Hi all,

I bought my very first car just under a year ago, an automatic 2011 Chevy HHR (2.2 liters...I think) at about 93,000 miles. Except for an issue with the battery early on it's been treating me well and been quite reliable! As of late though, I've been having some unusual starts and it's not been getting better. I'm an engineering student so I'm not dense, I know machines and am a quick learner, but cars aren't my area of expertise and this being my first one, I don't know my way around them quite yet. That's why I'm here, looking for a bit of advice from some more experienced HHR owners. I'd much rather try to fix anything I can myself if possible and at the very least know what I'm talking about when I'm forced to call a shop and avoid getting scammed. Any advice would be really helpful!

So like I said the car has been doing great nearly the whole year. Once spring really got underway here, I started noticing the car take an extra second to start, but it wasn't anything super concerning, just something I've noticed. Well as the months have gone by I've noticed the issue get a bit worse. Sometimes it starts with only a few extra cranks, sometimes more than I feel good about, but on occasion, it'll just crank indefinitely and start on the second attempt. When it's cranking I sometimes get the check engine light illuminated, but once the car starts all the lights come on and disappear like normal and the car runs just fine. If I start it up and drive to the store and come back to my car only 20 minutes later, it'll start much easier than the first time, but after a long wait, it's just as difficult to start as before. I also sometimes notice a gasoline smell after.

I really don't know where to go with this. It has yet to not start at all, which is good, but it feels like something I should be addressing. I took a quick peek at the battery for corrosion and all looks good there. I've wondered a bit if I'm having some sort of issue with priming the engine or maintaining fuel pressure (hence the gas smell and why it's easier to start right after but not after sitting a while) or maybe something with the starter...but that's my minimally educated guess. Any thoughts on this or where I could start to explore to identify an issue? I've been thinking of testing it a bunch at different time intervals or possible different temperatures to see if I can glean any info, but I think some seasoned advice might be what I need.

Any advice (for someone not as familiar with cars) would be super helpful!

 

Welcome to the site, first action is to determine any codes, pending. The fuel smell can be several things , we’ll look at that later.
your local parts palace can connect to the OBD II port and get those codes. Please post those codes, here and we can decipher them for you.

 

Rusted out fuel and/or vapor lines, EVAP purge valve stuck open, last on the list fuel pump.

 

You could check the purge valve, no need for a mechanic

https://www.chevyhhr.net/forums/www....page=2&t=62958

theres a video in post #19

 

Thank you! So I may know someone with a code reader I could borrow and get the codes from, but am I able to get any problem codes when the check engine light is only illuminated during startup (when it's cranking?). The light doesn't remain on once I get started so will the computer even recognize an issue? Sorry if that seems like an elementary question, still new to this.

 

Only codes that affect emissions will light the CEL. All other codes will not, and even emissions codes will not light it while they are pending only.