Guess I need to apologize for laughing then.

 

You don't need to apologize we get through it, somehow

We'll only have the white turd for about 60 more hours or so.

 

your caliber rode like a shoe, mine smelled like one.

 

As some of you may know, we had lots of problems with our poor little HHR "after" Midway Chevrolet changed the oil for the first time. In Montana we were given a Chevy Equinox to use for the week+ while our car was in the shop. Can't really complain, it was a nice little car, lots of pep, and plenty of room and the air conditioner worked great!

Downside was that after big repairs, they did NOT get the problem fixed, so we had to drive the car home and let the folks at Midway make an attempt to fix the problem brought about by whatever they did to it when they changed the oil. Three weeks+ later, we FINALLY got our little HHR back. During that time the loaner we had was an Oldsmobile, lots of pep, but a gas hog, and very hot. Yep, I know we live in Arizona where it's hot, but our HHR does NOT feel that hot when we get in, that Olds got really hot inside while we were out and the air conditioner didn't cool things off in the time it took to get from any store to our house. Hubby was about to take the loaner back and ask for a different car.

Just really glad to have our little HHR home!

 

What problem did the oil change cause?

 

We sure don't know how they could mess up an oil change, we bought the car the last day of March, bought it brand new, and it ran great! Under three thousand miles, we took it in for an oil change as we'd be going on vacation and thought it would be a good idea.

Got it back from the oil change and it was making a ticking noise, then the ticking went away when hubby took the car back the very next week to have a roof rack put on. Left on vacation a couple days after that and it started ticking on and off, so that by the time we got to Montana, it was sounding really bad. It was doing a good imitation of a diesel truck. We left it at a chevy dealer in Kalispell MT where they said it would need a new camshaft and some valve work. Told us to pick it up Friday of that week, Friday they said pick it up Monday, Monday they said pick it up Wednesday but wait till late, towards the end of the day as it was a big job. The place closed up while we were transfering our stuff from the loaner to our car. Got a block and a half away when we heard it making the very same ticking noise we took it in for.

Took it back first thing in the morning, and they said. "gee, it's still making that noise!" This after all the work they did. They did tell us that they found a chunk missing from the camshaft and some kind of dent in it in the first place. In any case they looked it over and told us to just go ahead and drive it home as it was and let chevy in Phoenix worry about it.

Coming through Utah a new problem started up, the air conditioner quits blowing cold air and starts blasting very hot air.

Took it to Midway here in Phoenix, not the dealership where we bought it, and they had it over three weeks. Every week when hubby went to check on the progress, or when he'd call, they didn't seem to know anything about it. No one contacted us as to whether they were or were not working on it. After three weeks went by hubby actually called a lawyer to check on the lemon law. As luck should have it, our dealership happened to call right about that time to see how we are enjoying our HHR, and we told them why we're not, and they said someone would call, but that person has yet to contact us. One of the salesmen did call from our dealership where we bought the car and told us to bring the car down when we got it back and we'd go over it.

We are happy to finally get our car back and it seems to be running well now, although when hubby picked it up the air conditioner started blasting out hot air, and he turned right around and took it back in. They told him that the HHR does this to get rid of the condensation so we don't get that musty damp smell cars can get. Now, are we supposed to really believe this? Since then it's happened to both of us, and it's happened to me as well and we can't get the air conditioner to blow cold air. When it was working well, we had no problem with the air, it blew really nice cold air. The air conditioner will be the next thing we go in for, but it won't be to Midway, we'll take it back to the dealer where we bought it.

The bottom line is that while it can be a bummer to have problems with a brand new car, we can understand that even with a new car there might be some bugs that need to be worked off. What bothered us is the fact that they try to find someone to blame, and they don't at least contact you to let you know at what, if any stage, any work is being done.

We still love our little HHR and look forward to enjoying it for a long time. We'd sure hate to replace it because, as it stands the way Chevy has acted in this case, we'd most likely get a Honda or Toyota, at this stage of the game.

 

Man, it almost sounds like they dropped some object into the oil fill port and it moved around and began slowly damaging your valvetrain. Either that or your valvetrain had a defect that was going to exhibit itself regardless and the oil change visit was only a coincidental occurence within the time frame of valvetrain events that would have played out anyhow.

I would initiate Lemon Law buyback if I could.

 

I don't mean to keep beating the same drum, but the dealers are to blame not the manufacturer. It absolutley blows me away the number of people that receive bad service at dealerships.

Hopefully all will be well with your HHR.

 

I agree, GM's biggest problem is their service departments.