KimsHarry

Took “Harry” my SS to a local garage because the power steering service soon flashed on the speedometer screen. “Harry” still steered fine but then he drained the battery for no apparent reason when parked in our garage. And most of you know when the battery dies you manually can’t open the back trunk to get to the battery. The garage guy said the part is discontinued. Part #25819157. Well, I did more searching when I got home but still have not located this part anywhere. Can someone please help me or direct me where to find this part? Harry is a great FL car, no rust and ran awesome, now he is more horrible to drive than an old VW bug that is all manual steering-wise. I really hope someone can help me! Thank you.

Oldblue

Sadly that module part number 25819157 is discontinued, you might find one on EBay, one just sold in June 2021. You might find one at a parting out I know J&J Auto are parting out an SS AA5, they might have one .


These guys might have that part, I wonder what other GM, Saturn or Saab variants used it?

Wow, GM parts direct states This product fits 3 vehicle variants.
Chevrolet: 1 models, 3 variants between 2008 and 2010.
Chevrolet HHR 2008, 2009, 2010
5 DOOR HIGH ROOF HATCHBACK SS


All that information aside, did you check the electric power steering fuse in the under hood fuse box? How about a battery lobotomy to see if the computer will reset.
did you replace the battery or just charge it. Or did you connect the jumper cables to the wrong point on the fuse box?

Just spit balling, it just might be an easy fix!

KimsHarry

Oh thank you Oldblue! Could you please share the link to J&J Auto so I could contact them? It was a brand new battery! We will try testing the fuse for it. Stay tuned for updates. Thank you.

donbrew

I think SS has a different one from LS/LT. Try RockAuto, remember the discount code.
How does the mechanic know for sure this is the problem? I have never heard of it. I don't know how it could drain the battery.

Trick: you can open the tailgate if you attach jumper cables under the hood or even a 9 volt battery.

RJ_RS_SS_350

There's also a super secret lever in the hatch that you can access by climbing into the cargo area from the back seat area.

It's not really a secret, it's in the owner manual. A link to digital copy is in donbrew's signature, if you don't have a manual.

Oldblue

Click in the YouTube video and then there’s a link in there. Or…

https://www.jandjautowrecking.com/

RockAuto doesn’t list the module, EBay vendors don’t list it, GM sites show it is discontinued and no longer available.
As I posted it was only applicable to the 2008 to 2010 HHR SS.

KimsHarry

Hello Donbrew. Thank you for your valuable insight. You know, I’m not sure where the mechanic got the idea to tie the battery draining to the power steering control module. A little more backstory: over a year ago, my husband and I took Harry to a tires choice location that was near where we both work for some clutch work done. And it took them well over a month of putting me off every time I called them or simply just not calling me back that I sought out a regional manager through LinkedIn and he was finally able to help me get my car back. However, when I got Harry back and was driving home with a new clutch, a new thing came up on my screen… power steering service required… or something close to that. Otherwise he drove great for several weeks. Then my husband and I had to take a small trip an hour away and he flat out would not start out of the blue. So my husband climbed in the back to disconnect the battery and put on a charger. Since we were pressed for time to be somewhere we had to grab a cab which added to the stress of the day. Long story short, Harry has sat in our garage with his trunk lid up and no battery in him over a year now till recently when we thought we found a decent local garage we thought we could trust with handling Harry, after they took care of my 2006 Durango I found with low miles and in awesome shape. We figured once they sorted out myDurango “Hemi” I wanted to get Harry back up and running again. I guess and now know I was wrong. I hope this info may help with figuring out Harry more. His power steering is totally gone. I know this because when I drove him home from the garage, I thought my arms were going to come off from all of the strength it took to just get him around simple corners and curves. So maybe it’s not that module but maybe the motor you guys think?

Oldblue

Several new clues to this puzzle, the clutch /tire shop had your SS for a period of time, then it sat for a while, the battery went dead, it was trickle charged, but still the electric steering is dead, based on that, please check that fuse for the power steering motor, it’s in the under hood fuse box. There is a location chart under the lid of the fuse box.

Oldblue

I just heard back from Jon at A&A Auto, he checked for the module in the SS AA5, it’s been sold already. I’m going to check my sources up here , see what I can find, just in case the module is the culprit.

RJ_RS_SS_350

Like oldblue suggested above, someone probably incorrectly jump started the vehicle, causing damage.