Hey Guys, I am not ignoring you. The good folks at Bobby Murray are still working on Elvis (I'd recommend Bobby Murray if you are in the area). They did indeed find that the check engine light was indicating a......wait for it.....thermostat! They feel there is something else involved, so they are still investigating. They are also installing a new steering column as mine had developed play in it. Thanks for all of the advice. God Bless, Marc

 

Oh yes, my service person did say that the A/C compressor will be disabled if the temp gauge goes out. I am guessing this is because the computer doesn't know if the engine is overheating or not. Interesting that Chevy runs that logic from the engine temp sensor through a dashboard gauge then to the computer, rather than a parallel system straight-wired from sensor to computer.

He also noted that the remote start does not work if the check engine light is on. When my check engine light went off on its own, the remote start began working again.

I am puzzled by the TPMS problems. For a while I thought that the in-tire sensors would one by one randomly go out of operation after a 1/2 hour or so of driving. Last weekend the warning flashed, and I checked the display, and it said ALL of the tire sensors were reading zero. Now that can't be so, so I think there is still a gremlin in there somewhere. The service guys are hunting down that gremlin.

God Bless, Marc

 

Did you see Chevy Mgr's post - in response to "Doesn't the check engine light disable remote start? "

To which CM replied: "Any trouble light disables it including TPMS."

You didn't indicate if the TPMS error is being triggered AFTER the thermostat was replaced?????????

 

Hi Whopper, The TPMS has been a thorn since I bought the car. It's been ongoing. Basically one, or two, of the monitors fail to register with the computer, or vice versa, after 30 minutes of driving. Later in the trip they will read again, but of course the warning light doesn't go out until you stop and restart. A real annoyance in the road at night. Orange glowing tire symbol.

The recent time where all of the sensors read zero was right when the temp gauge went to zero last weekend. It soon cleared, but what are the chances that was all four sensors not sending signals at once?

They are at work on the car now, and I don't have it back yet. I am guessing they will replace the thermostat in this work. So, to answer your question, I don't know yet. Also, the check engine light has only come on once since I've owned the car (14 months and 19k miles). That light came on last weekend, but after the TPMS went haywire as well as the Temp gauge dying. God Bless, Marc

 

Ahhhh - thanks for the details. My car doesn't have the TPMS thankfully. I don't much care for some of the new "fancy" stuff like that, nor traction control for that matter.

hopefully the dealer has it under control - do keep us posted if you can. Best of luck

 

Hi Folks,

I have Elvis back, and he's running fine and has a new steering column. Update:

1) It turns out that the o-ring for the thermostat was adrift and stuck in the thermostat. That was apparently what was causing the temp gauge not to read, and therefore the A/C to not work too. The check engine light was for a "thermostat" code. You guys were right. Many thanks. :-) I've also noticed this evening that the readout for temperature is more steady than it has ever been. It is swinging in a 5 degree range when warmed up. Before, it might swing 15 to 20 degrees in normal driving. I thought that was normal, but now know better. I thought I might see a power or driveability difference due to the computer reading steady temps, but I cannot tell anything.

2) New steering column - Big difference. My old column had an in-out telescopic play of maybe 1/16". The new one is tight as a drum and the steering feel is solid. No play at all side to side or in-out. Also, what I thought was "graininess" or wearing sway bar links (slight clunkiness in the front end feel), ended up being the steering column. It feels much better now. The whole car feels nicer driving now that issue is handled.

All of this was under warranty, and they are going to keep an eye on the TPMS issue. They could not reproduce it. Who knows, it may be related to the thermostat!? Hah, hah. LOL.

Bobby Murray's staff got the whole thing done with no dings, dirt or grease in the interior, and they even vaccuumed the car for me. They have a great and friendly service staff. I would recommend them to anyone who needs Chevy service. They even arrive early and get folks checked in and running fast in the morning drop-off. I have dealt with Ryan Allen for service and Scott Tilley for parts and both are a credit to the dealership.

Many thanks again to all who helped out with this. We can now chalk it up to more knowledge about HHR's and Cobalts. God Bless, Marc

 

 

Glad to hear it's working out for you !!

 

COOL!!! Glad it all worked out for you - who wuda' thunk a simple o-ring could cause all those problems/symptoms eh? Glad it was under warranty as replacing that simple thermostat isn't cheap.

Oh, for the good old days of a $1.95 thermostat, and making a gasket out of a kleenex box using a rock to tap out a gasket at the side of the road. But then again, those were the days of replacing the points and condenser every 6K miles, and adjusting the valves every 3000 miles ............ maybe they weren't the good ol' days afterall.

 

And don't forget how bad tires were back then, or how we had to walk uphill to school in the snow both ways! :-) Thanks again, and God Bless, Marc