I am driving my son's HHR today and noticed the temperature is higher than when I usually see it when I drive it. It fluctuated between 221-234. It is a 2009 2.4 and is usually well maintained. Any thoughts or ways to get the temperature lower?

 

The cooling fan comes on at 219F, so you are not into real overheating.

Check the coolant level both in the tank and under the pressure cap. If the coolant is over 5 years old replace it with DexCool.

 

Soemthing is upo with the cooling system. Even on the hottest of days in stop and go traffic in South Florida my HHR has never surpassed 219. Check the following in order of easiest to hardest
1. Coolant level in reservoir
2. Check for coolant leaks at the hoses/on the ground
3. Proper operation of Fan (let car idle until it reaches 217 and if the fan does not kick on in that moment or soon after then there is a problem with the fan system
4. Open rad cap when car is cooled of and make sure you can see coolant
5. though rare, a thermostat can get stuck closed on these cars ( they usually fail open due to a gasket issue)
6. A guru will fill in anything I may have missed
ALSO take a look while the car is running at the rad cap/ check the alternator for signs of coolant leaking on top of it. MY rad cap was leaking after I had the coolant system serviced, I think a tech wrenched it too hard.
And someone will surely remind you of the dexcool 5 year lifspan

 

Guru answered before I could hit post!

 

Welcome to the site, yes Dexcool needs to be replaced every 5years.

 

The fan does come on. I wonder if I should add some regular water until I can get to my friends shop and have him look at it? I am not a mechanic by any means. And thank you all for giving me your input.

 

So is the reservoir low on coolant? Did you run through the steps above?

 

Do not add water to dexcool, unless you plan to drain it and refill it with 50/50 Dexcool
These little trucklets do not like the green stuff or to much water!

 

I searched up this topic because my temp gauge hardly moves (1 mark below 50% all the time). I used the scrolling info thing to watch it. It would climb quickly to 210-212 so I turned on the heater full blast. Man, that wind was HOT. My overflow tank is dry, so I put maybe 8 oz of dex cool in and went to the store. If you're temp reading is 210, where should the gauge needle be and am I a big worry wart? Car is an 09 2.2L.
Thanks for any info!

 

The needle gauge is almost useless; it only changes when it is too late.