They have about the same amount of oil otherrwise they would overheat and quickly.....the "gas" takes up the empty space tp keep the oil from airating(foaming which reduces effectivity)..or it is gas charged by use of bags which is better .

 

I am not a real engineer, I only play one on the internet. But the real wear spots are seals and valves. Just because the shaft seal does not leak does not mean an internal seal or valve has not failed. And I am not sure about the amount of oil, but oil has become very expensive for manufacturers since the 70's....and hydrogen/nitrogen is cheap. Years ago, when I was trained to rip people off for shocks/brakes/front end parts/tires; I was taught that the original equipment shocks leaked because the seals were bad, but you could not tell if the new "dual action/gas" shocks were bad the same way. I do emphasize training to rip people off and years ago. That is why I quit, but some truth is in there.

 

Just keep taking it back as long as the warranty allows for it. We had the steering column done twice and the struts 3 times, and they needed to be done again when we gave our leased HHR back.

We really liked the car size-wise and hoped it'd be a "keeper" but we ran for the hills when the salesman wanted to discuss us buying it at the end of the lease!

Never ending problems and TERRIBLE customer service has lost GM a customer for life, as I will never buy another GM product based on our experience with our HHR.

 

Would you ban McDonalds (or who ever) if they messed up your big mac one day?

 

No, I wouldn't ban McDonald's for one Big Mac, but I'm not paying 10's of thousands of dollars for a Big Mac! Also I didn't decide on a whim that GM was a nightmare to deal with, it was over 4 years while I owned their vehicle.

Also, you and the others calling for me to be banned are correct, I don't own the car any longer and it's too bad because outside of the problems it could have been a great vehicle. I look on here and see some great HHR's and people who love them I was only "b****ing" about the vehicle I owned and the headaches that it brought with it. It's just unfortunate that others have been dealing with a lot of the same issues. You'll notice I didn't go into any threads that talked about people enjoying their vehicles or modifications they were making, I only commented in threads that were discussing the issues I experienced.

I apologize if I offended you (or Sleeper or Mike B.) as that wasn't my intention. It's just a shame that GM in this instance had no problems taking my monthly payment and every month and doing jack about dealing with the repeated problems I (the customer) was having.

 

Got my oil changed and was told it would cost me 800 to replace shocks and struts. leaking struts. Yes I am hearing a knock when I hit bumpy roads which it never did before. Does anyone know if both really need replacing. I have 75000 miles. Could it just be struts? Are they easy to replace? Where do you buy to get the best price and what is a good kind?

 

shop around..dealer is always way higher then local labor...a goods shop would have you fixed up in a couple hours..can save some money by doing the rears yourself...75k? yeah, they done..and always replace in pairs...and order your own parts..can shop around and get good prices...

 

Are Monroe good? They cost less. So the front struts are hard to do? We wanted to try ourselves.) How much is a good install price. Thanks for your help.

 

KYB Excel G's are great struts/shocks.

Install time should be less than 3 hours IMO, so $250-300 install labor.

 

Thanks.