Thought I would give folks a look at my day yesterday, to see if anybody can learn from my experience. I have owned a 2006 HHR since new. Has just over 40,000 miles on it now. Yesterday I went out to my car after a 10 hour day at work. I own a small electric cooler that I usually leave plugged in for just 4 hours a day, until I eat my lunch. Well, I forgot to unplug it after lunch, so it ran for that full 10 hours. When I got in the car, I noticed right off that I had no power. So I knew I needed a jump, or the battery needed charging. I tried the jump first, but the cables available were not very good. Light gage, cheap clamps. Bargain basement variety. Still, I noticed as soon as we hooked up, that the lights all came on, the radio, electric windows, all began working like nothing was wrong. But as soon as I turned the key to start, everything would go dark, and I would get nothing. Not even a click. (I would have tried the remote start, but my key fob quit working a little while back, had the loose battery problem, and I never got it replaced before the Warranty expired.) I figured the battery must be pretty dead to act like that. So we disconnected the cables and I dragged out the battery charger that the company I work for owns and a hundred feet of extension cord. I hooked up, and let it go for about 15 mins at 40 amps. I tried again to start. Exact thing happened. I continued to let it charge, attempting to start about every 10 minutes. After about 2 hours, I grabbed the electronic battery analyzer and tested the battery. Thinking it was falling flat on it's face or something. Well the analyzer said the battery was good, passing the 600 CCA test with flying colors. Had a reading of 13.09 volts, even after 3 tests. So I knew then that the problem was not the battery. At this point, I put everything away, and borrowed the work van to make the 30 minute drive home. When I got home I came to this website to try to find answers to my issues. Although I did not find any scenarios on here similar to my own, I did find several posts concerning keys loosing memory. Well, I printed off the instructions on what to do, grabbed my wife's keys and key fob, and headed back to the car. Wouldn't you know it? My wifes key fob started the car remotely, and her key worked as well. I followed the instructions to reprogram my key, and that worked too. Now, I do not know if my discharged battery, or my jump starting, or just by pure coincidence my key lost it's memory, but what I do know is that nobody has yet related a no start situation quite like my own on here yet, so I thought I would share.

 

You can buy a 12V. adapter that plugs into your outlet called a battery protector. It has two 12V. outlets, one is straight 12V. and the other 12V. will turn itself off if it senses your battery draining down to a certain level. No more drained batterys from forgotten appliances left plugged in.

The brand name on mine is Tracker and I belive it was under $10 @ a truck stop on I-40.

 

That was a tough read but I made it through.

Your key code is stored in the BCM and I haven't a clue how that stored code could be erased. Don't know what to tell you on that one, but it's good that you only had to do a quick relearn.

When the lights dim there is a problem. I have never seen a key that is not programmed for a car dim the lights when you turned it. But I have seen a car with a bad cable connection not start one minute and start 10 minutes later. If your battery is good then the problem lies within the battery cables in my opinion. I would check for good contact at all connections.

Good luck on this and welcome to the forum.

 

Oh, no worries. My problem was fixed. And the best part, it cost me nothing, other than a few hours of relaxation at home. I just wanted to make a post, in case someone else may experience something similar in the future. Moral of the story, at least on an 06 HHR, do not spend a fortune on a battery, tow, starter, etc, until after you try your other key first. As for me, 1) I plan to replace my remote, ASAP, and 2) I will be buying another key, program it, and I will hide it somewhere inside the car.

 

Welcome Scott-

I thought that our HHRs' had a 20 minute safety that shut off any power drains

I know my 98 S-10 had it..

ChevyMgr, am I right or wrong ??

 

The outlet towards the rear of the center console has constant power, or at least as long as the battery of the car lasts. The 20 minute safety is for the interior lights and not sure about the dash outlet.

 

Well Thank You jx3, I did not know that..

 

FYI I'm pretty sure my 09 hhr has constant power out of the dash outlet as well.

 

If I remember right, when I first got my 08 and nobody had mentioned auto lights to me and then I left the lights on (the first night I owned it). I had to re-prog the security after jump starting.

 

Does this mean that any time the battery is disconnected for maintenance that the key must be reprogrammed?