Ok, I love my neon to death but it's really starting to **** me off.

As has been covered elswhere I recently swapped out my cooked tranny for a junkyard unit. After a few complications the new tranny was in and working well but leaking badly from both axle seals. Changed out the seals and after a short test drive all seemed well. So on Sat we headed out for a big mopar show about 2hrs from here, after about 45min I pulled over to check on the tranny (and tighten my antenna which was falling off for some reason) and found it to be leaking again. No car show for me, we turned around and went home. Pulled the car into the shop and looked it over, in 1.5hrs highway driving the tranny was hardly down enough fluid to notice, but most of the back half was wet with fluid. Cleaned it all off (again), and took it for a short drive. S.O.B. it's leaking through the top/side of the case on the casting line near the left tranny mount about an inch from the rear-most mount bolt. This is not a good thing. But how bad is it? The leak is really small, on the drive to work today it only leaked a small stream about 3 inches down from the source. There is no visible crack or damage to the case and on closer examination it looks like my old trans was seeping a bit here as well. WTF? So is the case junk or what? Also having already heard of, but not corrected, a potential vent issue could this be the reason it leaks as much as it does even though it's far above the fill level. So... can I save this case and how do you change the vent? The seller will warranty the trans but I'd have to pay shipping costs that would probably be close to what I paid for it in the first place, but still less in total than the cheapest one around here. I also have my old case but I'd rather not get into swapping out the shafts.

What do you guys think?
On top of this the car is also leaking coolant (lower rad hose), and has a suspicious seepage of oil at the head/block junction at the right rear corner. I love my car.

 

Neons will have a tendency to that - **** you off that is. Ah I miss my hondas.....anyway I am assuming the parting line where it is leaking is the one which runs down the backside of the tranny from the mounting tabs and then horizontally over to the diff housing - I went out and checked the one I had in the garage to get an idea what was going on. I also tried to pull out the vent - I thought you had to disassemble the trans to get it out and I think I might actually be right - it turns (so its not pressed in) but it wont pop out - maybe a snap ring or lip on the inside - I dunno and unfourtunately there is nothing in the manual about it. If you have one disassembled anywhere id monkey with that and see how it comes out - if I had all the parts and a ls id start rebuilding mine and let you know but that may be a while yet and i dont need a mess of gears and shafts lying around waiting to get mixed up or moved on me ...

As i see it you have a few options...but first i would try to verify where the crack is and thats not so easy - but if it is really cracked it probably will only get worse due to the transmission housing being torqued and having to support its weight (especially near the mount) and vibrations from the engine and road - neons arent really known for the smoothest of operation as far as NVH is concerned. I'm sure this isnt what you want to hear....

Option 1 - I hate to say this but JB weld could work - honestly I wouldnt do it cus its kind of half assed - but my old 3 wheeler had a few spots of it here and there where the cases had been whacked by a stump or rock and although it still leaked from these spots it was better than the gaping holes that were there.

Option 2 - I'm willing to bet someone that was good with a tig and has experience welding aluminum could lay a quick bead over the parting line, grind it down and have it look like it was never welded - unless this person is you or someone who you are good friends with this might cost a bit and there is the risk of ****ing up the case with too much heat or burning thru and interfering with some of the internals. The advantage of this is that if it done right it would be as strong or stronger than it was originally (whereas the JB weld will hopefully stop the leak but will not keep the crack from spreading). Personally this is little sketchy for my liking, too much could go wrong and your not really sure where the crack is.....

Option 3 - Completely dissasemble the trans - find the crack on the inside (you will hopefully be able to see it) and take the appropriate measures to have it repaired or find a new case that you are positive is not cracked - replace the vent and check all the clearances, syncros and bearings while your in there - if you are going to take the time to take the whole thing apart you might as well make sure its going to be "PERFECT" when you put it back in the car or else you are gonna really "love" your neon if and/or when something else goes screwy. This is a LOT of work - down time and cost on your part but it is really the only option if you want to be positive that you fixed the problem, did everything correctly, and have the piece of mind that if something doesnt work you are the only one who is at fault - I am a perfectionist and id rather know exactly what I did to fix the problem and do it to the best of my ability; then I know exactly who is at fault when and/or if something goes wrong.

Option 4 - Take advantage of your warranty and pray you get a good one this time - this would be your best bet to minimize downtime and hassle. If it were me id give whoever you bought it from hell and try to get out of paying the shipping - there is no reason YOU should have to pay anything for something that is warrantied, not to mention all your wasted time and effort in R & R of the old unit, downtime of the car, etc - make it a point to let them know that your time is no more or less valueable than anyone elses and that word of mouth can really make or break a buisness - I myself always make it a point to promote companies or small buisnesses who make sure YOU, the customer are happy with the goods or service they provide - supply and demand will only drive a buisness so far; repeat customers and reputation are what really make buisnesses grow.

