Well guys my girlfriend's 03 Dodge Neon SXT took a crap the other day. Long story short, her tranny fluid and coolant had mixed together, hence she was having problem getting the car in reverse/drive. After reading on the net, it seems like this has happened to quite a few people. I just picked up a new radiator today and me and a buddy of mine are going to work on her car tomorrow. Unlike my integra, her has the oil cooler lines and such which is now all mixed and looks like tomato sauce. The pressure that was building up was causing it to leakfrom the "coolant resevior" can by the firewall and was dripping ALL over the place.

I told her after i fix it, to sell it for whatever she can get for itand buy a decently used Honda (which i'm more familiar with and get discounted prices for) and personally feel it'll be more reliable.

So far i'm gonna do the following:
-New radiator (already purchased)
-Coolant system flush (probably hook up a hose and run it til all the **** comes out clear)
-Tranny flush (gonna have to take that some where to get done, any recommendations/prices? Figured maybe $80 or so)
-New Coolant and New Tranny fluid.

Wecaught the problem within a day of the tranny starting to slip so hopefully there won't be any damage to it once we're done fixing the situation and hopefully she won't need a new thermostat either since the temps seems perfectly fine. Right now the car is sitting in the driveway (since yesterday) and told her not to touch it lol.

Also her CEL's been on the past month or so. Sometimes it stays on and sometimes it turns off. Pulled the code: P0441 Evaporative Emission Control System Incorrect Purge Flow. Figured it might be a loose gas cap but that didn't fix the situation. If you have any ideas on this also, i'd appreciate it.

 

well changing the trans fluid isnt very hard... then again i have a MTX, so i dont know about an ATX... but there should just be a drain plug on the bottom of the trans housing and then you just fill that sucker up with the trans fluid bottles that come with a little hose and you should be set..... might wanna get a Haynes manual they explain it a little better...

 

Thanks for the reply. I have a 01 integra gsr (manual) and i've changed both a maual and automatic tranny fluids before but on a drain/fill, you never get100% of it out. With power flushing it should remove ALL the crap that's in there. Reason so is because if I just drain/fill the tranny fluid, the remaining bad fluid in there will mix with the new fluid i'd put in and contaminate it. I want to make sure it's all out before putting in the new stuff. I need to make sure the tranny has a good chance to continue working fine like it had in the past.

 

yea but on an Integra you could just drop the whole trans out and clean it all out and put it back in all in the same day... with the neon.... well lets just say its not the easiest thing in the world :-\

 

Yup, that's why I need to take it somewhere to have it power flushed with the machine. I don't have time to drop a tranny right now lol.