whopper

I'm out of this one. Some you try and help, but they just won't listen when it is way out of their capability, and they are in a position to seriously damage their vehicle further, or themselves.

Lucky

if there is no voltage at the battery cable on the back of the alt. without the car running then the alt will not charge. you will need to trace that wire back to find the problem. there may be a fuse link wire built into that wire between the alt. and the starter.

firemangeorge

I looked at the repair manual and don't see a fusible link listed between the starter and alternator(generator).
This splice is listed:
J111
On front of engine, from starter to generator,
approximately 15 cm from starter.

The repair diagram shows positve wire(red) from battery to starter to alternator. Doesn't show a fusible link.

Lucky

I seen that in the diagram also. Just figured its wouldn't hurt to be looking for a fuse link that may not show in the wiring diagram when your tracing back the battery cable from the alt. to the starter.

donbrew

"I don't mean to be harsh", but..... a shop would have been able to tell + from - in the first place. And responsible for fixing it if they couldn't.

Sorry, I had to point that out. Don't get all offended. I am not trying to be mean.

db/sb

Forms also don't exist to tell you to guess at possible solutions and throw expensive electrical parts at the problem until you solve it. You're guesing as are others who have offered a solution and there is no resolution to your problem in this thread or the other one that is now closed. Taking it to a shop isn't always a 'bad' thing. They have the proper equipment to diagnose these vehicles. I'm a licensed MVAC tech and worked as a general mechanic for years (in my younger days...). There are many repairs I would do myself at home. This isn't one of them.

cannuck

resolved. the last 2 suggestions were correct. i did not see a fuseable link. did notice J111 but they call it a splice. the harness near the starter has a fuseable link which is not shown in the manual which the dealership found and replaced.

i had checked voltage at the alternator=0 at orange wire starter=0 at red wire coming off the distribution panel to starter and got 12v , both tests done car running and off.

the wire going to the starter got fried and would not allow battery current to complete the circuit. i actually found this wire and saw it was beat up , but it did not stand out as a cause. the tech had to open up the harness to track down the offending wire.
thanks to all those that offered constructive help. in future posts if ur advice is to go to the shop, save it. there is no cost to reading and learning. going to a shop is always my last option. i dont mind looking into things and see if i can get satisfaction with a self fix. i could have done the repair myself if i was willing to rip open the harness but chose to call it a day after trouble shooting for a few hours, instead of watching TV.



does this look like it would cause my headache. tech said this wire is designed to give out if things get too hot.

with the help of the manual and some guidance from the posts i replaced the alternator a few years early and spent nothing else other than hitting the dealer when i ran out of options. now i can make it to xmas dinner.

on a side note, the HHR will run on battery alone. with a good battery and radio off i was getting 30-40 mins of driving before the car quits once voltage drops below 10volts. every time i got stuck in traffic i would get freaked out knowing time was ticking and would be counting down the minutes, what a way to live for a few days.

whopper

And if you had taken it to the shop as suggested at the start (which you had to do in the end), you would have saved the price of the new alternator (not "generator" by the way), and the freakout time running on battery alone.

But I'm glad it is back on the road again.

843de

Glad to hear you're up and running again.

Well GM calling a fuseable link a "splice" isn't a surprise, there have always been two ways to do things, the normal way and the "General's" way.

Please don't take advice to go to a mechanic as mean spirited, or as criticism, but there are times when you have to call on the experience of people who work on these critters day in and day out.

Now we've only had automobiles since 1886, so you would think that somewhere along the line a lightbulb would have gone off in an engineer's mind...."hey, let's make the positive and negative battery terminals impossible to hook up backwards". But its only been 127 years, so maybe someday.

Have a Merry Christmas cannuck!

Snoopy

That is a very interesting discovery.

To my knowledge, you are about the 6th person, with a recent GM product, that has discovered that problem.....although none admitted to have a reverse polarity issue.

HHR's = 2
GMC =1
Chev trk =2
Corvette =2

I'll need to keep this in my "mind" bank when someone encounters a problem similar to yours.

What is also interesting, all of these people (except this forum member) had the vehicle to a dealer who couldn't find the problem after replacing several parts. ALL the owners found the actual problem.

My hat is tipped to you, cannuck.