I've been having a lot of issues with my 2011 lately. It's funny, we've had the HHR for several years and it was our Chrysler that gave us so many problems. We got rid of the Chrysler in February and the HHR, which had never been taken to the mechanic's for an issue, has now been twice in under 2 months. I thought I might have had a year without any car drama. I'm making a laundry list for the next trip in addition to doing what I can on my own in the driveway. It's kind of irritating.

So the latest thing to pop up is the rear door handles. From the outside, they suddenly take a lot of force to open. Both doors. You have to give them a good pull to pop the door. I'm concerned about the kids breaking them off or incurring additional damage over time. Basically, I don't want it to get worse to where I'm replacing more than just the original problem.

When I was a kid, my mom had a Chevette and I remember this exact issue happening and eventually my brother and I had to crawl in through the front passenger seat of the car to get in back.

Since all of the speakers in it have now shat the bed (Crutchfield to the rescue!), I ordered new ones due to come in this week. Since I'm already taking the door panels off for this project next weekend, should I be looking for anything in particular in terms of the door mechanism? I'm kind of terrible at this aspect of cars. I don't know really how the doors work. But I'd love to do a 2-for-1 repair if I could.

Anybody have any insight?

 

The connection between the handle and the latch is stiff wire. If it is not the wire binding on something you have to look at the latch, maybe just grease it like the Normal maintenance schedule suggests, maybe replace it.

Slobber some white grease or whatever you may have on hand on the mechanism and the catch that you can see when you open the door.

 

You could buy a silicone spray also. This one will dry after using it.
https://www.wd40specialist.com/produ...one-lubricant/

 

Thanks. In hindsight, this is pretty simple, I suppose. I will spray it all down. Appreciate the insight!