I am going to take it apart to check all the connections and I will check to see if the needle is loose.

 

Yea moving outside of it range it probably stripped the tiny little gears in there. Or, ECOtec kicked in yo! You have a one of a kind 10,000 RPM redline! Eat that SS. Grab a junker or search ebay for a cluster!

 

I have looked into getting a used one but there is no guarantee that they are interchangeable. I talked to several dealers and they want $600+ to replace it.

They said I could bring in a used one to have them re-program but they have to take out the old one read the old one and program it to the used one but could not guarantee that it would work. To do that the dealers want $190. to re-program and $190 to take out the broken one and put in the re-programmed one.

 

Give me some time to be sure, but I think your dealer is blowing smoke. I am firly sure that the I/P is plug and play, all of the data is stored in the BCM.

 

X2 on that. The odometer reading and such are stored on the "black box" IE the BCM. Plug and play. Almost 100 percent sure.

 

I just finished reading the entire article. The VIN has to be matched for the odometer to display, otherwise plug and play. So they usually charge 1 hour labor for the computer work, but theses days other shops have the tools to do it.

 

Hate to tell you this, but my 2007 did exactly the same thing, but fortunately while the car was still under warrantee. Apparently as I recall the 2007's use something of a different gauge cluster than other years, but the fix was replacing the entire cluster. No problems with it since. BTW it took them less than a hour to do it, I waited while they did the work. It did take 3 or 4 days for them to get it, had to be ordered.

 

Ive been down this road. You can put a used one in but your odometer and trip meter will not work. Spent a few Months trying to swap a used one in my car. No one in the North West could or would (including the dealer) reprogram a used instrument cluster. If you purchased a new one, they could program it to your car vin.
Visit, New speedo now back doors don't work.
If you find someone that can reprogram a used cluster let me know.
Good luck.

 

I can't find the article again.
Evidently it is the panel that needs to have the VIN inserted, so that it matches the VIN in the BCM.

Maybe it's like a new radio that is programmed to grab the VIN as soon as it's plugged in. I will bet that the technicians just don't know how to do it, like the one I had that didn't know how to program the air bag module.

The tech2 site says that any module can be programmed via the SPS (Service Programming System). The dealer may be under the impression the mileage is stored in the cluster like many other cars, changing that mileage can be a bit tricky legally. However, in the HHR the mileage is stored in the BCM, and can be extracted with a Tech2 or similar.

Changing the odometer reading is a legal thing, most cars have the odometer data stored in the instrument cluster.

Here is a TSB, the HHR is listed as a IBCM system

 

One place I read that the IPC retains the last reading that it got from the donor car BCM. When that reading does not agree with the stored reading the odometer will not work. The fix is to reprogram the BCM from tisweb.

This thread from Snap-On forum is confusing, but contains info. GM BCMs, Instrument clusters and milage - Snapon Diagnostics Product Forums