transmission????????
 

Has anyone here felt their transmission kick? For some reason it only happens when it rains....and its very irritating because i live in Florida and it rains here just about 24/7. any suggestions?

Kick back?

Ive had this occur on every front wheel drive car ive owned...its mostly because of crappy tires and rain...its like hydroplaning but it just jerks real hard and quick. My 5-speed cavalier did the same thing in rain. Im not an einstein so i dont know how to really name it but i know what your talking about....it actually reminds me of wheel hop but your going about 70mph when it does it. This is just my take on it...dont bash me down if i sound stupid lol..thanks!

I believe that's a function of the relatively soft engine/trans mounts used in front drive vehicles.

i haven't felt it yet, but ours has only been in the rain twice. The other times it's been raining i told my wife we were taking her car since i just detailed the hhr and it was staying in the carport...

But i haven't felt that in any fwd car i've ever had.

I read this thread a few days ago and didn't think anything of it. Well today leaving work it was raining. Sure enough stopped at a red light starting out i felt the kick back. First time i ever felt such a think at first i though maybe i got hit from behind.

Take back my last post in this thread:red: .

I found out what rain is, last night. 3.12 inches in 2hours 10 minutes:eek: . Roads are wrecked...many cars stuck where the jerks tried to make "crossings":red: :roll: .

Do you have traction control? Maybe that's what you are feeling.

I got some kind of freaky deaky intermittent driveline drag issue going on right now that is hugely p!ssing me off, and I suspect the automatic transmission. Tomorrow I'm going to sample some fluid and smell if it smells burnt or not. Only 10,000 miles on this thing and this kind of issue. Very frustrating. Wen it does it, its like I've got 20 lbs of air in each tire and a small trailer hitched up or something.

Back on topic, I haven't experienced what the orig poster described, mine just seems to spin the tires more on wet road surfaces.

+1 on the tire spin

Lone Ranger....

remember the HHR has no transmission dipstick. How are you getting the sample????:confused:

Safely lift and level the car. Start engine, let idle 5 - 10 minutes to get trans fluid temp above 104 deg F (40 deg C). Place shift lever in each gear selection briefly, ending by placing it into PARK. Place drain pan underneath transmission fluid check/drain plug. Remove plug. If no fluid comes out, add Dexron VI fluid through vent cap until fluid dribbles from check plug hole. When fluid level is even with bottom of check plug hole, fluid level is correct. If more than a dribble exits check plug hole, let drain until barely dribbling then replace and tighten check plug. Engine must be running and shifter in PARK or excessive fluid loss will occur.
Magnetic torpedo level placed on bottom of transmission pan should aid in achieving front-to-rear level-- side to side level should not require adjustment is surface is level and jack stands are on same settings.

Since my HHR doesn't hace TC, I'll get wheel spin on wet roads taking off. The car has more torque than I expected. In Florida many months of low rain and oil builds up on the road, then rain making the roads slick.

The only thing I get is when stopped, a surging feeling in the car. No wavering of the tac, but the car subtly shakes. It is an intermittant happening.

no its definitely kicking back... but thanks for all your help

My fiance has a 2006 2LT w/ about 40,000 miles and it is starting to do a kicking back (slip) of the transmission. It is an automatic and is considerably noticable on days when the evening it cold (30 degrees or below) and the day is considerably warmer (60 degrees) and there seems to be a high level of humidity in the air. Yesterday it was severe enough to kick in the transmission to turn the "check engine light" on.

Today the humidity was less and it was cooler outside and a lot drier. Check engine light went off last night and has not come on at all today. No slip or kicking back in the transmission at all. Seems to occur more when there is very high humidity / moisture level in the air and temperatures from cold to mid warm.

Going into the shop tomorrow to get checked on.

I have a 2LT with TC & I get the same thing once in a while - but otherwise it doesn't seem to cause any other related problems. I 'm thinking it's normal as it's happened since day one - the shake is still subtle, ie hasn't gotten worse. My 3 year warranty is coming up and I'll take in then and have it checked.

