donbrew

Take a look at the wiring harness seals on the door, Some have experienced leakage there. If you got a sunroof check the drains.

MrCatPC

I will check all other entry points for the water intrusion, to be sure, but mine is definitely the butyl patch seal. I took photos after lifting the wiper cowl: my trusted dealership service dept did me wrong, quick & dirty caulk job on the new butyl patch, not at all the recommended sealing process, so I'm disappointed for 3 reasons:

1. I didn't do the initial repair myself, like ChevyMgr suggested.
2. I didn't inspect the dealership repair after it appeared successful from that day til this month.
3. This 2006 HHR issue will reoccur even after I visit the dealership to give them opportunity to make this right.

I'd like to say I'll continue trusting this dealership, since I've been loyal to them for the duration of my warranty and service plan, but IF I look back & take critical stock, this makes more than 3 strikes against their exclusive repair & maintenance of my car...

Coincidentally, I was going to use silicone caulk to temporarily seal around the edges of this butyl patch replacement until I laid eyes upon the mess of it already applied by the dealership service tech. So instead I used the leftovers from a Duck brand window film kit to quarantine the leaky patch with double-stick tape. Having taken the pictures I'm glad I thought twice about using more sealant before the service manager sees it. I'll post the photos here if anyone thinks they're worth sharing for morbid horror-show educational purposes... "Little shop, little shop of horrors"

ADDED 8 photos to my gallery, but not posted here. Will start new thread on this topic if requested to post photos. Thanks!

Alvis

To MrCatPC and anyone else with a 2007 HHR like mine,

If you are into the DIY fix far enough to see the foot-long butyl patch over the cavity in the cowl, then DO NOT merely seal the patch with goop and/or duct tape. DO take the time to peel back the butyl patch and CLEAN OUT the DEBRIS that is probably blocking the water drain hole to the pass-side wheel well. I replaced my butyl patch with a home-made aluminum patch and silicone sealant. See my two posts on the "butyl patch" thread.

BTW, the reason I'm on this site today is to get educated on fixing my HVAC blower motor problem. It runs on high speed w/o noise, but does not run at all at the lower speed settings. I wonder if my current problem was caused by my water leak a couple of months ago.

Alvis

donbrew

Yes, and it is the resistor pack that needs to be replaced.

firemangeorge

Donbrew beat me to it.
It's the resistor pack as he stated.

Alvis

Thanks, donbrew and firemangeorge! Alvis

MrCatPC

Thanks all! I did dig down there at the time & my 2006 is hollow pretty much from the firewall to the engine rear, such that I can see the open air inlet on passenger side from driver side hood hingepoint once the wiper cowl was removed. No debris this time in there upon inspection & no junk in the cabin air filter compartment, other than soaked air filter, which became junk...

I did remove the white caulk gooped roughly along the seal (on/under the edges of the patch) to smooth out the new black silicone seal and patch, but this time my replacement patch circa Nov 2011 was not cracked or warped, so I kept it for now.

Here's what happens in my case: heavy rain at the proper angle floods the lower edge of windshield and pools under the plastic wiper cowl. If the seal is sound on the infamous patch, no problem with water channeling out of the engine compartment. But if the patch is warped or sealant is compromised then water drains down behind the firewall and likely pours directly into the cabin air inlet on passenger side. Then water soaks into the cabin air filter, spills into the blower motor below it, and along the passenger foot well carpet behind the glovebox. The HVAC Blower Motor Resistor plugs into a socket near the passenger floor heater vent & foot well carpet at the rear left corner of the glovebox, catching water running back out from the cabin air filter overflow or directly from what pours through the air inlet. There's a foam rubber seal around the base of the resistor but that's apparently made for dust/humidity protection, not flood control. The resistor plugs up into a vertical socket for the blower motor power circuit, secured with two hex bolt screws. When the resistor fails then you probably get what I do: fan speeds 1-3 are off, fan speed 4 is full on blast no problem, and of course speed 0 is still "off" as it should be, as in turning the fan knob yields off-off-off-off-HI...

I keep a spare resistor in the car. I've wondered about relocating the socket for it or simply wrapping it up, resistor and all, in saran-wrap or heat-shrink vinyl to keep it sealed from water, but not sure if that would be a fire hazard. The circuit control chip on the resistor actually "pops" on one corner from what I've seen on the failed ones, from rectangle to rectangle with a bursted corner.

For that matter I even have a spare blower motor (parts pull from local recycling yard) tucked away in the trunk by the battery & spare tire for the day it fails, and that will be big fun to replace! (:K

Aluminum patch goes in next time! I'm sold on that.