Well that's one way to keep your relatives away.

 

Well I heard back from the dealer. They said the fluid is as black as black can get, and there were metal shavings in the pan. Not sure if its normal to have metal shavings at this mileage...? They didn't say there's metal "chunks" they said "shavings". They told me, bottom line, the transmission needs to be replaced. A SRTA unit with a 3 yr 100K warranty costs $3350. Otherwise I can get it rebuilt at the transmission shop for $1800-$2000. Or go with a transmission from a low mile totalled HHR (not sure how much that would cost). They put the pan back on, and now I have to decide what I want to do. Ironically, ever since I got the car back from them, it seems just fine. I specifically drove it for about an hour at various speeds, drove on the freeway, drove through the city. I even drove it kinda hard (jackrabbit starts from several lights) and I couldn't even get it to slip or miss gears if I tried. It's weird, the CEL went off the day after it came on and hasn't come back on since. It's like it went away all of a sudden now that I got it back from the dealer. Which is weird cause all I had done was drop the pan, investigate, put pan back on. Not sure what to think now...

 

I'd say keep an eye out for a used low mileage unit, and once you find one on the cheap, store it away and keep driving your HHR until it goes.

You'll have the spare at the ready, just keep looking for one on the cheap.

I see Totalled HHR's listed on craigslist here now and then and they are selling off the parts by the owner not a junkyard, at least that way you may be able to actually see the mileage if you respond before it starts getting picked apart.

 

Here is a Automatic Trans for 06 07 HHR 2.2L on ebay. With a BUY IT NOW price of $375.00 with $149.95 Shipping. Has a 6 Month Warranty.

It even has the "MAKE OFFER" Available.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/AUTOMATIC-TR...fbaf65&vxp=mtr

So there ARE inexpensive Options available.

Looks to be several available from $349.00-$399.00 some are at $500.00 and up, plus shipping.

 

Do you think they would put the Black trans fluid back in ? I don't..

Just drive it, & like A&P stated: "I'd say keep an eye out for a used low mileage tranny"

 

Probably the fresh fluid has bought you some time to think and look for a good used 4T45E transmission. Sorry to hear that things went sharply downhill once they dropped the pan, some fine metal filings are normal, there's even a magnet in the pan to catch them...but shavings, that's another matter.

I still believe the tech's original diagnosis was correct, but unfortunately instead of solenoid failure, it was more of a solenoid blockage due to debris.

Who knows, it may run another couple of years before going "goofy" again on you, just drive it and see what happens.

 

All transmissions will have some shavings in them. Did you see the fluid yourself? At your mileage I wouldn't expect the fluid to look new. If there were no chunks of metal or brass then a major component hasn't failed. By dropping the pan they only removed 5-7 quarts so there is still black fluid in there. Did they a put a new filter in it?

 

And along those general lines; I know that the tech should replace the gasket when doing a fluid/filter change, but in general experience do they? Reason I ask is I had mine changed 20,000 or so ago, and suddenly got trans fluid dripping from the gasket. On Ebay the gasket costs more than a new pan w/drain, (What's up with that?), so I can see a corner to be cut in the shop.

My local trans guy showed me (on another car) how to disconnect the cooler line from the radiator and, with the engine running and pouring fresh fluid into the filler at the same time, you get a poor man's flush. That was with a diagnose of "black fluid" caused by an under cooling radiator, but the trans had to be rebuilt anyway.

 

@goetylsd, please, keep the following in mind… if you start experiencing symptoms again, you can get a second opinion from another dealership if you would like.

Michelle, Chevrolet Customer Service

 

Michelle-

Are you back for good now? I noticed all the customer service posts have been from Evan for the past how many months now. Glad to see you're back. How did your surgery go?

Tyler