Greetings All!

I have enjoyed many a read over the past few years... though never posted.

The how-to guides on Oil Changes and Air Filters even gave me enough confidence to change the plugs on my own.

Some HHR history.

2006 Black LS, let's call her Triumph (due to the car mats that live in the HHR that I have yet to put in my 1970 Triumph Spitfire). She just turned over 219000 kms... yes... you read that right.

After much research I bought this car for commuting... 300 kms a day!

I purchased the HHR in April 2006 and had the warranty run out about a year later Such is the life of the heavy commuter I suppose.

All maintenance was done at the dealer and have had no real issues. Before the warranty ran out I made sure to go through all the TSBs listed here and got any that I thought applied and even some that didn't apply yet done to Triumph.

Since the warranty has been up I've done oil changes at the dealership but started doing my own after reading about it here! I've always had 6 months checkups done at dealership but get them to do everything but the oil and air filter. Someday maybe I'll tackle the tire rotation...

The problem...

On Saturday morning, got in the HHR and drove it for about 30 kms around town to do a few errands. Went out in the afternoon, car started fine and then drove for about 1 km before it stalled out. Tried to start it up and it would until I hit the gas to rev. It would chug and miss like a madman at just over 1200 RPM and the die. I finally got it going somewhat but very roughly and turned it around to go home... it stalled out and I coasted into the driveway. CEL turned on after the initial stall out.

I thought with the nice warm weather I'd leave it alone until Sunday as it was too late to do anything with it on Saturday.

Sunday afternoon, checked oil.. (changed it about a month before), checked gas.. (you never know.. I added about a quarter tank of known good gas), undid the battery and reattached to clear any weirdness the BCM might be throwing out there.

Nothing seemed to help... car would start fine and idle for over an hour with no CEL warnings are sputtering... as soon as I feather the gas.. some black smoke, backfiring, sputtering and then stall. After a few of those the CEL came back on. I don't have the code reader yet (but did price them out at Crappy Tire for $199 for the ODB II) so I don't know what the CEL is for.

So, right now it is sitting in my driveway all alone and I'm borrowing my father's Caddy SRX for the commute... very nice drive but I miss Triumph.. and the fact that this Caddy is averaging about 12.5L /100 km!!! and the HHR is around 7.6-7.8L /100km. Big difference on the fuel costs!

The only mod done to the HHR is the black lawn edging lower spoiler thanks to these forums... looks surprisingly good too.

The wheel baring in the front right wheel is on its way out. Needs to be replaced but is not hindering the HHR in any way.

Any thoughts??

 

How long ago did you do your plugs? Recently?

 

That's one of the instances where I'll actually go to the dealer for help. It could be a number of things, from low fuel pressure(bad pump), bad plugs or a sensor gone bad, etc.. Reading the stored code will help you narrow it down for sure, but chances are that it won't tell you exactly what failed.

Yves

 

sorry for the long post...

I did my plugs about 2 months ago. Quite an easy thing to be honest.

Ended up having to buy a VERY long handled wrachet to pull the plugs as they were in there tight.

For some reason I had thought that the dealer would have changed them out during one of the 6 months or yearlies... These looked to be the originals as they were fouled so bad I was surprised the HHR ran.

My dad said that he thought it sounded like a fuel pump as he had something similar with a Ford minivan a year or so ago.

I will be taking to dealer but its just trying to find a good way to get there that won't cost me an arm and a leg.

 

Check your local auto parts stores. Some scan for DTCs free.

Autozone will do it around here.

Sometimes the codes will give a good indication of what the problem is. Then again, sometimes they don't.

 

I would also go to the auto parts store and have them check the code. To me it sounds like a fuel filter or maybe the fuel pump.

 

Add one for a fuel delivery problem opinion.

 

Might be the fuel pump. Can't be the fuel filter. There isn't one.

 

Not sure if these 2.2/2.4 have them, but I once had a 2.5 S10 that did that very thing and it was related to a voltage sensor on the throttle control. Of course it never did throw a code and after $500 in parts for other things was I able to find this out, but such as life......

 

Thanks to all who've replied... I've got the flatbed coming to get "Triumph" this afternoon or tomorrow morning (depends on when the driver gets back from another pickup) and it will be on the way to the dealership with the suggestion to look for a fuel delivery related problem.

I'll post back when I know the verdict!