It's a cold solder joint. Any tranny shop would pull on all the tubes to be sure they weren't cracked. We did transmissions but we were a full service garage but we knew to do that. This is common across several manufactures.

 

So, death from CO poisoning is a trivial matter? There are flex pipe repair parts available, they require welding and might not be legal in California.
If the flex pipe is cracked there is a good chance that the motor mount is bad. Look through the oblong hole in the passenger side wheel house, if you can't see a bolt head centered the mount is bad. That could affect the shift linkage.
I would look at the shift linkage on top of the transmission before pulling the pan.

 

Could a low fluid level cause this?

 

I told them it was serious they both just shrugged it off. I have told them numerous time. I would say at least 6 to 7 times a month and they don't want it fixed cause im don't weld. They would have let this if it still moved. I never understand people who mistreat a vehicle by waiting until it is a full failure of it. They do and what is bad i told them last time when i fixed the a window motor and the brake and rear signal light numerous times that i was done working on it.

 

That’s a shame, but it’s not going to fix itself and you can’t force them to fix it. It’s their HHR. Very sad 😢 they are not going to fix it.

 

Hi Guys, A couple days before Christmas last December I pulled up to a stop sign and my HHR would no longer go forward. Reverse worked fine. I scoured the internet for clues and found the trans in the HHR and a few other models have a fairly common issue with the forward tube cracking and failing in the transmission pan. The tubes crack at the weld from the pipe to the flange. I had a local trans shop pull the pan and they did indeed find the tube had cracked causing the car to lose forward drive. They welded it back and I got out the door for right about $400 and a 12 month 12k mile warranty. 6 months later and it is working fantastic still. I saw a video on YouTube of a guy tearing down a trans on a bench looking for the issue. The very last thing he did was pull the pan off only to find the cracked tube. It is far less than a replacement trans and well worth checking. I could have bought the part and done it myself but I am old and lazy and left it up to an expert. He said that he had seen it before and was likely caused by years of vibration. I hope this helps someone.

 

Thank you for sharing your repair story.