GriffingR

Wife went to drove to work this morning, got to work, got out, closed the door, and it didn't latch.

I looked at the latch. The mechanism rotates to latch and release, but will not stay in the latched position.

Is this a major pain to get at, or is it a simple job to replace the latching mechanism?

Tyler Harvey

Could just need some lube. You would have to remove the door panel to get at the whole mechanism.

GriffingR

It appears that the door was opened in an over zealous manner and the lower mechanism from the outer door handle was bound in the released position, so the door couldn't latch! Not including time to thaw the mechanic, two hours, and two broken retaining clips.

BTW don't bother with the Chiltons online manual. the instructions for removing the 2006 HHR locking motor aren't even close to reality! Fortunately, I only bought the 30 day subscription, not the 1 year....

Grizzly old man

During my last two years of high school I was in an apprentice program at a paper mill in northwest Wisconsin during the summer breaks.

My supervisor/sponsor really liked to lube the everliving smeg out of everything. Most of the time a full can of WD-40 and a good belt or two with a big hammer would bring almost anything around. He said if it was supposed to move and didn’t lube it. If it moved and wasn’t supposed to use duct tape. If duct tape did not work, weld it.