Option 5 - Grit your teeth and bear the leak - if you are anything like me this wont work - it wont help you sleep at night....

Those are the options as I see it - 3 and 4 are the only ones I would even consider doing - but its up to you to make a decision you will be happy with....

As far as the oil leak from your head/block junction....I used to own nothing but hondas (and acuras) and they ALL had oil seepage from the head gasket at the front corner on the trans side I do believe (its been 4 yrs since so my memory is a lil foggy) - even after top end rebuilds - I still have no idea how to stop it, has to be with how the head bolts are layed out and how the clamp load is distributed over the head but it doesnt affect the performance of the engine (just makes it look like a leaky turd)

By this do you mean the right side if you were sitting in the drivers seat or the right side as you are facing the engine? ie timing belt side or trans side?

Let me know and good luck dude!!

 

DONT FORGET OPTION 6!!!! TRADE your neon in on a similar model w/ lower miles and excellent condition. Hell i payed $500 dollars and traded a 91 Grand prix for one so I would go that route personally. You love your neon but you can replace it and love another neon more....

 

hey its kim this time
well we were pissed about tha car show, but at least weve had over a week of ****ty weather it the car is going to break down, its the time. its funny you should mension having a spare to tinker with. currently two on thefloor at the shop theres two and one more to drop out tomorrow. we have to make two into one(bad syncro diff( out of the 97)with the gears off the junckyard tranny which is now in the car. fun. even with the tranny apart it till dosent give much of an idea of how to deal with the vent. so simple, yet so complicated. whats really bugging us is the fact that the tranny was cheap, were still at least $300.00 up on the cheapest one around here. they informed us before we bught that they didnt like shipping so far in case if situations like ours. the problems that we are havng they couldnt have known that there was any problems, so we are still happy that they sent it. as far as the leak goes the thing is that n orderto find/fixthe leak properly it has to come down AGIAN!! Tony should concider himself lucky. i have an excelant boss/partner the shop is mine of we need it,plus you meet a lot different people in this industry we are forturant enough to be able to weld of needed, plus there is always parts closer to cost. reguardless i guess the tanny is comming out agian. thanks for the options. well i guess my Jeep got all the money and time for the past few months, its the cars turn.

 

Ok, sounds good - and are you serious about that vent? it wont come out? let me know how to do it when you figure it out, I didnt figure it would be that bad.....

 

Thanks for the advice so far.

As for the vent replacement we've only looked at it with the tranny case split, haven't started pulling the guts out to get a closer look yet. Priority right now is to get the '00 neon tranny fixed and get it back to it's owner. The less pieces scattered about the less chance of the wrong ones winding up in the wrong tranny. I think for now I may go the JB Weld route just to keep the leaking under control and start cleaning up my old case and have it checked for cracks. Then over the winter while the car is down anyway I'll swap out the case. A guy down the street has blown two tranny's in the past couple months so he may also have a useable case. I don't really like the idea, but I'm just not up for droppin' that thing again right now. I know I could potentially be headed for a catastrophic case failure but with several other vehicles in the yard I can take the chance without fear of finding myself with nothing to drive.

As for the oil seepage it is at the timing belt side but extends about half way acrossed the back of the block. This car has had a gasket change prior to me buying it and you can see that it is the newer MLS gasket. However I have heard of a problem with the length of the head bolt versus depth of the hole at that corner (bolt bottoms out before it's tight). Something else that hopefully can wait till winter, might be a good time for some valve work.

Trading my car isn't really an option for a few reasons; 1) DOHC 5spd coupes are somewhat hard to come by and still demand a hefty price. Kim and her boss bid on a nice one ('98 black cpe) at the auction a few weeks ago but it wound up going for $3800, probably about 3 times what similar SOHC sedan would go for there. 2) We live in salt country and my car hasn't been winter driven in 3 years and is mint underneath. Motor and tranny issues are just excuses to make it better, but a rust bucket will just keep getting worse.

 

You know why that is - the head bolts get stretched when you tighten them and really should be replaced whenever the head is removed but no one does this - that lil bit of stretch, less material on the head if it was machined, or differences in the head gasket thickness could all make that bolt bottom out and only a few thousands would be enough for a leak to start...good call - ill keep that in mind when my head has to come off cus im sure it will eventually...