camaro98z28

So far mine is great. had to break in the tranny but works fine for me. 800 miles and counting.

Programmer

I've got 7000 kms on my HHR SS now, and while it shifts fine, there's a pretty noticeable clunk every time time I shift (you can hear it and feel it) and a nasty whirring, chattering sound whenever I let off the gas and coast or decelerate under engine braking. I can actually make the clunk happen even when sitting idling in neutral and shifting in to 1st or 2nd gear.

The dealership heard the noises and said they were probably normal, but they don't have another 5-speed SS to compare with. I hope these aren't normal noises, because they make the car sound and feel really cheap

On the upside, I'm just finishing a big roadtrip through California on some great twisty roads and freeways, and the power and handling of the SS has been fantastic - I lost count of how many people I passed. It's especially fun dispatching 3 or 4 cars at once on one of those tiny little short passing lanes in the mountains Still doesn't make up for the nasty sounding tranny though...

Unclesams_SS

New clutch and transmission on order. Now I get to play the waiting game.

boosted

not to knock ya or anything but alot of clutch and tranny problems are due too the way you drive them.I have been in the dealership buisness for 20yrs and i can tell you that we never get the whole truth behind a major failure.
Hey you just might have had a bad part?...

Unclesams_SS

If it comes with a launch and no lift shift program, you would think Chevy would engineer it to take some abuse. Also it is an SS so it will get driven as such, other wise why buy a performance type car.

I'm not yelling at you "boosted" I'm just stating my opinion.

msaner

Hey Boosted.....My clutch broke after 50 miles, and I babied it the whole time. It was definately not due to the way it was being driven.

Nebulous1

Most parts typically have a "bathtub" failure pattern. That is, a relatively high initial failure rate, due to manufacturing defects. Then followed by a period of low failure rate as the manufacturing defects have failed, but the parts haven't worn out. Then followed by an upward slope of increasing failures as the parts wear out. (So the failure plot looks like a bathtub.) I didn't seem Uncle Sam's mileage when the transmission failed, but unless he has abused it insanely or has a hell of a lot of miles on it for a first year vehicle, a failure at this stage is statistically much more likely to be caused by a manufacturing defect.

Unclesams_SS

7,200 miles

Trans problems since 1,000 miles

Jeda13

My tranny is "clunky" Hope it's not a bad one. My Honda Civic is buttery smooth. The HHR SS shifts like my Jeep (that has a tranny badly in need of a re-build) I only have 700 miles on it so I'll let you know what happens. Build date was 01/08.

JIm

Unclesams_SS

Well I finally got my car back today, the service writer said they took it out for a drive and every thing works great. Well they must of forgot to try and shift it into 5th gear. Because it will hardly shift into 5th, it feels like I'm going to break the shifter.

Needless to say the car is going back again.