beachbum1970

Oh boy, only 1700 miles on my new HHR LS and the Check Engine Light came on today. Here's what happened. I was sitting at a red light, my foot on the brake, and the car starts "jumping", like it's trying to jump forward, even though I was on the brakes. The engine sounded like it was stumbling, as if it was going to stall. The light turned green, and the car accelerated fine for about a block and then I pulled off to the side of the road. I put the car in Park, and the engine was still trying to "jump" forward, and the engine was still stumbling (it did this in Neutral and Reverse also). I opened the hood and the engine was shaking pretty violently. I turned the car off and let it sit for about a minute, and checked the oil level (it was fine), then restarted it. It started fine, the shaking and stumbling was GONE and I drove home with no problems, except now the Check Engine Light remains on (but not blinking). Checking the owner's manual, it suggested I check the gas cap and make sure it was tight. I hadn't gassed up the car for at least a week now, don't think it was that or bad fuel. I'm going to try to get an appointment tomorrow (Monday) at my Chevy dealership and have them check it out. But really shocked that this would happen at only 1700 miles? What could this be?

oneton

Sounds like one or more cyl. was misfiring, the SEL lignt is on now to let you know that a code is being stored. Also a misfire code is a hard code the light will stay on for a few drive cycles or turned off after repair. try to get in for service as soon as you can. if the light starts to flash DO not drive unless you must to get off road safe. If eng is runing OK now with just the light on you can drive to get repaired.

ChevyM84

yea my car does the whole jumping thing but it never feels like its missing and it never throws a code. but if im sittin at a light somtimes in the morning it will start jumping....my old cobalt did this too

beachbum1970

Ok just got back from the dealership. Car is running fine now and they cleared the Check Engine Light. Looks like it was a poor connection at the Mass Air Flow Sensor (MAF). According to the paperwork, it was code PO101. Hope they got it right and fixed the problem. Forgot to ask the tech what would cause this? Anybody know what might have caused the problem? By the way, got an email from OnStar late last night stating that there was a problem with my vehicle. That's pretty cool. Totally forgot about using OnStar. On the way to the dealership this morning I called OnStar from the car and they did a diagnostic of my car, which I thought was pretty neat. They said yes, there is a problem with the engine and to have the car checked out as soon as possible.

plunger69

just had mine in for similar problem and replaced cam sensor as it was messing with timing...? only 6000km on mine.

NYCHHR

I have had a similar problem with my ’08 2.4 I’ve had for seven months with only 4,000 miles. I only had the engine jumping once. I was stuck in heavy traffic on an overpass and the vehicle was bouncing around and thought it was the vibration of the bridge with the traffic going fast in the opposite direction. But it continued when I was off the bridge and then the vehicle stalled. It started again right away and never had that problem again.

I have had a problem with skipping or missing every once in a while. It usually skips or misses when I first get on the highway after warming up the engine slowly. It could be a mild skip or two, or several large skips in a row severe enough that I’m looking in the rearview mirror to see if I ran over something. Even on a long trip of highway driving it will skip early on like regular, then might do it again in the middle of the trip for a few times. I use premium fuel about 95% of the time from brand name gas stations.

The CEL has never come on, and no OnStar alert. I took it to the dealer who had it for two days and of course could not replicate the problem. And with no codes they don’t know where to start looking for the problem.

Does anyone have any suggestions to what might be causing the skipping or missing?

Thanks.

beachbum1970

Well your problem sounds similar to what I experienced. I have the 2.2L automatic. My paperwork from the dealership said the code was PO101, the Mass Air Flow (MAF) sensor wasn't properly connected or loose. Maybe you could have your dealership at least check that out and replace it?