Yesterday I went to the car wash and vacuumed out the car. While doing this, from above the drivers side above where your left foot would be, a small blue jumper fell down. I had the car running at this time so I didn’t think too much of it. I went and ran some errands and I never turn the ignition off so the car was still running. About an hour later I was picking up my daughter and I was early so I turned the ignition off. When I went to start it it would not start. The headlights came on and all the dash lights lit up and then they went off.

i am not the original owner. When purchased I received one key; no fob. I don’t know where this jumper came out of or what someone was bypassing and I really need some help. Does anyone have any idea how I can get my car running again?

This is the jumper that fell to the floor mat while vacuuming.

Just a, not so good, photo under the dash on the drivers side

 

Welcome to the site, that blue wire doesn’t appear to be any part of the factory wiring harness, perhaps a PO installed an alarm or remote starter and without having hands on it, that would be my best guess.

 

The red, black and pink wires in the second pic seem to be added on. Note the split sheath. You need to find some cut and/or spliced wires to find out the function of the jumper.

Do you mean the starter does not turn or it turns but does not start.

 

I agree must be some add on remote start or alarm. Thats probably why you don't have a Factory key FOB.

 

I have to say that I am a female with no mechanical experience. To start the car the ignition key stop 2 or 3 times before trying to turn it on. The first one or two (there’s a little glitch there) nothing happens. At the last before turning to start it all the dash lights come on and then when I turn the key to start it the dash lights go away; no sound heard.

 

Also, is it normal to be able to switch the gear **** without the key in the ignition?

 

Almost sounds like a dead battery. Have you tried jump-starting it with another vehicle? Have you checked the status of the battery for it's charge capacity and voltage? Pretty much any autoparts store can check it for you for free.

How long have you had the car, and how many miles on it? A bit of history helps.

 

Does this car have an automatic or a manual transmission?

Have the ignition related recalls been performed? Check your recall status here https://my.chevrolet.com/recalls

 

You will need to find a trustworthy mechanic... That wire "jumper" is not factory so we can't tell you where it goes.

If this is a recent purchase the place you got it from may have done a patchup wiring deal just to make it start and run. They should be responsible for making it correct.

They likely got it from an auto auction, removed some aftermarket system, had a key made and sold you the car... That's just bad business.

 

Could be one of those lease distance kill box things , to stop you from going out of state.
from the sound of things from your explanation of starting your HHR. Something is definitely wrong with the wiring .
and male our female is irrelevant , this should not have been sold to you in this condition.
If you recently purchased the HHR , you could take it to them, my experience tells me , they won’t fix it or they will try and mess it up even worse.
Do you have a reliable mechanic you deal with?