Hey all my cousin has a 1998 dodge neon 2 door with the 2.0l DOHC ( im pretty sure its the DOHC)and a 5 spd tranny and a bit over 90 000km, when he starts up the car and its cold outside theres a rattling noise coming from the transmission , the car drives normal all gears go in as usual and clutch dosent slip or anything once the car warms up the niose goes away. He took it to a shop and the mechanic told him he needs his transmission rebuilt or get a new one of a scrap yard. So my question is can this really be the transmission goin bad like its only got 90 000km ( he got car with around 60 000km) he dosent beat on the tranny either. And my other question is will a 5 spd tranny from a second gen neon bolt up to his or are they diffrent.

Any info or ideas about wut this could be greatly apreciated.

 

Your mechanic is simply trying to bend you over and do something wrong. My Neon does it, my friends Neon does it, the Neons at my dads lot do it. This is just one of those little things that Neons have. Theres nothing wrong with your tranny I promis. All of them have that little rattle. Now that said, if its extreamly loud then you could have a tranny problem but I highly doubt you do.

 

as i said on another post that sound is just you clutch release bearing. there is nothing wrong with it and it wont cause any problems. the bearings just get cold, once they warm up the sound goes away. thats why you dont hear the sound when its warm outside. just cold.

 

If it's a high pitched, whiny "singing" noise, the throwout bearing has come loose from its clip. You will want to have it (just the TOB...) replaced as soon as possible. If you don't, the TOB will eventually lose its outer race (e.g. metal part loose in the bellhousing) and eventually eat away at your pressure plate fingers. It only took 3 or 4 months for mine to eat away 9 of the 15 fingers... That's a lot of scrap metal bouncing around in there (I dug most of it out every couple of days until I could get to pulling it apart...).

It's probably a little early to go replacing the clutch at this point. Most can go 100-150k miles without a problem. Pulling the tranny can be done in a day if all goes well and you have 2 or 3 friends to help. Lining the silly thing back up is the hardest part. You'll have to drain the tranny (see below).

Before tearing into the tranny, make sure that there is sufficient tranny fluid in there. There's a rubber plug on the side of the gearcase (not the top of the bellhousing), and fluid level should be within a half inch or so from the top - feel with your fingers (engine off, of course). It also might not hurt to drain and refill with the proper fluid, which is only available at the dealer. Don't tell them you have a Neon, say you have a 2001 PT Cruiser (trust me on this, it's the exact same tranny). It takes 2.3 quarts to fill, so you'll need 3 quarts at $12US per quart or so. DO NOT use ATF3/4 in there. Those do not have the proper additives for the synchros, regardless of what the dealer parts guy tells you. If fluid level is wicked low, then by all means start searching for a replacement tranny... www.car-parts.com is a great place to start.

Best of luck!

 

Wow thx for the quick replys , and yes the trasnsmission fluid was changed about 3 months ago when the niose started i got it at the dealer but i remember telling them it was for a neon but i kno for sure he gave me the right fluid it wasnt Atf it was like manual transaxle fluid or sumithing. Anyways the niose is loud and there is some ratling but i dont want to take a chance and tell my cousin that its just the clutch release bearing and that he can drive it, is there anyway i can check to see if its the throw out bearing and how much and how difficult is it to replace it. Im really happy to hear that you guys know what the problem could be, at one transmision place when i was talkin to the guy he really had no clue what it could be and told me that the niose cant juse stop when it gets warm.
Also when we replaced the fluid i remember my cousin sticking his finger in and he did say that it was full so after what you guys told me im now reassured that its not the transmission just either the throw out bearing or the clutch release bearing.

thank you all now i dont have to look for a new tranny

 

It is most likely in the modular clutch and not the transmission itself.