3apa3ho

Hey everyone. Bought my 2008 HHR with 46 500 miles on the odometer approximately 2 weeks ago. There are a few issues like non-working cruise control (need to check the brake lights - maybe an official dealer doesn't check these things since I bought a car from them) and annoying cheap plastic noise coming from the passenger's side (need to find the source and get rid of it). But my post is about another issue which came up today. I was driving home then, suddenly, all the gauges moved to their zero positions and all the warning lights blinked. My previous car (Dodge Charger) did the same a few times during winters, but that's probably because temperatures here in Estonia (Eastern Europe) can jump from below 32 to above and vise versa pretty-quickly. Can also be up to -13 or so, but that's not something about today. It was around 26 at night and around 37 in the morning, but the car worked just fine when I was going to work. Now I have the light - tried turning engine off and on, but that didn't affect the light at all.

Is it just a glitch? Or there may be other issues related to that?

And I have a simple remote with 3 buttons - no remote start etc.

IgottaWoody

Did you use the key to unlock the door instead of the remote?

3apa3ho

The light appeared when I was driving - not opening/closing doors. I don't use any keys when unlocking doors while being inside - this happens automatically when I set the gearbox to P. Or did I understand the question incorrectly?

slinger569

I had a simular issue with a previous car.. The interior lights would come on and the speedo and tach would drop to zero while I'd be in motion.. I had it looked at and it turned out to be a short. Good luck.

3apa3ho

Thanks. But the security light is the one bothering me...we'll see how it goes tomorrow. It was in a service before I bought it (they replaced the BCM), but kind of odd seeing new problems 2 weeks after. Oh well, would be great if someone had exactly the same issue and solved it. Not if I find the fact that the car requires some money to be spent so quickly - just don't want to loose time on calling our local Chevy center, booking time etc. But if that's the only solution - I have no other choice:)

whopper

If it was a Chevy dealership that replaced the BCM just before you bought it, it should still be under warranty I would expect. If the vehicle had problems prior, hopefully they will stand behind their previous repair, even if it is not the BCM that was at fault.

IgottaWoody

In that case..recheck the connections..they may have wiggled loose over the 2 week period

3apa3ho

Hey guys. No security light this morning (that's ~25 minutes of driving). Guess was a glitch related to temperatures jumping from above freezing to below. Will see how it goes in 7 hours (when going back home).

Damn, I wish winter to end soon. Cars don't like low temperatures for sure:)

3apa3ho

Now this is just great - when going home all the gauges started dropping to zero and back, but this time this lasted until I manually (in a few minutes after this crap started) turned on the low beam lights (always set to Auto). By I presume this was just a coincidence since setting them back to Auto didn't affect the gauges. Anyway, the theft-deterrent light stayed on and the car started shifting really roughly. Even more - while gauges were acting crazy I started receiving LOW FUEL (understandable) and ELECTRIC STEERING messages, but the funny thing is that the steering actually became harder. I went to a store and got back in 15 minutes. Started the car - no issues at all.

Taking it to our local service tomorrow morning, but still - any ideas?:)

slinger569

Sounds like you have a nasty electical gremlin. I don't think it is a waste of time to call your local Chevy center, booking time etc. Seems the fastest way to get to the root of your issue, before something major goes wrong. JMO.. My jeep used to do wierd things like that and I let it go, right up until I was driving down the highway and lost power steering, headlights, check engine light and all interior lights came on without cause... I nearly crapped my pants.. I was at the dealership within 30 minutes..