I love HHRs. I had 06 red LT. Drunk driver hit me so that was gone. I now have a white 2011 hhr with chrome rims and chrome inside and i installed app controlled LEDs under all 4 seats amd now installimg a touch screen with backup camera. HHRs make it easy to take panels off and keep the wiring clean. Also good gas milage. Reached to 403 miles on one tank and driving performace is amazing
I really enjoy our HHR too and have an 07 parts car since I got hit by a deer. It was cheaper to buy a whole car (bad transmission) for the front end parts like fenders and doors, etc, than to buy them separately. Thanks for stopping by
George. I had trouble with my airbag warning light for years. Then one day I was doing some stuff and decided to unplug and reply the plugs under the seat and lo and behold that was the problem fixed. Try that but make sure u unplug the negative terminal and let the car sit overnight to drain residual power so you don’t accidentally trip your airbag. Also sometimes that will reset your tire monitors. Hope that is a help to you.
@@TheShadeTreeFixitMan In the passenger side kick panel you’ll see the yellow airbag plugs. Disconnect them and spray them liberally with electrical contact cleaner then spray them with dielectric grease. There was actually a service bulletin on them apparently years ago. I also did the same for the under seat connectors and so far the light hasn’t come back on.
I just picked up my second HHR, first was a black 06 LT with over 180k ran flawless until an electrical meltdown, now I found an 08 black LT panel 105k miles! I love them! Thanks for the video!
I really enjoy mine and after being hit by a deer, we now have a parts car that supplied the needed doors and fenders to bring it back. Thanks for stopping by. My 09 still has less than 70K on it!
Um I hope you were joking about the fOg lights and high beams being together- You can't see with high beams on if it's FOGGY aka why you have FOG LIGHTS!! FOG lights are meant to be used along side with your LOWBEAMS in FOGGY and RAINY situations not with HIGH BEAMS!
No, I wasn't kidding. I want them for night driving as my eyes get older. We live in the hills of Tennessee and the roads are winding, so all the light I can get is what I want. It works well for me. Thanks for your observations.
@@TheShadeTreeFixitMan Oh no. I'm sorry. Our Jinx past 12 years ago. He was a krazy kitter. We rescued him from a dorm room. The girl who owned him was in the military and when she left for deployment. Her boyfriend got the kitty. Don't want to describe the horrifying life he went through until she came home. She came home after a week when we rescued him. We met her and we brought Jinx. Jinx never went to her and the boyfriend. Later she told us that she was just going to grab Jinx and run. But she saw how loves he was with us. She said she couldn't do the thought she was going to try. He was loved for 10 yrs with my Mom and I. ❤️🐾
At about 5:20 you say you wired the fog lights to come on with the hi beams 'because that's about the only time you would want to use them'. This is entirely backwards, you do not want to use hi beams in the fog, they just illuminate the fog making it harder to see. Fog lights are wired to go off when you turn on the hi beams!
Have you had the front end shake problem. I have an 07 and 2010 and both shake when braking. Any ideas? I've replaced control arms, sway bar links, bushings, rotors (which does smooth it out for a few thousand miles ) but returns. Seen alot of hhrs with this issue
I haven't had that issue, but it sounds like you have a sticking caliper, which is the one thing you didn't mention replacing. When they stick they heat up the rotors causing them to get warped and hence the vibration. I have experienced in lots of other vehicles. After you replace your problem caliper, you should have your rotors turned to true them up again. Hope this helps. (I was an ASE certified mechanic back in the day...) Thanks for stopping by
Yes sir I do. I have been hit by a deer and replaced some of the sheet metal but she's still going strong and getting close to 90,000 miles now. Thanks for stopping by
I think it was a big mistake for car makers to use plastic headlights, they all wind up getting all dingy and even after cleaning them they don't last long, for some time, I accidentally found this video, I don't understand why, I have the bell rang.
Same thing, just a different name. They really make a big difference. Thanks BTW, if you need a set, I have an extra I would sell CHEAP! $15 plus shipping. Still in the box.
Mine is about to go over 80K. It has been a great car. The idiot lights are an issue, but oh well. Thanks for stopping by. I'm going to be doing the front struts real soon.
I have a 2007 I bought new and have 93000 on it. Love it and still happy to still have it. I thought of selling it a couple of times but was happy I didn't. Don't drive it that much but still can take it anywhere.
I've had mine for 8 years and loved every minute of it! We've driven it several times between Minnesota (where we bought it) and Tennessee (where we now live), without a hitch. One of the best cars I've ever owned. Sorry you don't enjoy yours, but thanks for stopping by and have a Happy New Year! BTW, the only reason for having to change doors and fenders was because of a deer running into me. I live way out in the country, in the hills of Tennessee.
