I'm a newbie and a total mechanical ignoramus, so please forgive me if I don't use proper terminology here. Our 2006 HHR (68,000 miles) wouldn't start on Wednesday. Mechanic came and jumped it with a battery pack and then went back to the shop. When we tried to drive it, the car wouldn't shift out of park. "Service air bags" light came on; electric windows, a/c, radio were all intermittent. Car died... we had it towed to mechanic. He spent two days trying to figure out why it won't hold a charge. He finally threw up his hands and said take it to the other mechanic on our island. He will be towing it over there on Monday. What could this be? Note that 3 weeks after we bought this car new, the BCM failed and had to be replaced. We've had no further problems with it since. We've tried so hard to take good care of this car. What could the problem be?

 

Sounds like the guy that jumpstarted the car did not do it correctly and owes you a repair. Show him/her a copy of your Owner Manual specifically the part about jumpstarting and ask if he followed the procedure, if not he at least blew your power steering fuse. Also could be a completely dead battery or connection to the main fuse box under the hood.

Owner Manuals available here:
https://www.chevyhhr.net/forums/general-hhr-4/online-owners-manual-3074/

 

Did the mechanic try the obvious - replace the battery!

 

Blacky, at this point I'm so confused that I don't know what all he's tried. We're back at this Monday morning, so I will be sure to ask about that. In the meantime, I'm also monitoring another new thread called "Won't Crank" because it is practically identical to the problem we are having. If you have any other ideas, please pass them on. :)