Hey ChevyMgr ever heard of this problem? Like Old LAr says it's doesn't noticeably change the RPM so it doesn't sound like a Torqe Converter, fuel or timing issue.

If this is off topic let me know and I'll post a new thread

If you turn off radio, A/C, ect. and listen you will here fuel going back and forth in the tank and you can feel the car surge with it when fuel is at half or less

This is definitely a slip of the transmission. It truely seems to be more noticeable in damper weather conditions. We are a lot more humid today with storms approaching tonight and the tranny slipp seems to be starting again. No Check Engine light yet. She's dropping it off at the shop this morning.

Sounds like exaclty what traction control is supposed to do - applies ABS and/or cuts throttle when wheels slip. Do you have TC?

My fiance does not have the traction control option on her 2LT... At least she said she has NEVER seen the traction control light on the dash come on.

I know my 2LT has it because it does come on on occassions when it kicks in (like in 1st gear low).

So, I do not think her car has traction control.

Anyway, after 3 days in the shop, they cannot duplicate the transmission slip at all. Very temperamental and seems to come and go at random.

They are looking at that front end rattle again (after going in to the dealership 2 times before and the issue has never been resolved under warranty yet).

Traction control is standard on the 2LT, I'm pretty sure in all years.

I thought it was on all 2LTs as well but my fiance said she has NEVER seen the TC light come on in her instrument display. I rarely drive her car so I figured she would remember seeing it come on.

On my 2006 2LT, it comes on almost every time I put the car into 1st gear low, like when driving in the snow at low speeds. She also uses the 1st gear low, when driving in the snow at low speeds but claims to have never seen it light up in the dash display. She also owns a 2006 2LT but does not have all the same options (no OnStar / no running boards / no heated seats / no roof rails). So it made me wonder if the traction control was optional on some 2LTs.

This transmission slip occurs very random but when her HHR is in regular drive gear on her automatic transmission. The "Service Engine" light was coming on when she was getting the tranny slip but after a while the light would eventually go off.

later models are different with the intro of ESC, but I think I recall from the Chevy website for 06 2LTs, ETC was standard if equipped with Auto & ABS.

Then maybe there is a problem with her traction control.

She just started to notice this problem over the last comple months and really bad for 2 - 3 days last week. Bad enough to jerk you head when it was shifting.

Now all of a sudden, her HHR will not recreate the problem. :confused:

Had a 01 sunfire with ESC and when the light would go on the TQ converter lock up would would go off,, the trans would shift hard( and at a higher rpm) and sometimes stall at a stop light. If you shut it down and restarted most times it would clear. Car really acted stupid...ran a scan and it pointed to the TPS...figured it was a wiring issue(connector) because after wiggling it everything was good for awhile but would eventually come back.
Had the part but never had it changed before selling the car. Had the 2.2 in it.

Sounds like a bad TCC. Take it to a different dealership.

Are you sure she has a 2LT? The way its equipped sounds an awful lot like my 1LT. I thought the rails and heated leather were standard on '06 2LT's.

No, leather was not standard on the 06 2LT. My wife and I test drove a few back in 06 before purchasing the 06 I had. Most were cloth seats.

Sorry to bring back an old thread, but if you have an auto transmission and are feeling this hard "kick" during the shift, it's not slipping. It sounds to me as if it's happening when you see a service light and the car is shifting. This is actually the transmission going into a sort of "protection mode". What happens is the ECU cannot read the traction control input parameters, so it puts the transmission into a protection failsafe mode. This mode commands high line pressure and shift speed. It's the safest type of shift that an auto trans can perform because it minimizes the actual slip and shortens the most demanding part of the shift.

Chances are it's a harmless quirk caused by a lack of traction. As a side note, this can also happen if you get a check engine light for other reasons. Most notably, if you've recently installed an intake or changed an air filter and are getting "off" MAF sensor readings, the car might throw a lean code. For some reason, these cars like to go into that transmission protection mode on certain codes. Lean code is one of them.