So i was driving my 2006 hhr down the road, got to a stop sign , and boom no forward drive. I could only reverse. Since the tranny wasn't slipping beforehand and it happened suddenly, i looked into the issue. After 4 hours i found that the welding in the forward drive lube pipe tends to crap out.
dropped the transmission pan / filter and found the tube pipe (held in by 4 bolts) was indeed busted at the very tip. Replacment was $100 and now shes back in business. So if this happens to anyone else, drop that tranny pan and see if the forward drive lube pipe is damaged in anyway. Hope this helps someome else!

 

Yep, a very common issue with the 4T40E automatic transmissions .
Thanks for the information! Glad you got yours fixed!

 

Aren't the HHR transmissions the 4T45 ?

 

Yes, but the problem was very big for the 40 and I’ve heard the 45 has the same tubes.