How did you get it programmed and then relearn the crankshaft sensor?

 

I bought a new one from the dealership, installed it myself in one of their service bays, and then one of their techs did the programming. I think the crankshaft relearn is in the ECM.

 

I just wanted to close this out. About 2 days later after I replaced the BCM, the problem came back. I picked up the car from my daughter and worked on it again. I pulled the IP to see if a problem there could be the issue – didn’t help. I noticed that when I hit one spot in the road the problem would happen maybe 30% of the time and it seemed like it could be temperature related (e.g., happens when the car transitions to normal temperature, but not after that). I felt like there was an issue with the power to the BCM. (The BCM didn’t have any codes so either it was a bad BCM or intermittent power.) I decided to wire tie all of the cables together and to the body so the fuse box and the cables moved together. Cables that went to the engine were wire tied to a mount on the engine. This helped a lot, but sometimes going around a right bend, caused the problem to resurface.

I felt the issue was the poor connection in the fuse box pins and the lower connectors caused the sockets in the lower connectors to heatup and permanently lose their ability to apply tension to the pins. Retightening the loosing the fusebox only aggravated the situation by causing sockets to open further.

I didn’t feel like buying a new wiring harness or replacing the connectors. I didn’t feel like snipping each wire back and re-terminating with a socket to be inserted into the connector.

I decided to trade the car in on a new car. They gave me the KBB trade in for an excellent shape HHR.

I’m just trying to provide extra info and some closing thoughts in case someone else has this same issue.

 

Seems Donbrew nailed it in post#4. Enjoy that new ride!

 

Could just repair the pins. Just like the TSB says.
http://www.angelfire.com/co/ladyjarr...-08-45-003.pdf

Here is a youtube:
But, you seem to want to overthink everything.

 

Wow, all that work, just to unload it. And you never did get the battery tested?

 

I guess - this was my last guess. The core material for the sockets and pins is copper. I felt the heat from the poor connection could have caused the socket to lose tension and coupled with the unrestrained cables made the situation worse. Just a guess though.

 

I saw that video. I watched it several times.

1) You can loosen the screws on top and push the screws down to push the connector away from the bottom of the fusebox. Then re-tighten the screws to re-seat the connector. Doing this several times will help clean the contacts without taking the fusebox apart.

2) You shouldn't use dielectric grease. I used contact cleaner.

3) The snapping the person heard was when the connectors got pulled from their seat in the base of the fusebox.

4) The person's problem came back after doing this.

I can't access the TSB from work, but my pins were OK. I was questioning the socket integrity. In order to change the socket, you need an extraction tool, you need new sockets, a crimp tool, and you need extra wire length. If this was a socket material issue, you should change all of the sockets in each connector. I chose not to.

Don't appreciate the overthink comment, but oh well.

 

I never did get the battery tested. The battery was only a few months old. Doesn't mean it couldn't be bad, but less likely. I had voltage monitor on to see if the voltage dipped due to a bad alternator or battery cell issue and didn't see any dips.

Unloading the car - I had to make a choice. My daughter has 4 years of medical school and then has 4 years of residency. She needed a reliable vehicle. I knew the HHR would not last another 8 years. So, I pulled the trigger sooner than expected.

 

Remember, new doesnt always equal reliable.