Chevy HHR - How To Remove And Replace the Transmission In the Driveway (without removing the engine)

[@magma_plays8269]

Your a legend for posting a full video I don’t need to change the transmission ( yet) but I feel good to know that there is a video out here for this thank you

[@michaeleshbaugh6797]

Ikr ty for this video helped me get my trans replacement done in my 08 chevy cobalt

[@MexicanJohnny]

This video is the only one i found that actually goes step by step on removing n installing .Thank you .for real though, the only 1 ...

[@stevemccauley5734]

I’m parting out an HHR SS with a slopomatic transmission that I bought for the engine to put in my Cobalt SS. This is the first time I have messed with an auto in these cars so I clicked on your video to find out how to get to the torque converter bolts. Thank you for the video. If I hadn’t watched it, I may never have figured out to get to them through the starter hole. One thing though, there’s nothing cop car about that suspension. That’s just the normal base model FE1 suspension with the steel control arms. What you want is the FE3 aluminum control arms & FE5 struts from the SS. Or better yet change it all over to FE5 with Brembos. But then you’d have to change wheels to clear them. I know A LOT about the Delta platform except I’ve had to learn a few new things just to part out the HHR & to know what’s compatible with the Cobalt.

[@Danmemer89]

i came for the helpful information, but stayed for the background music lol 😂

[@livethelifeyoulovelovethel1458]

Yo that song is the joint I particularly like the background 😅

[@ChrisXacto]

LMAO!!

[@dangerdoberman]

I remember doing this on my 2007 LS 5 speed years ago to replace transmission components. In my carport with basic ass tools and a couple of 2x4's across the top of engine bay and some ratchet straps to hold the motor up. Good times XD

[@ChrisXacto]

this guy is awesome. great video and simple breakdown

[@bradleydevore1903]

I replaced my transmission just as you did. Thank you so much for sharing your video. My car won’t crank!!! Everything is connected, I have power. What did I miss???

[@attunedofficial]

The speed sensor, also the tach won't work if the speed sensor doesn't work, also be careful the wiring doesn't touch exhaust. Ask me how I know hehe. actually it would still start maybe, but double check the shift liknage lines up properly, that might do it.

[@honeybee1420]

Did you need to have yours reprogrammed? I have a used trans coming in now and I just want to know if it will need programmed

[@andrewbrown8872]

Love the music with the video

[@thomasorta4297]

excellent video... in how many days you need to finish all job transmission?

[@LovingMyselfAndWhat]

Love the music!

[@gregpiecuch3802]

This is really a good video! One question, where did you buy that engine support brace? Thx

[@attunedofficial]

Harbor Freight. It's a tight fit but obviously works

[@keithlong2788]

I really appreciate this video! Thank you! I'm eyeing up that same transmission jack from harbor freight. Did you have any problems with the transmission wanting to fall off or getting it aligned? It doesn't look like that jack has too many angle options or and brackets to keep the trans from sliding around. I don't want to spend a ton for a jack I'll use once. For a couple dollars more should i get a hydraulic one with adjustable brackets? I like the one you're using because it goes straight up and down whereas a hydraulic one you have to have room for the swing of the arm. Any advice is much appreciated. Will be tackling this in a week or two with an overhauled transmission.

[@bigslim185]

Replace he rear main seal because you are there. Wise words indeed

[@honeybee1420]

Did you need to do any kind of reprogramming with the dealer afterwards?

[@attunedofficial]

No, I only did a basic relearn (battery was left disconnected for some time)

[@FallGuy2005]

As I watch this I have two questions. 1. What is the height of the transmission and/or height of the jack stands to provide clearance to remove transmission? 2. What is the weight of the transmission?

[@mickeymouse3976]

I been working on cars for over 30 years, i hate to admit it, but i laughed when you got the transmission coming down converter falls out and then transmission spins off jack crashes down. It maybe not the right way, But Hey it is down.

