I have the factory remote start on my '07 HHR but it only runs 10 minutes and then the car turns it self off !!! Is there anyway to have a dealer reprogram it to run longer so my car can get warmed up in the morning it's going below zero degress up here tonight in cold Minnesnowta !!!

 

You get two ten minute runs, space them apart and it should be warmed up enough..... There's no way to change this that I've heard of.

 

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Just be happy with the time you do get. Us stick shift folks get NOTHING!!!

 

Guys...guys thanks for the comments but someone on here said on another thread that a lot of the dealer's (not all of 'em) know how to reprogram the auto start to run a full 20 minutes instead of the 2- ten minutes starts just trying to find out if this is true or not having to start the car two times just to get it warmed up is stupid when it could just run 20 minutes and be fully warmed up right ???

 

I guess, but I've never heard of it...... If it was doable, people would know about it as this topic comes up beginning of every winter season. None of the other threads from past years has ever come up with a solution as far as I know.

 

Running it for 20 minutes is just unnecessary, even running it for the ten minute interval is excessive when you get right down to it, just crank it up and let it run a few minutes to defrost the glass and then go. The quickest way to get heat from a car is to drive it.

Have we become such a society of button pushing instant gratification weenies, that we can't stand driving a cold car for a minute or three before the heater starts pumping out warmth?

Inevitably we'll have the first winter post of "I use my remote start to warm up my HHR for the two full cycles every morning and now my gas mileage sucks, what's wrong with this piece of junk?". Hmmmm, let me see here, idling engines get ZERO miles per gallon for a start.

 

Hummm,… it seems to me that my remote start feature runs for more than 10 minutes, when it works at all that is.

For whatever reason it doesn’t always work for me. Sometimes I have to get within a few feet of the car for it to go.

The remote door lock/unlock usually works just fine from a fair distance just not the remote start even when I have new batteries in the key fob.

When I won’t work for me I just open the door and put in the key, start it and sometimes I go back in the house while it runs a bit.

We have had a few nights of really cold weather already. The other night it was 9 degrees above zero, plenty cold enough that I wanted to use the remote start and it worked from inside my house that time.

I’m pretty sure the car ran for at least 15 minutes before I got out to it to leave. It was nice and toasty inside in that time.

 

Hey 843de what kind of weed are you smoking saying warming my car up for 10 minutes is excessive lol ??? Guess you've never been up here to cold Minnesnowta last week it was only 5 degress above zero and with the wind chill it was very balmy -20 below frickin zero so even warming it up for 20 mins. just bareley gets the heat comming out!!!! I could care less about how much fuel it uses sure beat freezing my behind off !!! It's only money I can alway's make more P.s. Oh yeah thanks for all the info on how to program the factory HHR autostart to run 20 mins. you've been a big help LOL !!!

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Gee Dave, lived in Buffalo and Erie, so I understand cold weather. Have you considered a block heater for your HHR, a semi toasty engine makes heat fast, I know because I've used them...see Buffalo and Erie above.

There is no way to reprogram the remote start for an extended run time, can't be done, you get the two ten minute cycles and that's it. You do understand that idling an engine is a poor way to warm it up, compared to just hopping in and driving it. Its like boiling a pot of water over a candle flame, yeah it'll eventually boil, but its more efficient to use a stove.

Try an experiment, tomorrow let your HHR run through the two run cycles and then head off to work, see how fast it makes heat.

Then Tuesday, fire it up, let it run enough to defrost the glass if you keep it outside, then drive to work. I bet you'll find that just by driving gently until the engine is warm will get you more heat faster than letting it idle for 20 minutes.

I'm not trying to pick a fight here, just saying that an engine under load will come up to operating temp faster and thus provide you with more heat when you want it.