This afternoon, while commuting on my normal 60 mile route, I noticed that my throttle response was quicker, and came "on the cam" (but not like flooring it) when not asked to. At first, I thought my foot had slipped, so I was deliberate about my pedal operation. The same thing happened almost every time I pushed the go pedal (past a certain point). Conditions were normal, car temps were normal, rpms at idle were normal, and I could not ascertain anything different. My Panel just wanted to go! It felt like a V8 (small) had dropped in to visit. I just wonder whether the computer/drive by wire is going to go nuts or fail, or if it's possible that the VVT is mutating? Don't get me wrong, I like better acceleration, but not at the cost of an imminent breakdown. Also, my gas mileage is getting better, although I haven't changed anything. 56000 miles and just now breaking in??? Any thoughts?

 

HHR's can "learn" your driving style, so it may have adapted to your habits slowly enough that you didn't notice. It would be expected behavior if you'd pulled the fuses or disconnected the battery which would put the ECM back to the factory defaults and it "relearned" how you drive.

If you haven't reset the ECM its a bit odd, but nothing I'd be worried about.

 

Mike,

You often try to be helpful here, but sometimes maybe you ought to stick to you "expertise", which you claim is "law".

I posted about the false "learn" issue in another post.

 

Come on JoeR, he's trying to help. You could just as easily have interjected and said that this idea is false, and that they don't "learn" rather than mayhaps making someone feel unwanted on the forum.

 

I did acknowledge that he tries to help here, and often does!

I went into more detail in another post.

Mike, your presence here is a positive! Other than that statement, I enjoy a lot of your posts, so please don't take my "correction" wrong!

Misinformation here really gets to me at times. There's too much of it. Unless accurate info is not welcome here, I'll keep up my campaign.

 

As the OP, I welcome any response to my query. It's up to me whether I accept any advice or opinion as the correct answer or part or none. I know about the learning process, thru experience, over the years. But in this case, no relearn has occurred. Instead, perhaps it could be the combination of my recent repairs/maintenance/upgrades/mods and renewed enthusiasm of driving the Panel. I had become bored with it for awhile, but not now. Maybe I am just more AWARE now of its' pep. But, as I am old-school, I thought maybe that the magic computer and VVT technology (beyond my current expertise) could be the cause. Thanks for the commentary.

 

I would like to issue a public apology to working on it, in addition to the apology that I've already sent by PM.

I am sorry that in my obvious stupidity and naivety, I decided that I knew of a possible cause in relation to the problem described in the initial post. As has been pointed out, I was incorrect in my assumption. For that I am very sorry for any time lost or effort wasted on the part of the OP. I hope you can accept my apology for this error on my part.

 

PM's have been exchanged, and all is OK. No offense was intended and none was taken. I, for one, enjoy 843de's commentary. And will continue to do so.

 

Pretty much on a daily basis, I will be driving along at 70MPH and the car will seem to either jump or studder. I have ASSuME'd that the throttle body needs another good cleaning.