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Problems/Service/RepairsIf you have a problem with your HHR, want a tip on repairing or performing a particular service to you HHR here is the place to post!
Stray Cat , you’re welcome!
You do say you’re getting a new battery, right?
Mine seem to last an average of five years.
Drive on! Keep her clean and drive her often!!!!
Hi Oldblue, gonna check how old my battery is. Costco does not stock this one. I drove her the other night, started out great @14-15V, got a mile down the road with heater fan on high, and the alternator quit charging (~11.8-12.4V), so I hightailed it back home. After sitting 72 hours battery was at 11.8V so I put a 7 hr charge tonight with a 10A charger, started her up briefly and read 14-14.5V. I'll find a new battery but road test again tomorrow under full electrical load. Headlights, foglights, seat heater, radio, AC + fan on max and see.
Originally Posted by Conax
I enjoy the torture. I have logiced out problems and fixed them without doing much more than thinking it through. This little car is of the new breed of electronic robocars that I'm still not totally comfortable with, however.
All ideas and suggestions are welcome here.
hahaha that's funny, I'm the same way, it takes time to resolve some problems lol. I usually think through a few different tests to isolate something when I'm not sure.
Originally Posted by Conax
Don (he's great!) has helped me out a lot, but those diagrams don't tell you everything, such as the normal quiescent current draw we should be seeing. When I checked mine I believe it was 85ma constant, with spikes to 1.7 amps at times.
(Like when you first reconnect the battery cable).
I pulled the XMsirius fuse, the interior lighting fuse, then put a jumper wire from the battery to the lead, then connect the meter from the battery to the lead, let the system quiet down, remove the jumper and could then see its actual draw. I think it was a tad high, but no data is available I could find.
If it becomes a problem I will put some more time into it.
Wow! 85ma - 1.7A seems like a lot! With my multi-meter positive probe plugged into its 10A socket, DCA range set at 20m, ground cable off and the meter in series with the ground cable and negative battery post, I never got over a 2.75 reading (key off). My meter would have to be set to the 200m DCA range to even read 85ma. Since the battery is in the back, you could extend your meter leads so you can see the meter while you pull and reinsert fuses to pinpoint circuits drawing suspiciously high current.
It could be the alternator headed south, however, I’m thinking dying cell or two in the battery! My alternator is the ten year old original, both times I had electrical issues, it was the battery toasting out! Not the alternator.
You have to remember that the regulator is digital. It will be wild as you drive, if you need 15V it will give it to you if you need 12V it will give you 12V.
I have had 3 Walmart batteries die in a year each.
Usually everybody that sets out to find the "parasitic drain devil" end up wasting their time. Most circuits are controlled by the BCM. There are a couple of diodes that can fail, in the generator, the A/C etc. Mostly, if it is real, it is OnStar trying to "call home".
Thanks for the chart, Don.
He has all the good stuff, folks. I may have a weak battery myself. I'm still watching it.
I need to have it checked for a weak/bad cell.
The two times my battery has failed, I did the same , looked for parasitic drain, first question is what is connected that is different?
I don’t have OnStar so, it can’t call home!!
On a stock HHR the RCDLR and OnStar and security and anything plugged into the cig lighters are about the only things that run on standby. The BCM goes to sleep and gets woke up by the RCDLR.
I'm pretty sure the radio has it's own battery for the clock and memory. Brake lights don't work if the key is out. Everything else I can think of has a relay. That leaves a bad diode in the generator/alternator turning it into a motor when it is not being driven.
Unplug the alternator, disconnect the battery and check for continuity between the output post and the case/ground. If I remember correctly, that will show a bad internal diode. That is memory work, so may be wrong.
The little black box that the signal goes thru from the FOB to the door locks and remote starter if so equipped.
Remote Control Door Lock Receiver module
I replaced the weakened battery with another AC Delco.
In the process of changing it I found the odd clamping mechanism on the negative terminal had a broken doodad that wedges it tighter as the screw is turned.
This is probably the culprit- all along. Even without any tightening the terminal is a snug fit, but maybe this was it.
Anyone having charging or batt voltage foibles should watch out for this.
They shouldn't have re-invented the battery terminal. The old type were just fine, thanks.
12-19-2017, 05:10 AM