[@attunedofficial]

I wasn't worried about damaging it. If I were rebuilding it, I would have taken more care. Putting it back in would be near impossible without a tranny jack tbh. I did reuse the torque converter, and kept the other as a spare.

[@xoticyt1846]

I really was gonna go to the junk yard to figure it out, I've got what I believe is a leaking rear main on my cobalt which I believe is making my trans slip every now and again, could also be my reasoning for the bucking I get from the motor coming to a stop possibly? Either way trans needs to be dropped at home or the cars getting traded at 75k

[@attunedofficial]

South Carolina is about to introduce a law that bans squatted trucks. Can I get an Amen?

[@magma_plays8269]

Amen

[@brendaoviedo6679]

After replacing the transmission on a HHR do you have to recode or reprogram it?

[@AnthonyThompson-dt2sc]

Did you have to reprogram the transmission?

[@AndrewAsmussen]

You can do this without the engine support bar you can literally let the engine hang from the mount to give you more room and a better angle

[@shojay9270]

Thank you for taking the time to make this video. I just wish you showed us viewers on how to remove the cv shafts. I was waiting for it and it didn't happen. You kind of skipped over that part. What is the purpose of removing the steering rack and pinion?

[@attunedofficial]

I had lost the footage of that part sadly. I thought I had covered it in my Cop car suspension/brakes video I did on this, but I double checked and I only talk a bit about it, since I wasn't going that far. The reason you have to disconnect the rack is because it is attached to the engine cradle subframe, by way of 2 18mm bolts from the top as well as the tie rods. seems easier than disconnecting hydraulic lines and taking the rack out all the way. If you notice I leave the rack hanging in the engine bay as well. Steering wheel still hooked up. My advice on the CV axles, use a prybar or 2 VERY carefully and evenly pull the cup section from the tranny. There is a lock ring that holds it in. The big nut I think is either a 33 or 35mm. use the torque suggested by your part. Tip : You don't have to disconnect the strut. but watch those abs and brake lines, don't stretch them. loose the attach points if you have to. Here a link for the rest. kzbin.info/www/bejne/bWnGfp2ZfZV1aZI Good luck with it.

[@shojay9270]

@@attunedofficial Hey you replied! Thanks buddy☺. Ok now i understand about the rack and pinion. It is attached to the subframe. Do you mean the K-member that you dropped? Ok so you are saying use a pry bar on the cv shafts? Like literally put the pry bar between the shaft and the tranny and start prying? What do you mean by Cop car? I never realized HHR's were used by law enforcement? Anyway, I am exploring the possibility of doing a transmission swap on my winter beater. I am sure you may have figured out I am a diehard HHR fan. These cars get so much hate and push back from people. So why not love these cars. I have the 2009 SS with 158,000 miles on it. It is on its second engine. The transmission is holding up well currently. It's the 2006 LT that I own that has a sketchy transmission in it. It is a cherry Silver 06 I bought from North Carolina and the original owner gave it so much love, it looks like it is brand new. I will make a video about it soon. It has the rocker panels and the heated leather seats. Great winter car. It has the 2.4 in it so I can do massive burnouts....ok I'm kidding about the burn outs😂. Anyways my 06 is an automatic. What the tranny does is this: The initial shift from 1st to 2nd is a rather hard shift. Like from a red light, I step on the gas....we move....the shift into second gear, I can feel it going in hard and not smoothly. Third hear and overdrive are smooth. It's just the initial shift. That's the only concern I have with this 134,000 mile one owner car. I wish it didn't do this. I am concerned it will eventually not come out of first gear and leave me far from home nursing it all the way home in first gear. So I thought why not swab transmissions. I found refurbished 4T-45E automatic transmissions online for $1,675.00 plus core🤤. But the car would be like brand new again. So I am confident if watch your video and picked at my car and did a little bit a day over a span of time, I can do this job. This is something I would work on over next summer while this car is sitting in my garage. This car sits all spring and summer while I am driving my SS. What do you think I should do? Absolute pleasure chatting with you sir. Oh and thank you for the link you sent me. I will watch it this afternoon. Thanks buddy!

