Hello All. I am reposting this from an older thread to try to get some help.

I have a 2008 HHR 2LT in Sunburst orange with only 18,000 miles and NO sunroof. It has a rain water leak. It is dripping from the hood release handle on the drivers side kick panel and it is getting my floor a little wet. I have had it to the dealer I bought it from (not Chevrolet) twice now and I have tried to find it myself for about 6 hours one day and many gallons of water. It is scheduled for the third visit this Friday.

I have removed the plastic panel by the door on the side of the dash and have determined the water is coming in here somewhere. It is saturating the dense foam between the dash and the side wall and eventually dripping from this foam onto the hood release handle then to the floor. I can get my hand up so far as to tell the foam is dry up above where the wiring harness goes out to the door.

The first visit to the dealer the "water leak guy" sealed the upper part of the rubber boot for the wire harness to the door and the seam on top of the fender where the door and hood meet. Still leaks.
The second visit the guy sealed around the edge of the windshield and for some reason sealed the roof seem above the rear side window. Still leaks.

I have read some of you have had the dash out to seal the correct places where water is coming in and I hope it is not the same leak for me because I am afraid the "water guy" will not go that far to fix it being he does not work for a Chevy dealership, he is a subcontractor the Dodge dealership uses.

By the way, the 3/36 warranty ran out the week I bought the car and I didn't find a leak until 2 weeks later when it started raining.

If they can't find the leak Friday I am going to take matters into my own hands and tear into the car. I plan on taking the fromt fender off and checking those seams. If I need to rip into the dash Does anyone have the procedure and diagrams to do this? And do any of you out there have this same leak? I have stopped at the Chvy dealer and he said there are no recalls for my car and he was unaware of any water leak problems. I find this hard to beleive.

I really love this car and do not want to force them to take it back.

Thanks for any input,
Jim

 

Sorry I can't help out on how to take that stuff apart, but can offer this: I have found baby powder very handy in the past for tracing water leaks - just "puff" it from the container onto the dry surfaces near where you think the water leak is occurring, and then wet the area. The leaking water will leave trails in the baby powder and help pinpoint the source of the leak.

Being the leak sounds like it is up under the dash or wherever, it may not work for you to get the power up into the right area. However putting some powder in a thin rubber hose (like rad overflow hose, or windhield washer hose) and blowing on the end of the hose might work to get the powder up where is needed.

Best of luck.

 

Thanks for the info. She is in the shop right now getting looked at. Who knows where they will put silicone this time.

 

If that's the case, its under bumper to bumper warranty right? Couldn't you take it to a Chevy dealership and have it looked at?

 

It's up already....

He said"By the way, the 3/36 warranty ran out the week I bought the car and I didn't find a leak until 2 weeks later when it started raining."

 

Yeah, the bumper to bumper warranty is expired due to 36 months since purchasing. It still has the 5/100 drivetrain warranty but I almost bet it won't be covered. If it still leaks after today,maybe I will call a Chevy dealer before I tear into it again myself. There is just no room to crawl up under that dash. My hands and arms are still healing form the cuts and scrapes from the last time i was looking for the leak.

 

UPDATE:
Well, they didn't fix it again. They got it to leak after it sat about 1/2 hour. so what they want to do now is take the windshield out and re-seal it next Wednesday. I am going to let them do it and hope for the best.
I am still looking for the procedure and pictures or diagrams on how to remove the dash in case it comes to that. Does anyone on here have a shop manual or something that I could get some copies from?

 

Hello all,
I should have posted this a few months ago but time slips away.
The water leak is fixed. After several trips to the Dodge dealer (see previous posts), the service manager finally decided to just pop the window and try with a new seal. Pulling the windshield out broke it which is very common I guess. They had a spare ready and when putting it back in, he noticed there are two seams that are visible without the windhield in that appeared like they were missed at the factory so he sealed the seams up. He also used extra sealant during the install because he new we had a leak. It hasn't leaked since. I am so happy.

On a side note, I have a 2.4 liter and have gotten as bad as 22 mpg and the best is 26 mpg if I baby the heck out of it and drive like an old lady (no offense unless you are in front of me). Does anyone else have the same mileage or has anyone done any mods to improve it to get 30 mpg. I thought I read that this what some were getting and I just can't figure out how.

 

On the side note.....

Try premium and watch it improve. I'm getting 28-31 MPG, average, in my 2'4L.... 32+ if all highway @ around 55-65 MPH... it goes down above 70 or so. I also added a GMPP intake and Trifecta tune but was seeing comparable numbers, about 27-30, with just the 93 octane alone. You may have to give it a few tanks to get an accurate average, depending on driving style it should increase.

On the main topic.... glad they found the leak and fixed you up.

 

Glad they got you sealed up, I'd been wondering how you were making out.