Wow I had chickens believe it or not in the south bronx....still contemplating getting a chicken coup and having some again..... I've got my buddy's 07 HHR and he wants me to service his transmission fluid and filter and cooling system.... his HHR has no dip stick for checking transmission fluid level it's checked by removing a plug on the side of transmission as you fill you watch for fluid just starting to come out of that plug hole and that's the proper level on level ground..... yes engineers can be sadistic people. I will video and post a video of the maintenance soon. Good luck with your HHR!
Thanks so much and have fun with your HHR repairs. I was hoping that my parts car only needed a little more fluid to "fix" the transmission, but it definitely is blown for sure.
Nice fix on the HHR George. It gets pretty crazy chasing wires and making things work, but with a little perseverance you overcame. Is there any way of getting the sensors out of the original wheels and installing them in your replacements?
I could have them removed and re-installed in the new wheels, but it will probably be less expensive to buy new ones, since all 8 wheels would have to be broken down to use the originals. Thanks for stopping by
On the lighter note, we bought some chicks from a local farm supply place a couple years ago. Some random person on Twitter was asking for pet pictures for a child that was in the hospital. The chicks came in a box that looked like McDonald's chicken McNuggets packaging. When opened up I captioned the post as I have 4 McNuggets. Her dad said that that was the first time she laughed in weeks! Back to the car video
George couldn't you go to a tire shop and swap the new tires to your old sensor rims and old tires to parts car rims. then your air pressure sensor would work.
I would just need to put sensors into these rims. The funny part is that every morning after sitting overnight, the computer picks up the readings from the parts car. I am contemplating buying some sensors and having them installed. Thanks Glenn
Got one of these from my brother a few days ago. The interior is a little monotone (grey on darker grey, all the same texture), but it's spacious, reliable, and extremely easy to work on (i haven't had any of these problems). Gas mileage is good for it's size. I really want to mod the crap out of the interior, but I'm not sure where to go with it
I used the seats out of my parts car to replace the worn out ones in my pickup, so now I have a power seat on the drivers side. We really like our HHR.
Updated? I have the back dated dash panel with the fog light switch, the issue was that there is no wiring down at the fog lights to plug into. It's all good and been working just fine for quite a while now. Thanks for stopping by.
Boy, that HHR was quite the project! I don't know how modern mechanics deal with all the dumb engineering goofs like your electrical connections. Are you planning on putting the hen in with the chicks once she hatches them all out? Hope your wife had a wonderful birthday!
We haven't decided exactly how to deal with the chicks once they are all hatched. We may keep them out until they are big enough to survive with the other chickens, but that remains to be seen. Thanks Matt
I guess yours is an 07 or 08? I love my HHR too and my parts car has been a big help for more than just the car as the front seats ended up in my 03 GMC Sonoma pickup! Thanks for stopping by.
My parts car, which is an 07 had the controls on the console. It is more convenient on the doors for me. I really like my HHR. Thanks for stopping in to take a look.
Those are LED headlight bulbs. To be honest, I'm not really happy with them. They look cool, but don't throw as much light as I had hoped. Here is the order number from eBay: www.ebay.com/itm/293914387016 I am going to go to a lighter white color, the blue is toooooo blue to really do that job. Thanks for stopping by.
George... I have a 2008 HHR LS & our map lights stay on even after the doors are closed. What can we do to solve this issue? So far we've had to unplug the rear view mirror to turn them off
The rear view mirror? There should be switches on the door jambs that affect the dome lights, though they don't go off immediately, but gradually. I will look into it a little and see what I can find.
The 2008 HHR door locks are also on the console, I have had My 2008 HHR since 2014 the previous owner pulled it behind their RV so the mileage on it as far as running mileage is low. It now has 116,000 miles on it and it is a strong running vehicle I have taken very good care of it keeping up on the maintenance of it all standard stuff mostly
I have less than 70K on my HHR so far. I like mine very much. Would you believe that I have had 4 flats in 3 weeks? Not the fault of the car, but that is more than I have had in the last 25 years combined. Thanks for stopping by.
@@TheShadeTreeFixitMan My HHR is the same color as yours Half or over half the mileage on mine is from being towed By Their R/V When I First Bought It The Hood Was Out of Shape A Little Bit So I asked the body shop what they would charge, and the price was way more than I could afford so when I got home, I thought to myself maybe I can straighten it out with a little muscle and elbow grease so I open the hood and grabbed a hold of the grill and started pulling on it and eventually it sat in place just find like it should and the gap along the hood and the fender went away and it took me less than a couple of minutes
@@georgepope5010 Good job on the hood. I still haven't fixed mine yet and may not since it gets amusing responses from time to time with the art work on it. Blessings to you as you celebrate the birth of Jesus this year.