[@attunedofficial]

@@shojay9270 at about 138:00 here I put the CV axles back in at least, but yeah I used the prybars on the CV axles themselves. You can do it with one pry bar slowly working pressure from side to side until you overcome the ring, but if you can work 2 prybars, that is best. There probably is some special chevy tool out there for it hehe. They made the cop car suspension for the Cobalt, which is the same for the HHR sadly. They were not a bad design, but consider these were designed for a regular car first, so upgrading to the cop car suspension just seemed logical. There was a deal from amazon from Detroit Axle. I want to say the whole suspension upgrade was less than 200 for parts.

[@shojay9270]

@@attunedofficial Yes I do remember seeing you putting the cv axles back in. I am just concerned I will not be able to get them loose if I try this project. I did watch some videos of people pulling cv axles off Chevy cobalts so that's pretty close. So it is possible I guess. Hopefully I won't have to do this though. I will see how the car performs after the transmission fluid/filter change I plan on doing to it this month. Maybe that abnormal shift will go away. Thank you for the reply. Greatly appreciated on all that you have done to help us viewers.

[@shojay9270]

Hi there it's been a long time. I am the person that has commented on your hhr videos before and I greatly appreciate you responding. I am back with a new question. This is about my silver 06 LT. I have to change out the thermostat tomorrow and I was wondering if you could let me know how would I go about burping the air out of the system once I complete the install? I am certain I will have air in the cooling system after I change out the thermostat and there is limited room under the hood. Any insight would be greatly appreciated. Thank again and be well. Jason.

[@plars3n]

Thank you for this and I love the music! Do you have a song for a brake job?

[@attunedofficial]

I'll be doing a video putting drilled and slotted rotors on a Miata eventually, but real life stuff has the channel on hold atm

[@robertlarsen4570]

Love the song 🎵

[@koryw53]

What is the part number for the transmission. This is my first attempt with a transmission. My brothers HHR is done and don’t want to accidentally get the wrong one .

[@attunedofficial]

I had gotten a different part number from the scrap yard. I think the important thing is to make sure it uses the same engine. I kept my torque converter and shift module, but also kept the salvage ones as spares. Just did a balancer delete, and the tranny is still going strong.

[@christhebassest]

Did you have to change the tcm when you swaped the trans?

[@entrim]

Did that transmission work out? I thought about a junkyard transmission, but not sure I would trust it

[@attunedofficial]

Yes, it's great, even tho I dog this thing pretty hard. I will be uploading a balancer delete video soon as well, and yes, I do it in my front yard WITHOUT removing the engine =)

[@anthonypapaleo1940]

I have to give kudos to work with limited amount of tools .. was the last trans had a crack in it to cause a leak ? Good job

[@attunedofficial]

No, actually my wife was driving it and hit a giant exhaust manifold that kind of blended into the road until she was on top of it. Here's a link to that video with the dashcam. kzbin.info/www/bejne/hpmqf3auha5gmrs

[@thomasorta4297]

is automatic o manual transmission?

[@shojay9270]

Hey just watched your video again. Actually I have watched it many times and enjoy it:) We chatted before and I am at 1:32:12 in the video which draws a question: Were the cv shafts hard to get back in? You didn't show us how you removed them in the beginning of the video, so I waited to the end hoping you would show the shafts going back in, but nothing lol. No big deal I watched cobalt cv shafts come out, I was just wondering how you went about it. Oh and how many days did it take you to complete the whole job? My 09 HHR SS is pushing 160K so I am already starting to prepare in case the car shows and symptoms that the trans would have to come out. I take it down south every summer and it would be a nightmare if the trans failed on me. Thank you again for taking the time to make this video. It is GREATLY appreciated:)

[@attunedofficial]

I make sure the opening in the ring is on the underside before getting it started by setting the shaft mostly in, maybe to the ring. Once the tip is in and the ring is in position (sorry if this sounds like sex toy instructions) I pull back slightly and treat the middle section like a slide hammer. Note, Usually don't ever need a hammer, but if you fell the need to overcome the ring, use the old nut to protect the threads, and tap lightly. If it is straight, it will go right in. If you whale on it you caould damage the bearings in your new axle, so try to get it by hand first. No tools needed, at least for that part of it.

