Sorry for the long post, but I’m trying to list everything I know and did to resolve my problem.

I’m looking for some help for my daughter who is away at college. She has a 2009 HHR 2.2L maybe 40K miles. Sometimes when she drives the gages go to zero briefly. Sometimes they go to zero for a longer time and then the radio shuts off too. She noticed it more when the AC or heat is on and the fan is on high. The engine operation was not affected.

Two weeks ago, I went up to work on it. This would occur for me and happen quickly, perhaps in less than ¼ mile. It kinda looked to me like communications to the BCM was lost and then re-established. It seemed to happen more with the fan on high, the turn signal was used, or I could see the auto tranny **** gears.

I pulled the connectors off the BCM, sprayed contact cleaner and reseated them several times. Same problem. I took it for a drive while I wiggled one of the connectors on the BCM and it seemed to hiccup occasionally but I couldn’t reliably repeat it.

I read where a person had an issue with the OBD-2 connector wires chafing on a sharp edge. I felt under the dash near the OBD connector, I could feel the sharp edges, but the wires had plenty of clearance to the edges.

I separated the enginebay fusebox top from connectors and sprayed contact cleaner on the connections (which looked good before the cleaner). I cycled the connectors off & on in an attempt to remove something I couldn’t see. I made sure all the fuses were seated and pulled and reseated the two BCM fuses. It worked great after this.

About two weeks later it started happening again with only two brief episodes yesterday. It seems to happen when heavy loads are being used like running the AC with the fan on high. My daughter had the vent recir on which may be (????) changing the local air temp for the BCM

When I reseated the fusebox connectors and things worked fine, I thought perhaps there is some voltage droop with the heavy loads creating an issue for the BCM or there was a momentary interruption of power cause the BCM to reset.

The ignition key recall was done well over a year ago along with the power steering motor recall.

I replaced the battery a few months ago.

I have HPTuners so I can scan for codes, but the check engine light never came on. I recognize there can still be some codes stored.

Since she is away at school, and I can’t just run to the driveway to test different things. I’m asking for suggestions to try for my next trip up to see her. Any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

 

Have her go down to the local parts house and get a free battery test and charging system test.

 

Can't hurt - I'll give it a shot. Thanks

 

Sound like there is bad connection on the bottom of the under hood fuse box or one of the other connectors you inadvertently jiggled.

Then there is that famous wire that gets frayed on the EVAP purge valve bracket.

 

Interesting - I just searched for the canister purge solenoid chaffing. I will check this - thanks.

I'll have to wiggle the fusebox cabling to see if I can make the issue happen.

 

And inspect all ground wires for clean tight connections

https://www.chevyhhr.net/forums/how-...cations-56504/

But I’m thinking dead or dying battery or charging system, alternator

 

 

The battery is a few months old. So it may be the alternator. I think I'll get the alternator and battery tested. I've been reading & watching videos for alternator replacement.

I need to check grounds too like you said.

Thanks

 

Thanks for posting. That's the purge solenoid bracket that can rub on the harness I need to check.

 

My daughter brought the car home today. On her way home, it acted up 4 times. Three were quick blips and 1 was longer. Engine ran fine. After she came home, she took the car to the store, and it ran fine to the store. However, it wouldn’t start on the way home. She turned the key and the dash came on, but no solenoid click. It eventually started and she made it home (5-10 minute drive).

When she got home, I had her keep the car running, and I looked at the dash and it was dead for many seconds, and eventually came back to life.

I looked quickly for the chaffing wire locations and did see and contact, but I have to inspect more.

I measured the charging voltage it was 14.9 – 15.0 volts (at the engine fuse box) which I thought was high. I cycled the AC and other loads and the voltage didn’t change. With the car off, the battery voltage was about 12.6 volts.

I have a new alternator, serpentine belt tool, and belt, and I plan on changing the alternator tomorrow morning.

Does this additional info change anyone’s mind or make you think there is another issue?

She is going back to school tomorrow afternoon, so I only have a small window to work on this.