My damn car is home finally

"JGrabowMSt" (jgrabowmst) 12/02/2013 at 17:03 • Filed to: trannyproblems

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So Oppo, I'm wondering if there's a trans person who could give some insight into this, and if I'm either right, or horribly wrong...

From the beginning:

2004 Dodge Neon SXT 5spd. Bought it from a sort of local dealership, transmission made considerable noise. What did my dad do? Had the dealership check the fluid levels.

Fast forward, car made a ton of noise when cold. Drained the trans fluid, and my dad put in some bastard mixture of motor oils. Made the car quieter. After discussing this with a former trans shop owner, he said it was like putting peanut butter in compared to water. Thicker fluid prevented a portion of the noise.

Fast forward some more...Trans pukes a bearing, three holes in the transmission casing, fluid completely gone, car towed to a trans shop, I had a pulled trans put in. Lasted a good semester until the trans started making noise in the cold. My dad, being my dad, had the trans shop put a brand new trans in the car. Mopar genuine $3300 later, car was back on the road.

Just shy of two years later, hit a deer, car had a shit ton of body work, and the emergency brake cable was stretched out (presumably from the tow truck) but that's not the issue. He claims the trans is making noise again. Trans shop said the car is fine road tested and ready to go. I trust this shop because they treated me very well and come highly recommended.

I'm suspicious that the output shaft of the motor into the trans may be slightly out, but I could be wildly wrong. I don't beat on the car as I depend on it as a daily driver. There's no reasoning with my dad, so I'm just looking for some clarification from a reliable source about whether I'm crazy or not. I wont be driving it until tomorrow, so I'm not waging any bets on whether it actually is making noise or not, but going by this info, I think someone who knows the ways of the tranny well could wager in on what could be the problem. FWIW, right now, as cold as it is, car makes no noise when starting up. And the wheel bearings are new, so it can't be that...

Lumpy44, Proprietor Of Fine Gif > JGrabowMSt 12/02/2013 at 17:11

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Random oils into the tranny, his vehicle IQ must be pretty low if that is what happened. I know hes your dad, but common man!

So long since you hit the deer?

Your dad says there is a noise but it is your DD? Do you hear the noise?

Are you talking the car being cold or it actually being cold outside?

What is the noise?

JGrabowMSt > Lumpy44, Proprietor Of Fine Gif 12/02/2013 at 17:24

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There's a few reasons my dad and I don't particularly get along very well, and this car is one of the bigger reasons.

He's referring to gear noise in 4/5 gears. I hit the deer about a month ago, car just came home today. After the car was done at the body shop (about 2 weeks after hitting it) my dad picked up the car and claimed the trans had no fluid in it. He said he tried adding fluid, and it came right back out completely black. Had the car towed to the trans shop, where it was the emergency brake assembly making the noise in drums (nothing to do with the trans at all). I stopped at the trans shop before I went home today to ask about all this, but the owner, who dealt with my dad, wasn't in, and the mechanic I spoke to didn't work on the car. I'm going to try stopping in another day to see if I can find out what my dad may have been trying to do.

I will find out in the morning if there is a noise, I have too much work to get done to take it out tonight. It is actually pretty cold out, morning temps when I leave are in the 30's now, so if there really were bad bearings in the trans, it's a noise I'm all too familiar with, and I would know right away.

He claims I'm shifting too early and making the engine do extra work. He also claimed I was racing with the neon, and that's why the first trans died (not because it made noise when he bought it, of course). If anyone can attest for how I drive, it's my girlfriend, and compared to everyone she knows that also drives manual, I'm the best. I know I'm not perfect, but the car isn't jerking around, even at low speeds. Of course I once in a while wind the car up a little, but it's a Neon, they're prone to failure left and right, so I stay well ahead of the maintenance for a reason. I have a couple friends who work in shops, and we trade work, so I'll leave it with them for the work day and get it later. On occasion I've gone parking lot mechanic on it, but not recently. Short of the deer, I wasn't having any problems with it.

Bird > JGrabowMSt 12/02/2013 at 17:30

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I thought you were looking for an entirely different kind of 'trans person'.

This post was definitely not as interesting as I was expecting...

Now on topic to your actual post, I don't know if a front end collision with a deer would do enough frame damage to put anything that far out of whack. Maybe, but that would have to be one hell of a buck. Do these cars generally have transmission problems? Third transmission making noise sounds more like it could be bad engineering...

JGrabowMSt > Bird 12/02/2013 at 17:53

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My dad made the grand decision of buying this for $6800, instead of an early return lease model Kia Rio hatchback for something around $8000. Neon had 57k miles when bought, the Rio had less than 9k with plenty of time left on the factory warranty.

Bad engineering doesn't even begin to describe this car. The trans problems go long back before I hit the deer. I hit the deer in the beginning of november, the newest trans was dropped in winter 2010 (got the car right after new years 2011 if I'm remembering this all correctly.

Damage to the car from the deer was all cosmetic, the trans problems are more of either a congenital defect or a pre-existing condition.