Hello There. On this weekend I went to the Texas Border to shop some stuff there that is not possible to buy in México. When I was waiting on the customs, driving with an average of 2 mi/hr (not joke), obviosly I was a little bored, and I began to turn the wheel to both sides (right & left). About the 4th time, suddenly I felt the steering wheel very very hard to move, almost Impossible. I was nervous that probably the steering wheel assistance motor get broken (no more issues please!!!). But, the funny thing was when I began to press the gas pedal, the assitance come back, but when I press the brakes, come out...Well, after pass the customs, I drive in normal way, and this didn´t happen again. I read on the owner´s manual (4-14), and it claims that this normal if the car is turn on and if the steering wheel is not moving. Weird.

 

You could have over heated the steering assist motor, I believe it "shuts down" temporarily to avoid further damage and when it cools it starts back up.

 

Yes, you did overheat the motor and it shut off by design.

 

Yeah, the overheat shutdown kicked in. Turning the wheel when stopped really puts extra stress on the steering/suspension components accelerating wear. Remember, be nice to your components and they'll be nice to you.

 

Just to understand you better guys, if I didn´t move the steering wheel in about 45 minutes, with the car turn on, moving very very slow (2 mi/hr)and suddendly I turn the steering wheel left & right 4 times, and I feel it hard to move, this got overheated? how? why? Why when I accelerate in normal way, the steering power came back?

 

I think that once you started moving again the steering freed up due to the lowered resistance between the tires and road. In a car with manual steering the effort required drops once in motion. The old rule was always wait until you were moving before turning the wheel(still is with my Corvairs and Suburban). The motor used on the HHR's steering is small and powerful but prone to overheating at times. I would only be concerned if the vehicle sets a code or the power steering cuts out randomly.

 

I know what you mean. I had a 1972 VW Bettle many years ago and is as you said. There´s is the fragment of the HHR owner manual (4-14):

If you turn the steering wheel in either direction several
times until it stops, or hold the steering wheel in the
stopped position for an extended amount of time,
you may notice a reduced amount of power steering
assist. The normal amount of power steering assist
should return shortly after a few normal steering
movements.

Once I passed the customs, I hadn´t again this issue, neither DIC. BTW after this, I drove about 300 milles and no issues. I hope that this thread could be usefull for some body that can suffer this condition.

 

A '72 huh, gee back when I had a '59 Beetle in college I thought the ones from the 70's were all cutting edge and modern.

 

In USA yes (I.e. Super Bettle)... mmmm, In México was quite different. The model line for VW Bettle until 1995 had drum brakes on the 4 wheels, No power assistance and Carburator instead injectors...

 

I did that with my mom's 2006 Impala when it was new, pulling into the parking lot at high school in the snow, later that day the power steering broke...some line snapped. Whoops!