery, a good chance it's done , most likely a dead cell

 

Thanks for the info. I am now measuring voltage under the hood - I don't know why I wasn't before. I had tried using the strut tower lug as a ground earlier, it worked this time, maybe I didn't scratch down to bare metal the first time.

Anyhow, after letting it sit 6 hours, battery measured 12.1v and the car started. Once running I measured 11.5v under the hood.

I haven't tried testing the battery yet, I have an old carbon pile load tester somewhere so I'll put a charger on the battery and see what becomes of it.

In the meantime if anyone has any additional info feel free to chime in. Thank you again.

 

So did you check the serpentine belt? That would have shut down your AC and alternator, which in turn, due to loss of voltage, would have started shutting down more systems.

 

Thank you, I needed a slap back to reality. In my job (not automotive) I make it a point to never write off the basics when troubleshooting then I go and make that exact mistake here even after the belt had been my first thought to begin with.

Sure enough, belt is broken. I'll pick up a new one today and inspect everything to make sure there isn't some other issue that triggered it.

The battery tested out fine.

I'll try to follow up when I have things put back together.

Thanks.

 

Yes, make sure to check that tensioner. If you're doing this yourself, here is a thread. Prod used an interesting technique, I don't think he needed any special tools. https://www.chevyhhr.net/forums/main...e4/#post716723

 

I use Prod's method, it works!