Gonna test out the lifetime warranty thing on hhr electric power steering. My car with 132000 miles is now shutting off steering intermittently. Seems like its on hot days. But it can shut off within minutes of starting up. So it just has to be ambient warm to start having issues. I already swapped out the brain module and nothing improved. So its either motor or that royal pain to get at sensor. Im a motor guru. I read that those are brush motors. So brushes could be worn out or the carbon dust build up is arcing over making the brain box shut down. Both items cheaply fixable. But I wont mess with it any more till I find out if the dealer will do it for free in 2021. It is a very dangerous problem. It caught me by surprise the first time and nearly hit somebody on a tight curve. Old people would have no chance to avoid disaster with this issue on a turning situation.

 

What happens is: the auto-reset internal heat protection fuse blows. Nothing to do with the "brain" or the sensor.

You may need to have some documentation and righteous indignation. On some models it was a real recall, so check that out here: https://www.chevyhhr.net/forums/gm-r...-status-50716/

 

Cool. Thats a cheap fix for me if it comes down to no free service. The motor hardly gets warm when the thing shuts off so the "fuse" somehow becomes defective. I called the dealer and they say there is an issue that my car is included in. Then he says theres 3 reasons the steering fails and the recall only includes one of them. Clearly leaving the dealership with an out on warranty service. I have a traction control light that also cropped up with clunky trany shifting with a trouble code that says communication corrupted with ABS. I have to fix that before i go to the dealer or they may say its bad computers thats shutting off the steering. I have another ABS unit laying around but It may be a pain to air bleed if I end up swapping it out. I already reconnected the big cable connectors to no avail. Next I check out the connectors on the wheel sensors. I wish the trouble code was more descriptive. All this tech in the car and still murky diagnostics codes.

 

Don't ever even read the description of a code that a reader gives you. They only give the title of the test, not what the test is intended to diagnose. If you GoOgle the code number for the specific car you will get a lot better idea of what it really means. The title of the test is fluid and really does not describe the test. doesn't mean anything and probably not what you think.

 

By all accounts you need to be persistent with the dealers on the power steering problem. There is both a recall applying to some cars and an extended warranty applying to others. There was even a recall on a recall, apparently -

https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/rcl/201...4V153-1234.pdf

The multiple coverages confuses the dealers; if they’re lazy (imagine!) they’ll stop at the first one they find and tell you your car isn’t covered. Even heard story of a car fixed for $0 even though not technically covered. You may need to call GM.I may be wrong about this, but it seems if the HHR power steering quits while driving, corporate wants to fix it even if the dealer doesn’t. Sometimes you need to try a different GM dealer. It doesn’t need to be a Chevy dealer.

 

Yea, the chevy dealer talked like he was looking to squirm out of a free fix. Its possible they make money by scaming me to pay and logging it as a warranty fix to keep the money. Its a sneaky world we live in. But just to close all escape hatches, I need to fix C0561-71 first. I cropped up shortly after the steering problems. Crazy coincidence. Thats says invalid data related to ABS. Ill go thru all those wheel sensors to make sure they work but its too bad it wont just say which wheel. Too bad the autozone code reader wont say which wheel. I may buy my own code reader but it would be great if I could find one that could also program key FOPs. I need to program key FOPs for 2 cars. 4 key FOPs. So that expense will figure into what code reader I will look for. Hopefully that kind of reader will be able to read every code in all the cars modules.

 

A. Not exactly what C0561 means. I means that the ABS module and the ECM couldn't talk to each other during a traction control or stability control event. If it is fixed it will remain in memory for 100 cold starts. The ABS system is disabled. Could have been an electrical problem a wiring problem or a broken EBCM.

B. Get a Dorman fob that comes with a programmer. They are good for 4 fobs.

 

GM Tech 2 scanners are available online , not as expensive as I tought

 

Well I looked at all the wheel wiring and everything seems clean and tight. I saw alot of posting on Stabilatrak errors that were pesky but went away with code resets. I suspect thats what this is. Some hickup that set the code and now i got no ABS and clunky shifting till this is reset. I will not swap out the ABS module and mess up the brake fluid bleed. Then i would need a device to put system in brake bleed mode. So its looking like a robust OBD Gizmo is going to be a requirement for economical GM ownership. As it turns out, Tech2Win and GDS2 have been hacked and a USB device invented to use this hacked software. With it comes full capabilities to do just about everything. Make fobs, bleed brakes, read all sensors, and run all modules. All from a connected laptop. The device is Vcx Nano and it only costs $120. It comes with Tech2Win and GDS2. the hacked versions. GDS2 is a subscription service but somebody downloaded the whole thing and hack it to run as a stand alone program. The only thing missing is the feature to reprogram the module software with updates and fixes. That is VIN specific and nobody has the hard drive space to hold all of the software versions. So a subcription to access that code is unavoidable. But its possible to get updates as freebies on those occations when a dealer visit is unavoidable. So Im going to order one of these and then I can get a reading on all of the ABS internal functions. Including reading all the wheel sensors and resetting any module codes. Then if the problem persists, I can swap out the whole ABS and use the device to facilitate brake bleeding. It will all come in handy as I continue to rebuild dads wrecked car. No doubt electrical issues are waiting for me. And a comprehensive device like this can get me thru clear diagnostics. May also try it on my Safari. Air in the ABS has rendered it broken for years when I had to replace rusty lines.

 

Woohoo. VCX Nano works great. At $120, I cleared out all the trouble codes, and programed 2 ultra cheap keyfobs from China. Now I have remote start with all the trimmings. And I can fill my car with valuable junk since I can easily lock the doors now. But I still have problems with the power steering and Traction Control light. Not sure if this really does have traction control, but ABS brakes dont work and trany is clunky shifting. I putzed around with software instal for about 4 hour before I finally got it working. They dont include a CD any more and the download was not very straght forwards. I ended up with several versions of everything and had to mix and match before I got it to play nice. GDS2 is a waste since theres no HHR of any year in the version I got. So its a Tech2 show exclusively. Theres a serial error in the tech 2 like the internet was saying, so it gives me no data on it. So its looking like the module went bad. I saw on the youtube somebody tore another cars ABS module open. Seems they can come off the manafold without breaking the fluid lines with a bit of effert at small bolts hard to reach. Then there is interesting troubles lurking on the PC board. Seems they are prone to vibrations breaking solder joints loose. So that could be whats going on here. Ill dismantle my spare to get an idea what Im in for. But its looking like I may be at the least swapping modules without making a bigger mess to bleed out. As for Tech 2 the hacked version, it seems to be all that. I can recalibrate camshaft timing, sensor heaters, steering center, and loads of other dangerous things. Unfortunately, it cant seem to roll back the odometer. Hah. The first thing i figured hacked software would do. Anyways, Its already mostly paid for itself so its a great gizmo. Maybe the best bang for the buck if you have no problems useing a laptop for diagnostics. It was really convenient because I kept looking up more youtube videos as I was figuring all this out. In fact Im still in the driver seat as I type all this up. Its air conditioned in the garage Im in so its literally no sweat. Hah.