Hello I was wondering if anyone could help me with my problem. I have a 2009 with 60000 miles w/ 2.2. At idle the engine misses fairly bad at times. If I power brake it slowly it will get worse. As I am driving there is no misfire and runs fine. I was thinking a plug-wire but from reading some of the threads it could also be an injector. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. It also has original plugs and wires. I know the plugs are 100000k but that doesn't mean they go that long.
Thanks

 

First step is to take it to an Autozone or someplace like it to have the codes pulled, since its misfiring you will have a code or codes set. Most auto parts stores will pull the codes for free and provide you with a printout of the code numbers and possible causes.

You may need plugs, but 60,000 is a bit early for them to fail. There are no plug wires on an HHR, each plug has its own individual coil located directly above it. You may have a failing injector or other issue which is why I recommend having the codes retrieved. Once you get that done, update us on what turned up and you can get some pointers on what to check.

 

Thank You will do I will get back to you

 

I had a similar problem with the 2.4 in my saturn vue. I changed the plugs and boots and the problem went away.

 

I had a misfire on cylinder 1 but I could not feel it at idle or driving. It was setting off my check engine light though. It ended up being a burnt valve. They had to rework the head, but it is running great now.

 

If you check your codes, check them with a live data scanner under the exact condition that you experience the misfire. My '98 GMC had a misfire for the past year only at idle with the A/C on (600 rpm). No misfire with A/C off at idle (650-700 rpm). I had the codes cleared twice before, and only found the problem with a high-dollar Snap-On scanner last weekend. A Bosch single-platinum would misfire under the first-mentioned condition, but no other. Changed that plug from #6 to #4 and the misfire went there. Problem went away with a new (used) plug. The misfire was setting o2 and mixture-rich codes also. One week later, no new codes!

 

At how many miles was this, what type engine and what year HHR?
Thanks.

 

This was in my 2009 with 180,000 miles on the 2.2 engine. That has been the only problem with the engine so far.