Stereo problems
07-25-2011, 12:07 AM
#11
Senior Member
Join Date: 12-11-2007
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 106
The reason I wanted to use it in the garage is, I currently do not have any kind of stereo lashed up out there. I had a Clarion AM/FM/CD player out there for a while but while I was messing around with the radio in the HHR I bought a dual DIN mount kit and the proper wiring harness to put the Clarion in the dash of the HHR.
That stereo worked just fine but there were no chimes at all and my wife threw a fit that they were not working. I can see her point, sort of, I mean how would she ever know she was getting low in gasoline if the chime did not go off?
I suppose I can just lash up the Clarion in the garage again the speakers and power supply are still in place. I just thought having the newer radio out there would be nice. I already pinned together a nice little box for it to live in and all.
From the e-mail I got from Chevrolet it seems that my local dealer just did not know how to put the right VIN number code in the radio. They said any stereo from any year HHR should be able to be programmed no matter what BCM is in the vehicle.
But not even GM seems to know of anywhere that I could send the original 6 disk changer to be repaired. They suggested I look for a stereo shop locally.
That stereo worked just fine but there were no chimes at all and my wife threw a fit that they were not working. I can see her point, sort of, I mean how would she ever know she was getting low in gasoline if the chime did not go off?
I suppose I can just lash up the Clarion in the garage again the speakers and power supply are still in place. I just thought having the newer radio out there would be nice. I already pinned together a nice little box for it to live in and all.
From the e-mail I got from Chevrolet it seems that my local dealer just did not know how to put the right VIN number code in the radio. They said any stereo from any year HHR should be able to be programmed no matter what BCM is in the vehicle.
But not even GM seems to know of anywhere that I could send the original 6 disk changer to be repaired. They suggested I look for a stereo shop locally.
07-25-2011, 08:08 AM
#12
Join Date: 06-19-2011
Location: Ottawa ON
Posts: 9
WARNING, the following is meant as INFORMATION only! If you proceed you do so at YOUR OWN RISK. The author does NOT take any RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR ACTIONS or for any LOSS or DAMAGE. DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME, HAVE A PROFESSIONAL TECHNICIAN DO THE REPAIRS FOR YOU. <<<<< DISCLAIMER >>>>>
Ok....if you look at the radio from the front, the left side of the radio has a heat sink. Near the rear bottom of that is where the audio out IC is. To remove this you will have to remove the top plate first. Remove the 4 screws on the sides of the front bezel, gently lift the tabs of the bezel while pulling forward evenly. Once that is off, there are 2 screws on the front and 2 screws in the rear for the cd mechinism. Once you have these out, gently lift the cd mechinism up but be carefull as there is a flat ribbon connector going from the cd mechinism to the main board. You will have to remove the ribbon connector from the main board. Some are just pushed in, some have a tiny plastic lock mechinism that must be disengaged before connector can be removed. Most of these either flip up or back, but careful as these snap and break quite easily. Once you have this out remove the 2 screws on left lower that secure the bracket that holds the audio IC to the heatsink. Now see if you can read any numbers off the face of the IC. You may have to wipe off heatsink compound to do this. Once you have this, you can check around with some electronic parts places to see if this part number is a good one or you can check with an EGC semiconductor cross refrence manual and you might be able to sub it with an aftermarket chip. If you can't get a good visual, remove the screws holding the pcb board in place as well as 2 forward lower screws(one on each side) and lift out the board. You can see hwere the IC is mounted to the board. You will need a pencil soldering iron and solderwick to remove the solder from the pcb and the legs of the chip. It may be a double sided board which makes it more difficult. Just reverse the above to put radio back together.
