Hello, everyone. I've been reading for a while but this is my first time posting. My HHR is currently in the shop and the mechanic is giving it a poor prognosis.

Here's the story:

My battery ran down last week after I sat with the radio on too long. Someone helped me jump the vehicle, but we mistook the fusebox (in front) for the battery and "jumped" the battery instead. Apparently (from other posts I've read), this is a mistake other owners have made. We eventually figured out where the real battery is, and properly jumped and restarted the vehicle.

The car then drove fine, except that the power steering had gone out. I checked posts here and learned that I had probably blown the fuse. I bought a new fuse, replaced it. Problem solved and the car drove fine. I drove it for two more days (on one of the days I drove it a lot, stopping and starting the vehicle frequently). The car then sat for one day without being driven at all. That evening I attempted to drive it again, and it wouldn't start. When I turned the key in the ignition, lights came, radio came on, etc., but the engine did not crank.

I initially thought the battery had worn down again. I took the battery to the auto store, they tested it, said it was low, recharged it and said I was good to go. I put the battery back in, and the car still wouldn't start. At this point, I had it towed to my local mechanic.

They attempted to run a diagnostic on the computer, but said that the computer is refusing to communicate with them. They currently believe that the computer is fried and needs to be replaced. They think that when I "jumped" the fuse box, I sent a strong jolt to the computer that knocked it out. My question, is, does it seem likely that the car would have driven fine for two days before indicating that there is a problem with the computer? I asked the mechanic about it. He agreed that it's highly unusual, but he doesn't know how else to explain the computer not communicating with them.

Any ideas? I'm feeling very stressed as this is my only car and I depend upon it for work.

 

the only thing I can think of is to push all the fuses in to make sure they all have contact, there's been some problems with loose fuses

 

You are supposed to jump start your car from under the hood, not the battery in the rear of the car. I am confused as to where you jumped it. Fuse box is good, grounded to the strut tower. Todd (Uma)

 

You say "mechanic" but is that at a GM dealership? If not, I suggest you go to a dealership and have a proper diagnostic by a GM tech. My guess is it just needs "reloading" to get everything working properly again.

 

Which computer are they saying is bad? ECM or BCM? The ECM fuse is #41 and the BCM has (2) #4 and #6. The vehicle would have never started though if you had fried it during the jump start attempt.

 

^^x2^^

 

Sorry if I wasn't clear. We first tried to jump it from the fuse box. That didn't work. I then consulted the owner's manual and discovered that the battery is in the trunk. We then jumped it from the trunk. That worked.

When I drove the vehicle home, I found that I had blown the power steering fuse. I replaced the fuse and the car drove fine for two days before refusing to start.

Is it possible to have blown other fuses (for the computer for example?) and still have it drive for two days? Or maybe a fuse rattled loose?

The shop did not tell me which computer they believed was fried. I didn't know that there are two. This is a general auto mechanic (whom I believe to be very honest). I doubt I could afford whatever the dealership might charge me.

 

Reason to have a good relationship with your local dealer. My tech worked on it for 2 hours to correct several problems after jump start "attempts" from all the locations you list. The cost was zero with the dealer explaining they felt the owners manual was misleading. Regardless, it was no cost to reprogram the BCM. Best of luck.

 

So you also had problems with the BCM after failed jumpstarts?

 

Where exactly did you connect the Positive and Negative cables when you FIRST tried to jump start it by the fuse box? Might help to diagnosis the problem.