Hey I just found your page and seems like you know the hhr really well so I have a question for you. I bought a 2011 hhr a couple years ago and to be honest it was almost trashed I believe the previous owners used it as a 4 wheel drive trying to jump gulleys and what have you the front end was very bad miss matched tires and rims but I replaced most all the suspension struts, shocks , control arm oh goodness, new tires nice rims and finally was able to get the front end aligned. Anyway a couple years later I still love this car but also when I got it the speedometer didn't work correctly and one of the gauges don't remember which one now didn't work so I went to a local pick and pull and got another instrumental cluster for it and so all my gauges and speedometer works as should but the odometer had like 106,000 miles on it and it don't work still shows the same as it did when I got it. Now the trip meters A and B works fine just the main odometer and I have searched and searched as they say the cars computer stores the readings for miles driven and I'm wondering why it don't update the replacement or is there anyway to at least get this to start working. Oh and by the way the car must still keep up with the miles because when I change oil and reset the oil change monitor it still keeps up with the % before it's due again so all I can do is scratch my head. lol
Well, I don't have much hair on my head so I try not to scratch too much, LOL. Unfortunately, I don't have an answer for you on this issue. You are right that if it keeps track of mileage for oil changes there should be a way of tapping into that information for your odometer. That stuff is above my pay grade, sadly. Sorry I couldn't be of more help. Thanks for stopping by.
So you're one of those ffff::'":;;!;;'" 3 out of 5 people that drive around with you high beams on, well I just put my high beams on to blind the hell out of them to.
I only use the highbeams when it is dark out and always dim them down when another car is approaching. I don't like being blinded and won't blind someone else for that very reason. Thanks for stopping by.
Deja,and Vue.?Now you have a Skunk.?LOL.It's been too long since the trains,if you've forgotten you're an Engineer too George.Usually it's the rooster that kills so less competition.Who knows...Anywho,I've seen the sensors online.I can't believe some of the prices though.Yikes.Have a Blessed Easter George,Mrs.George,and all the viewers too.
Thank you Bry. I miss the trains too and only very rarely see them in our area. I hope I can get some shots the next time I do. I have been thinking about making another layout, but haven't figured out how or where...yet. Thanks
The transmission is bad in it. It has provided lots of good parts not only for my HHR, but donated the front seats to my GMC pickup as well. It will run still, but won't move. Thanks for stopping by
The chicks are so cute. Looks like you have been busy for sure George. I think you can buy the sensors to put in the wheels that are now on the HHR so that your tps system will work correctly but they may have to be programed talk to a tire store they can tell what would need to be done.
If I buy the sensors, I will have them installed at a tire store who can hopefully program them to match my car. Thanks Bob. Blessings of the resurrection!
Good morning Alan. I have not been satisfied with the bulbs I used, they don't really illuminate as well as I had hoped. I am going to go back to my original bulb on one side to try a comparison. It may be the orientation of the LED that keeps it from displaying down the road, since this set has only 2 chips on the bulb and they are orientated to each side and as you know these headlights work on reflected light. Stay tuned for more on this process. Thanks for stopping by.
@3:11 These acrylic stone guards on my silver 2008 HHR are discolored and unsightly. They make the car look cheap. Anybody have suggestions on what to do with them? Paint, remove, what have you? Thanks.
@@TheShadeTreeFixitMan ebay has HHR stone guards. The ones I saw needed sanding and some other stuff. Please keep me in the loop if another fix crops up. Thanks.
Tell your wife my family said happy birthday and that's awful funny my wife's birthday is April 1st also mine was March 29th my third oldest daughters is on the 9th coming up here Friday, nice addition kids love to watch the updates until your next one stay safe and have a good day
Well go ahead and nominate it! It will be my first nomination! But did you notice how many views it has???? Thanks for stopping by and making it one more view better.
I was notified because I looked up the canister oil filter on my 2009. I never even knew about them. You hooked up the fog lights to the high beams? What a oxy moron! Fog lights are for fog and using high beams on fog is the worst thing you can do. You only got 50,000 views in 3 years. Most accidental like mine. You only need 950,000 more for it to matter. You got more warning ⚠️ alerts then anything I've ever seen. Unhook the battery and and re hook to try to clear some of them. do you even have the owner? I just changed the oil and synthetic only and reset the oil life status. I didn't watch the whole thing. I was falling asleep.
MissouriOldtimer, Vernon suggested I check out your channel. Great job on the car, I have not seen a HHR before but I do live in the UK. It is incredibile that the car can read the sensors on your parts car and it is handy to have a parts car. New subscriber, take care
Hi George so what’s the warning lights on the dash for also are you going to get the warning lights fixed so they go out when your car is running also did you put that sport muffler on it yet