[@shojay9270]

Heyyy buddy how have you been:) thank you for replying. So basically I have to get a running head start and yank on the cv shafts to free them? I figure you used a pickle fork to free yours. I see there is a clip on the inner of the shafts that lock them in place. That seems easy getting them out, it's putting them back in may be a different story. This looks like the most challenging part of the whole job? Could I be wrong? I forgot to ask are all automatic transmissions for the HHR the same even though I have the SS model with the 2.0L Turbo engine? Just curious. Some of your content in your response was funny lol I'm sure you what I mean. Such a pleasure chatting with you again.

[@attunedofficial]

@@shojay9270 No, don't yank to remove. I did not use a fork, but the lock ring will cause it to separate in the boot if you just yank. I used a couple prybars and both sides of the cup section of CV axle. try to work pressure back and forth by adjusting the force you exert on the pry bars. The housing is aluminum so don't pry that hard. It's not so much the force, but pulling it out straight AND overcoming the lock ring. Being straight matters the most. ( I mis read that earlier and thought you just needed help getting it back in) Also, I think they are the same, at least in design.

[@attunedofficial]

@@shojay9270 one more thing, I think these shaft tips are double headed, meaning the spline part has a lock ring on both the cup side and input side, making that piece independent, and may separate with either part, not a big deal if it does, but it happens.

[@shojay9270]

@@attunedofficial I greatly appreciate all of this. Hopefully the car will hold together for a few more years before I have to go this job. I am sure I will reach out to you again. Have a good day buddy:)

[@BSD2000]

I have a 2009 Chevy HHR, 2.2l with 181k miles and it slips in drive but has a normal, strong reverse. With the front end up on jack stands, the front tires rotate and the trans goes through the gears as normal with no load. Speedo works. On the ground and in drive, it will creep forward but as soon as you hit the gas it just revs and stops moving. I tried changing the trans filter and new fluid and the pan looked clean - no noticeable particles and the magnet had a small amount of metal 'paste' residue, nothing that looked serious for such high mileage. The CEL is off and there's no codes stored or otherwise when checking with my Launch OBD scanner. Any ideas?

[@attunedofficial]

Hard to say, I would think maybe the torque converter, but I would think it would affect reverse too so idk. These are famous for bad connections, and considering where the fuse box is and all, check to make sure EVERYTHING around there has a good connection. HHRs are notorious for various fault, even random engine stalls, whenever someone messes around there and looses something up by accident.

[@Gekgothelizard]

Where are you at I need your help with taking my transmission out

[@attunedofficial]

I was in South Carolina, but have relocated. I just recently got internet working kinda ok where I am at now. I'm not ready to do a location reveal yet tho, soon.

[@brodiebryant5164]

How is it that you damaged the tranny trying to get the bolt OUT. Righty tighty lefty loosey. The direction of pressure to cause damage like that would be tightening the bolt. 🤔

[@Jay-zk7xk]

If you pay attention he says something in the road hit it and he was joking about the ratchet .

[@attunedofficial]

@@Jay-zk7xk got him hehe

[@brendaoviedo6679]

What year is this HHR?

[@marcusshadows6494]

It's called the front pump seal

[@attunedofficial]

Yeah that one hehe, but yeah if you're there, it's cheep and easy enough, was all I was saying🤔

[@kamalabbady6778]

Music is really annoying

[@andrewbrown8872]

I would have someone weld up the old trans

[@attunedofficial]

I was going to turn it in for core, but waited too long. I ended up keeping the torque converter for a spare and I scrapped the rest sadly.