wbramer

Hi guys I need a little help here. Took to the dealer and they want to do process of elimination replace transmission modular also want to replace drivers door actuator need help what could be causing the problem thanks.

wbramer

Sorry ,forgot. 2006 HHR 2.4 180,000 well maintained new alt and battery last year. Thanks.

donbrew

The 2 are not related. What process? The dealer should be able to tell if the TCM is bad. I would go to a transmission shop to have a free diagnosis. Unless you have a financial reason to go to the dealer forget them.

Try a search for door lock actuator, there is at least 1 TSB about widening the hole to keep the plunger from binding. I think that there is a thread devoted to replacing the actuator, if not it just is not difficult to do.

wbramer

Trans only goes out of gear after the locks act crazy. They want to replace tcm then drivers door acutlater then go from there only reason went to dealer was they would give me a complimentary diagnostic

Oldblue

locks activate after you shift from park to drive, then unlock after you shift to park, try going into the DIC and turn the auto lock feature off.

voigtsga

The motors inside the door lock actuators are what go bad. They get weak and don't open/close the locks properly. The dealer only lists the complete actuator as a single part number. Those little motors can be had for <$10. There is a thread on here in the how to section (https://www.chevyhhr.net/forums/how-tutorial-library-21/door-lock-assembly-fix-lots-pics-45839/#post701045) with pics and complete descriptions of how to do this. I had to replace all 4 motors in my actuators in my '08. Saved me about $700 vs having someone else replace all 4 actuators. If you have some mechanical ability, it really isn't that hard to do.

donbrew

You could try actually describing the symptoms. If this is what you told the service adviser, no wonder they don't know what to do.

"Going crazy" does not tell anybody what to look for. "Doors locks act up and trans slips" is just random words strung together.

wbramer

Okay play nice I don't like typing so I shortened it .anyone On here that has experienced the same problem will know exactly what I'm talking about.the service advisor knows exactly what happened as you are driving down the road door locks will all the sudden lock themselves and the transmission will slip out of gear. Dic reads all sorts of stuff ( power steering,low fuel,goes blank,) pull over shut car off for 30 to 45 seconds to reset and fine again till it wants to act up.sorry for the short description.

db/sb

Sounds more like a potential electrical connection problem to me rather than components like the TCM or lock actuaors since the two are basically unrelated; the only commonality being that locks actuate when you shift into or out of park. Never have experienced that but I'd be diving into it with electrical test equipment before I let the dealership throw expensive parts at it at my expense. But that's just me....

whopper

He was playing nice. Actually, the new info does give a better description of the problem.

db/sb has some good ideas there - and even if the battery is about year old, I'd throw a load tester on it to make sure it is totally up to snuff (strange things happen to these cars when battery issues arise), along with checking the connections at the battery and under the hood.

How frequently does the problem occur at this point?