WARNING, the ABOVE is meant as INFORMATION only! If you proceed you do so at YOUR OWN RISK. The author does NOT take any RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR ACTIONS or for any LOSS or DAMAGE. DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME, HAVE A PROFESSIONAL TECHNICIAN DO THE REPAIRS FOR YOU. <<<<< DISCLAIMER >>>>>
Ok....if you look at the radio from the front, the left side of the radio has a heat sink. Near the rear bottom of that is where the audio out IC is. To remove this you will have to remove the top plate first. Remove the 4 screws on the sides of the front bezel, gently lift the tabs of the bezel while pulling forward evenly. Once that is off, there are 2 screws on the front and 2 screws in the rear for the cd mechinism. Once you have these out, gently lift the cd mechinism up but be carefull as there is a flat ribbon connector going from the cd mechinism to the main board. You will have to remove the ribbon connector from the main board. Some are just pushed in, some have a tiny plastic lock mechinism that must be disengaged before connector can be removed. Most of these either flip up or back, but careful as these snap and break quite easily. Once you have this out remove the 2 screws on left lower that secure the bracket that holds the audio IC to the heatsink. Now see if you can read any numbers off the face of the IC. You may have to wipe off heatsink compound to do this. Once you have this, you can check around with some electronic parts places to see if this part number is a good one or you can check with an EGC semiconductor cross refrence manual and you might be able to sub it with an aftermarket chip. If you can't get a good visual, remove the screws holding the pcb board in place as well as 2 forward lower screws(one on each side) and lift out the board. You can see hwere the IC is mounted to the board. You will need a pencil soldering iron and solderwick to remove the solder from the pcb and the legs of the chip. It may be a double sided board which makes it more difficult. Just reverse the above to put radio back together.
WARNING, the ABOVE is meant as INFORMATION only! If you proceed you do so at YOUR OWN RISK. The author does NOT take any RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR ACTIONS or for any LOSS or DAMAGE. DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME, HAVE A PROFESSIONAL TECHNICIAN DO THE REPAIRS FOR YOU. <<<<< DISCLAIMER >>>>>
09-27-2011, 03:08 AM
#13
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: 06-20-2011
Location: Savanna Illinois
Posts: 737
Ok, so some time has passed and it has been discovered that the real problem with my original stereo was that the speakers on the drivers side both front and rear were bad.
I did a temporary fix by lavishly dousing them with WD-40 then playing them at max angst for some time. They seemed to be responding to the therapy pretty well but after letting the buggy sit for a few days in the heat {just didn’t need to go anywhere} the front speaker stopped working again.
So, I dug around in my big box of speakers and found a pair of Bose infinity three speakers from another car I owned in the past and hooked them to the radio in the HHR.
They seemed to play nicely but as you know the stock speakers are mounted in a funny shaped bit of plastic so I had to do some hole filling to make them mountable.
I thought for a while about digging the original speakers out of the funny shaped plastic and sticking the replacement ones in, but since I had some nice plastic sheeting left over from my router table project I used that instead.
Now the back speaker on the drivers side is acting up again so I may end up replacing those too.
I did a temporary fix by lavishly dousing them with WD-40 then playing them at max angst for some time. They seemed to be responding to the therapy pretty well but after letting the buggy sit for a few days in the heat {just didn’t need to go anywhere} the front speaker stopped working again.
So, I dug around in my big box of speakers and found a pair of Bose infinity three speakers from another car I owned in the past and hooked them to the radio in the HHR.
They seemed to play nicely but as you know the stock speakers are mounted in a funny shaped bit of plastic so I had to do some hole filling to make them mountable.
I thought for a while about digging the original speakers out of the funny shaped plastic and sticking the replacement ones in, but since I had some nice plastic sheeting left over from my router table project I used that instead.
Now the back speaker on the drivers side is acting up again so I may end up replacing those too.
09-27-2011, 03:08 AM
#14
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: 06-20-2011
Location: Savanna Illinois
Posts: 737
Ok, so some time has passed and it has been discovered that the real problem with my original stereo was that the speakers on the drivers side both front and rear were bad.
I did a temporary fix by lavishly dousing them with WD-40 then playing them at max angst for some time. They seemed to be responding to the therapy pretty well but after letting the buggy sit for a few days in the heat {just didn’t need to go anywhere} the front speaker stopped working again.
So, I dug around in my big box of speakers and found a pair of Bose infinity three way speakers from another car I owned in the past and hooked them to the radio in the HHR.
