By any chance, have you thought of "fuel rail heat soak"? Heat soak, as i understand it, is when your fuel is heated into a vapor in your fuel rail and cannot be injected into the engine; and is like vapor lock on a carbureted engine. Our HHR fuel lines are not really subject to this, but might be a possibility, especially if you or the Chevy mechanics moved something around underhood. I've also seen it caused by someone putting their exhaust tubing too close to the lines from the tank (fly-by-night muffler shop duals). Did the techs check fuel pressure at the rails when this problem occurred, or did they ever witness the problem, and just change the pump from "guess analysis"?

 

This is a "stupid" question: Is there enough coolant, the temp sender will send a temp even if there is no coolant on the sensor.

Don't use a lower temp t-stat, you will probably get a CEL for that. Stay with 180F.

 

Is the display showing Reduced engine power then engine shut down before it quits?
My 2006 has a similar issue when the outside temp goes up however mine threw the code for TCM had that replaced and now it shows the PCM fault. I have a new PCM on the way so I am hoping this will fix my problem.

 

55lbs at rail. changed fuel pump first off becuase i listened to the wrong person $300 wasted.they say they cant get it to do it .I CALL BULLSH-T ON THE DEALERS!

 

Plenty of coolant

 

no loss of power, no codes and it just died while idealing.

 

I kinda liked the idea of the fuel line getting too hot before the rail.

How about pop the fuel rail off and make sure there is no "stuff" in it, then bleed it?

I cannot figure how a bag of ice could have any effect at all.

 

a bud of mine is going to show up tonight and try an old racers trick to see if it is heat soak on the fuel line? as far as the bag of ice i can only guess that the icm or coil is getting to hot and the ice is a temp fix. was told by an older man i had never seen before that day to do it he said it would work and it did? havent seen him since. note to self ,old people are wise!!!!

 

If it was a coil (there are 4 of them) getting too hot - you would get misfires, but it should still start.

A bad ground on the ICM can cause problems, or the connector at the top drivers side of the valve cover that connects to it. Which would be about where you are putting the bag of ice?

 

my hhr only has one coil , well lets put it this way it is one single unit and the icm connects to the top of it. i have heard it called a cassett on other places. have checked for loose or damaged connectors and grounds. have even added a new ground to the engine and frame. did find a bad ground connection down on the side of the trans . cleaned it well and put it back .