No Power Steering. Read Before You Jump Start
Banned
Joined: 10-14-2005
Posts: 9,121
From: Rochester,N.Y.
I know, it's my own fault. I need to add at least one yellow top but I've been lazy about it. I also have the 260 Watt Pioneer system but I added a 250 watt RMS/700 watt peak amp to drive my subwoofer.
Platinum Member
Joined: 05-09-2006
Posts: 6,805
From: "Upland" Mesa, Arizona
Originally Posted by captain howdy
I know, it's my own fault. I need to add at least one yellow top but I've been lazy about it. I also have the 260 Watt Pioneer system but I added a 250 watt RMS/700 watt peak amp to drive my subwoofer.
If I remember how to figure that correctly, thats about 41 amps....I think the battery should have lasted about a half hour.
Banned
Joined: 10-14-2005
Posts: 9,121
From: Rochester,N.Y.
Originally Posted by Snoopy
Wow Captain....
If I remember how to figure that correctly, thats about 41 amps....I think the battery should have lasted about a half hour.
If I remember how to figure that correctly, thats about 41 amps....I think the battery should have lasted about a half hour.
I know it was less than an hour but I wasn't paying attention to time. 
Senior Member
Joined: 06-20-2006
Posts: 289
From: MI.
Originally Posted by cshaberts
Today I had a customer come in with no power steering. Here is the solution.
be careful when jump starting your HHR. Hook your positive cable to the positive post under the hood negative to bolt on strut tower. there is a black post on the other side of fuse box. this is not a negative post.
That post supplies power to the electric power steering, and the fuses go poof when they get jumped from another car.
be careful when jump starting your HHR. Hook your positive cable to the positive post under the hood negative to bolt on strut tower. there is a black post on the other side of fuse box. this is not a negative post.
That post supplies power to the electric power steering, and the fuses go poof when they get jumped from another car.
Senior Member
Joined: 05-22-2006
Posts: 272
From: Florida
mine drained in about 25 minutes, but I had several laptops running on the cig outlets and the stereo going the whole time. I also didn't go all the way dead. It wouldn't start right away but after I left it for about 15 minutes it would
Senior Member
Joined: 06-18-2006
Posts: 839
From: Hillcrest, San Diego, CA
Low Battery
Yesterday I ran my battery down... ( too much sittin in the car and listening to the radio at work... or, because i had left my GPS plugged in over the cold weekend and no driving, either way), I was at work at a welding shop when this happened, radio just went off... I tried to start the engine, nothing, but all lights on dash would come back on .. even the radio. One of the guys in the welding shop tried to boost jump me off with one of the Fork Lifts and a ratty set of jumper cables connected to the Front post under the hood... NO LUCK... I then took every thing out of the back... got access to the Battery, and tried to jump from there.... we actually had to keep the cables connected for about 10 minutes before we got enough to turn the engine over..... but after that all was fine... radio played, power steering, no problems since.....
Joined: 11-26-2009
Posts: 1
From: washington
power steering goes out while driving
The power steering goes out when Im driving but comes back on the next time the car is started.I had my hhr jumped back in august and everything was fine until 2 weeks ago when the power steering started shutting off while driving.
Joined: 01-19-2013
Posts: 1
From: St. Clairsville,Ohio
Today I had a customer come in with no power steering. Here is the solution.
be careful when jump starting your HHR. Hook your positive cable to the positive post under the hood negative to bolt on strut tower. there is a black post on the other side of fuse box. this is not a negative post.
That post supplies power to the electric power steering, and the fuses go poof when they get jumped from another car.
be careful when jump starting your HHR. Hook your positive cable to the positive post under the hood negative to bolt on strut tower. there is a black post on the other side of fuse box. this is not a negative post.
That post supplies power to the electric power steering, and the fuses go poof when they get jumped from another car.
Platinum Member
Joined: 05-09-2006
Posts: 6,805
From: "Upland" Mesa, Arizona
This is a really OLD THREAD, BUT........
You probably blew the power steering fuse. You also probably checked all the wrong fuses.
There is, I believe, a 60 amp fuse just for the power steering (not sure, but I think it is "in line"). I would give more info but I am not at home or have my HHR available. Do a search on this forum for the correct location of the dedicated fuse.
You probably blew the power steering fuse. You also probably checked all the wrong fuses.
There is, I believe, a 60 amp fuse just for the power steering (not sure, but I think it is "in line"). I would give more info but I am not at home or have my HHR available. Do a search on this forum for the correct location of the dedicated fuse.
Banned
Joined: 11-19-2008
Posts: 123
From: oregon
It should work better jumping from under the hood. That minimizes length of wire. Best is to use a good engine ground instead of strut bolt.
Usually what we call a jump is really a boost. The discharged battery is charged for a while through booster cables, and then a boost is provided (through still connected booster cables) to start.
Essentially, the product current and time, not just one or the other, tells you how long until a load runs down the battery. 200 amps for 3 seconds is as much charge as 20 amp for 30 seconds. Since 200 amps for 3 seconds is something like an engine starting scenario, running a 20 amp anything for 30seconds is in this sense equivalent to one start. How many attempts can you make to start before battery fails to turn over engine?
Running a starting battery down is bad. They are made to provide high power for short durations: 200 amps multiplied by 12 V is 2.4 kW. 2.4 kW is 3.2 hp, which is about the output of the starting motor. The rest of time they like to be charging. A healthy battery is about 12.8 V with no load, but voltage between terminals drops, say to 12 V, during starting; voltage drop is mainly due to internal resistance of battery. Sometimes a battery tests fine via hydrometer (charges ok), but fails to turn over engine due to high internal resistance - voltage between battery terminals maybe drops to
10.5 V under load of trying to turn over engine.
Mind you, batteries do not store electric charge. Stored chemical energy is converted to electrical energy. Electrical energy is converted to heat and mechanical energy to turn over engine.