cobbie916

So I have been reading forums and it always seems that everyone is getting some type of CEL that is helping them determine the issue that they are having. My car on the other hand is not giving me any CEL's, the only thing I get is the t/c light and hard shifting. I think way back in the day when this first started I may have had a CEL or maybe once the abs light was on but that was probably over a year ago and the codes have been cleared many times over since then. So now all I get is the t/c light and no CEL's at all. Anyone got any ideas to what I should try to check?

whopper

I''d still suspect it is one of the solenoids - when I had the problems with my car, the T/C light would often come on, accompanied with the hard shifting, but quite often NO CEL at all. Shutting the car off and restarting, would often reset everything back to normal (but not always - LOL - dang thing). I believe the CEL will only come on if a certain number of incidents/conditions with a particular problem are met. Your CEL may not be lit, as you have not hit that required number of incidents/conditions.

If I remember right, my CEL would come on maybe a quarter of the time that the car was having problems with T/C light and hard shifting.


If the car is under warranty, I'd take it into the dealer and see if they can retrieve some codes. If not under warranty, take it to the dealer or to a parts store where they do code readings for free (is it Autozone down US-way?).

the parts aren't that super expensive so you may want to consider replacing them "on-spec".

Best of luck.

cobbie916

I guess I can try replacing the two solenoids, but my friend has a scanner and no codes are showing up at all. I just have been really short on money, hence why I haven't taken this thing in to the dealership. Thanks for the help.

jay loukakis

I changed mine several months ago thanks to whopper it took only about 20 minutes parts cost $110.00 no problums since.

whopper

It could be, that if most of your trips are short ones, the CEL doesn't get a chance to fully establish a code for display. I believe that the CEL needs a specific set of circumstances over a period of time and drive-cycles to capture and retain a code.

One thing to consider - I thought I saw a post or two here about the hard-shifting causing broken motor mounts - but then again I might be mistaken about this.

If you had a friend with an HHR, you could try swapping parts to see if the problem moves to your friends car - and if it does, then quickly pack up and move to a different town!!

Good luck tho'.

kaspar

Thanks to this "how to" and all the info here in the forum , I felt confident enough to tackle this job myself.

I've ordered the two solenoids via an independent repair shop and paid only $76 total incl. tax!

Last Friday late afternoon, I went ahead and replaced the solenoids, cleared the check engine light and... ....have not seen neither the check engine nor the TC light lighting up every since!

keverz146

Awesome write up. I too received the TC light followed by the CEL this weekend. The code thrown indicated only that the motor was running lean; strangely enough my gas mileage has plummeted to ~12mpg city. Sounds like it could be the same problem, once again the forum has saved me a trip to the dealer.

cobbie916

Does anyone have the actual torque specs for the actuator bolts?

cobbie916

So I just installed the part and still have the issue, the only other code I was getting besides P0011 was P0106 which is Manifold absolute pressure. It could be possibly an issue with the actual CAM position sensor I guess, or the MAP sensor. I guess I will have to try both and see what happens. The CAM sensor however seems like a pain in the ass to install. Does anyone have an install walkthrough for the CAM position sensor?

cobbie916

Update: I haven't gotten the P0011 code since I installed the new cam actuator however, I am still getting the hard shifting and looks like I am constantly getting a P0106 error for the current error however the error is not going to the freeze frame. I am wondering if anyone else has had the same issues but getting the P0106 error instead. Think I may have to try replacing the MAP sensor since I already checked the voltage to the MAP sensor and that all passed. Anyone else have any ideas or suggestions?