They seemed to play nicely but as you know the stock speakers are mounted in a funny shaped bit of plastic so I had to do some hole filling to make them mountable.
I thought for a while about digging the original speakers out of the funny shaped plastic and sticking the replacement ones in, but since I had some nice plastic sheeting left over from my router table project I used that instead.
Now the back speaker on the drivers side is acting up again so I may end up replacing those too.
I did a temporary fix by lavishly dousing them with WD-40 then playing them at max angst for some time. They seemed to be responding to the therapy pretty well but after letting the buggy sit for a few days in the heat {just didn’t need to go anywhere} the front speaker stopped working again.
So, I dug around in my big box of speakers and found a pair of Bose infinity three way speakers from another car I owned in the past and hooked them to the radio in the HHR.
They seemed to play nicely but as you know the stock speakers are mounted in a funny shaped bit of plastic so I had to do some hole filling to make them mountable.
I thought for a while about digging the original speakers out of the funny shaped plastic and sticking the replacement ones in, but since I had some nice plastic sheeting left over from my router table project I used that instead.
Now the back speaker on the drivers side is acting up again so I may end up replacing those too.
10-12-2011, 09:04 AM
#15
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: 06-20-2011
Location: Savanna Illinois
Posts: 737
The strangest thing with the speakers in my car is they worked just fine while I had the Clarion in dash. After the dealer could not get the replacement HHR stereo to work because they said the BCM was incompatible with the replacement stereo so I put the Clarion back in.
After a while the drivers side speakers stopped working again so I put a different pair of three way Infinity speakers in the front doors moved the passenger side front speaker to the drivers side rear and left the passenger side rear alone and put the original HHR stereo back in dash and everything seems to be working fine again.
But,… I hooked he clarion up on my test bench with the supposedly dead drivers side speakers and they have not failed since. Every time I turn the Clarion on both speakers play just fine.
Maybe the WD-40 has finally worked its way in to where I really needed it?
I’m thinking about building some nice ported cabinets for them now.
After a while the drivers side speakers stopped working again so I put a different pair of three way Infinity speakers in the front doors moved the passenger side front speaker to the drivers side rear and left the passenger side rear alone and put the original HHR stereo back in dash and everything seems to be working fine again.
But,… I hooked he clarion up on my test bench with the supposedly dead drivers side speakers and they have not failed since. Every time I turn the Clarion on both speakers play just fine.
Maybe the WD-40 has finally worked its way in to where I really needed it?
I’m thinking about building some nice ported cabinets for them now.
10-12-2011, 08:54 PM
#16
Join Date: 10-06-2011
Location: Niagara Falls
Posts: 1
2008 HHR Same problem
I have the same problem and added 2 external speakers and then wired them to the harness in the vehicle. My stock speakers only work when the temperature outside is above 75 degs F. Strange. Next step is to pull a door panel and check one speaker. I can't believe all 4 speakers are shot............Tweeters suck when the rest are dead. Did you find the problem ?
11-05-2011, 06:09 PM
#17
Senior Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: 06-20-2011
Location: Savanna Illinois
Posts: 737
And now for an update. The original rear speaker that had been working fine all this time has stopped working.
The original front door speaker that was relocated to the drivers side rear was still working but, a pair of the cheapest 8 ohm speakers from Wal-mart now live in the rear doors.
It may not have the best sound system ever to be in an HHR but its nice to have all the speakers going again.
The original front door speaker that was relocated to the drivers side rear was still working but, a pair of the cheapest 8 ohm speakers from Wal-mart now live in the rear doors.
It may not have the best sound system ever to be in an HHR but its nice to have all the speakers going again.
08-18-2013, 11:04 PM
#20
Member
Join Date: 04-18-2013
Location: Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Posts: 63
Ok guys, not trying to be rude, but the stock speakers are all 4 ohm impedence and on some models, the tweeters are not wired in "stereo". My 08 hhr seemed to suffer from low volume and after some checking, I found that all of the speakers had been replaced with cheap 8 ohm drivers. I put in all American Bass 6.5" 4ohm speakers and voila! Volume was back and sound was beautiful again. Hope this helps some people