desertrat

I have a high mileage HHR, 160,000+ miles. The car has lost power to the point where I could barely make an entrance ramp on the Interstate. This was a gradual loss over about 2 years.
Fuel pressure was OK, I checked that first. Next I replaced the injectors, which was easy. No change in power. I suspected the throttle body could be on it's last leg, so I replaced that next.
No change in power, and now it had a slightly erratic idle. Sometimes when slowing the idle would go up to 1000 RPM and then gradually settle back to normal. I did the learning procedure correctly, so that wasn't it.
Out of desperation I removed the gas pedal assembly (APP sensor) and took it apart for cleaning. It looked good, but the human eye cannot see electrical resistance. I reassembled and installed, and did the TPS relearn again, since they are tied together.
The engine ran like it had 30% more HP, when it was actually just the throttle body opening like it should. On my test drive I actually had to back off on the gas in situations where I had previously floored the pedal. The erratic idle is gone, too.
So that was it, the gas pedal. It acted like there was a rock under it, cleaning the contacts removed the rock.
The procedure is easy, so if you have an HHR with high mileage, you may want to do this cleaning. A new pedal assembly is around $135.


Remove 5 screws to expose the contacts. Clean with electronics cleaner.

Oldblue

Good tip, thanks for sharing

donbrew

That perspective is wild. Took me 10 minutes to figure out why you were showing us a lift tongue.