We have a 2006 hhr ls, and have had one hell of a day with it. Had to jump it this evening, used the jump posts under the hood. fired her up, everything came on then suddenly everything went off. EVERYTHING. Had to have her towed home, then of course she started right up again once she was in the drive way. -_- Bought a new battery, but realized on the way back from having the current battery tested that we had no front lights what so ever. Front flashers and turn signals, hi beams, lo beams and fog lights all kaput. Fuses are fine. put new lo beam bulbs in to no avail. All other lights (dash, interior, tail, brake and rear signals and flashers) are all fine. Could it be a bad relay? How do I check if a relay has pooped out?

 

Not sure if it'll help but I had almost the same problem but with HIDs. I had a bad connection around my power terminal under hood by fuse box. If I were to start car and tap it the car would shut down. Check connections and also make sure the correct factory plugs are on the right bulb. Also saw the pass turn bulb plug fits the headlight bulb.(turn signal plug is black and red, headlight plug is grey with a purple band) good luck

 

Kitty86 - when it was jumped did you connect the negative side of the jumper cables to the strut tower as ground or did you connect it under the cover?

 

My thoughts exactly, another unfortunate "Jump-starting" mishap.

 

honestly not sure what he connected negative to when he (husband) jumped. I would ASSUME he did it the way we always have, which doesn't hurt or blow anything. He learned about the EPS fuse the hard way a few weeks after we got it when a co-worker of his needed a jump start, and that has been nearly 4 years back. We all know what assuming will do though so I'll ask him. Have we possibly shorted something out?

 

You are talking about quite a few relays and fuses. So, I'd be thinking about why the battery got drained i.e. where is the short or loose connection. Unfortunately that is mostly a "hands on" kind of diagnostic, hard to do on the internets.

One of the quirky 2006 things is the halves (upper & lower) of the fuse box work themselves loose from each other. First check the bolt in the center of the fuse box, also the bolt on the other fuse box under the passenger side of the water fall.

 

I apologize beforehand for my stupidity, which will be apparent soon enough. I went through and checked all fuses in both spots and all were fine, save the EPS fuse, which WAS fine, (took her to a mechanic for diagnostic, box wouldn't read, going back Thursday if no luck by then, had power steering the way there and back so I had to have blown it by checking other fuses?) I've replaced the EPS before and it never gave me any headlight troubles. Bolt to anchor the inside passenger fuse box is good and tight. Tightened down 2 of the bolts on the under-hood box but lo and behold I only have those two. For some reason the hubby put the other two bolts in his lunch box and they are currently in the next county. Someone mentioned upper and lower fuse box...(here's the rest of that aforementioned stupidity) is there a 2nd level below under the hood? Trying to download an owners manuel now.

 

The top part where the fuses are is attached to he bottom part where the wiring is by blades. Sometimes the top half gets loose and the blades get disconnected.

 

good news is that the top hasn't disconnected/loosened from bottom, and eps fuse not blown like originally thought. one relay was making a screaming sound, so plan is to test those this evening and go from there. A big thank for all tips, advice, ideas and guidance given!!!! Hopefully will know more soon and be able to post it up; possibly help somebody out someday.

 

If the EPS fuse is blown, you wouldn't have power steering - so if that works, then the fuse is good.

If the mechanic was unable to get a reading at the OBDII diagnostic port, the fuse maybe blown (easily checked to see if the cig lighter/power port on the dash has power - they share the same fuse).

Re: relay making a noise - what relay is it? They are documented under the cover I believe. You should be able to swap it with an identical relay from a different spot in the panel.