Was at the store and after starting engine several times, each time it would die with a screech after a few seconds. After turning off A/C the engine would run, but message "Check charging system" came up. Wouldn't you know, the warranty expired in March.

Went ASAP to Chevy dealer. Guy said yea it's probably the compressor, but since you only have 18,000 miles on a 2006 (edited from 2009), I think I can get Chevy to help you out on the repair. Cool! I hope he can cut me some kind of deal. He seemed pretty sure about it. Otherwise it'll be $800 - $900.

 

Sounds like the clutch on the compressor locked up... That would be pretty cool if they could at least help with the cost of replacement

 

Ummm, an '09 with 18K is under warranty. No charge to you at all.

 

That's what I was thinking.

 

Oh sorry I meant 2006.

Does anyone know how much engine stuff has to be taken off to replace the compressor?

 

Makes sense now. PM sent.

 

Don't know for sure, but just from looking, things are pretty tight under the hood. My guess, only a guess, would be changing out the AC compressor would be very labor intensive.

 

The dealer replaced the A/C compressor back on Aug. 5th on our '06.
It was working fine, but it had an annoying "Whine". We opted for an extended warranty back when we bought the HHR four years ago. (Thank God!) So, it didn't cost us anything. The invoice shows the labor cost as $160.14. Parts as $640.36. And $50.49 tax.
And the replacement compressor, in our case anyway, comes with a Lifetime replacement warranty, as long as we own the car!

 

What's the name of the warranty company? I was looking into all of them this morning and found most of the ones I looked at had gazillions of complaints. U.S. Fidelis even had class action lawsuits going on.

 

The GMPP, General Motors Protection Plan, is a great warranty.