Ok so when i put my car in reverse...there is this constant...well it's hard to explain...sort of like something spinning around and each time it spins it hits something. and when i'm driving forward weather i'm on the gas or not if i make a right hand turn even on something slight like an off ramp i hear it(just not as loud). Does anyone know what it is? i still have a warranty on my 97 neon(24k miles or 2 years because i just got it from a dealership). Also when i checked my tranny fluid level i could have swore i saw a metallic tinge in the fluid on the napkin i used to wipe the dipstick...is my tranny chewing itself up?

 

I take it you have an ATX if you have the dipstick.

The car in reverse problem happens a lot on stick cars...dunno about auto. If you say right turns make noise I almost wonder if it's one of your CV's is out (probably not this particular item?). When you refer to a metallic tinge, really old tranny fluid tends to accumulate metal. I drained the fluid from my Geo Metro and the drain plug looked like it had some tinges of gray on it.

I *think* the answer is that yes, your tranny is wearing down a bit as all trannys do as they age and get old, but "how quickly" it's being aged I have no clue. I am tempted to suggest for you to change the tranny fluid yourself (drain and refill) and see if that helps, and if it doesn't a trip to the dealership.

 

Yea i know sticks are famous for having bad reverse gears and what not. This might sound dumb but what is a "CV"? And being under warranty i shouldn't have to worry about fixing anything myself but i also don't want to end up driving somewhere very far from home and my tranny starts grinding and spitting. Had that happen to me in my first vehicle(i was pissed)

 

CV boot covers the wheel bearing...I had to replace that on my other vehicle. Supposedly failure of the wheel bearing has the symptoms of making a particular noise when turning in a direction...right turns indicated a wheel bearing failure on the left side or somesuch.

Anyhow, drain and refill tranny fluid might do it. You could check if your CV boot is fine or not. There's a CV boot on each end of the driveaxle, one near the engine and one on the side nearest the wheel. Ideally there shouldn't be any gashes on it...when it does get cut it gets rather messy, it spatters grease on the wheel, probably wheelwell too.

 

worst comes to worst i end up having the car shopped for anything up to a week and have the dealership i got it from paying for the rental(again they had to fix a running rich problem which seems to actually be returning a bit)

 

A neon in the hand is worth two in the shop. ;p

How many miles does the car have? You mentioned the length of your warranty on the car, but how many miles on the vehicle?

 

when i got it...101k now there is 105k....so 20k left on the warranty