I have a 98 neon, 5 speed, My problem is everytime i push in the clutch my transmission makes a loud single click noise, i thought it may have possibly been the axle, but it wasnt, so to rule out everything without taking the tranny out, i drained the gear oil out and put new in it, thinking it may be old or low, and it stopped for about 2 days then it started again, do you thing my tranny is going out, or what?
please help.

 

ide assume its probibly your throwout bearing but, i would take the boot off of the tranny by the clutch cable and with the car off and the assistance of a friend i,de get my buddy to push the clutch while i looked in the "hole in the tranny with a flash light" to try and locate where the sound is coming from. does it make the click when you are not changing gears but only pressing the clutch or does it do it when you are changing gears at the same time?

 

it only does it when i change gears, usually from 1st-3rd not from 4th to 5th and on downshift from 4th-1st, it only does it in the lower gears. but it does it the worst on 3rd down to 2nd, cause i never go into 1st gear pulling in anywhere, lol.
but i can be going down the road, and just to check it, push in the clutch and it will make that noise but only for a second and then nothing else, i thought also it could be the motor mount broke, but i checked all my mounts and they all look good. but if i put the car in 1st while it is turned off and rock the car, it makes the noise everytime i rock it, thats why i thought maybe it was an axle. but i have another transmission from my parts car but, my car is 98 and the tranny i have in the other car is a 96, i reading on the net and there was something about non-modular clutches and modular clutches so i dont know if the one in the 96 will work, and its in a dohc car and mine is a sohc, but i dont think that will make a difference so im not worried about that.

 

Actually you should feel it in the clutch if its the throwout bearing....how bout at takeoff? Does it only do it when you push the clutch or just when u disengage and drive forward or reverse and shifting? Could be a big problem or a minor one.

 

Is the release point of the clutch pedal really, really high? If it is, your throwout bearing may be losing contact with the pressure plate when you push in the clutch and making the clicking noise when you release the clutch pedal, particularly in larger changes in gear ratios. Ideally, the TOB should ride on the pressure plate all the time. Otherwise, the bearing race on the pressure plate side is going to get beat up and eventually fall off. This is bad for obvious reasons. If the race pieces don't cut your clutch to shreds, the remaining sharp edges will cut into the pressure plate fingers and wear them down. I lost 9 fingers before I could get to mine...

The clutch cable is adjustable. You should be able to push in the spring towards the firewall and free the tranny end from the clutch fork. If it seems like you'd need a crowbar to get the cable off the tranny end, the self-adjuster isn't working properly. I have to "trick" the cable by inserting a small fitting between the clutch pedal end and where it meets the firewall (there's a white nipple that sticks out, has to be pushed in for the adjuster to work). It's been like that on 2 different clutch cables on my car, and I've known several other owners who needed to do the same thing... Reattach the cable to the clutch fork, remove the fitting (if used) and pump the clutch cable a few times. The release point should be much further down. I prefer to have it release as far down as possible (about an inch from the floor), which required using zip-ties on the adjuster spring to make it shorter...

I can try to snap off a few pics if you aren't visualizing it. Took me forever (and a wasted clutch) before I finally understood...

Tranny swaps don't matter from year-to-year or clutch-to-clutch, assuming the same bellhousing style (cable clutch vs. hydraulic clutch) is used... If you are going to swap over clutches though, you'll need to make a few changes...

First, you need ot know which clutch you have, and which clutch the donor car has. Assuming they are both stock, the '96-up Neons assembled in the U.S. got the modular clutch, the Neons assembled in Mexico all got the non-modular clutch, as did all 1995 models (10th digit "S"). The 11th digit of your VIN will tell you which assembly plant - "D" for Belvidere (U.S.), "T" for Toluca (Mexico). If it's an aftermarket/performance clutch, it's probably non-modular.

If making the swap from non-modular to modular, you'll need an adapter kit from Mopar (p/n 4856319). This includes a new backing plate (the same driveplate that the atx neons use), the attaching bolts, and a new dust shield with a hole so you can get to the bolts from the back (another way to tell which clutch you have)... If making the swap from modular to non-modular, you'll need the '95 style backing plate and the whole clutch assembly (flywheel, clutch disc, pressure plate, alignment tool).

Best of luck!