2003 Dodge Neon SE 90k miles. Sometimes when I hit bumps (they don't have to be aggressive) I hear a clunk come from my front end. I have recently replaced right tie rod end and the left one needs to be replaced but there is not that much play, so I know it is not causing the clunk noise. I have heard a a lot about the motor mounts and I was wondering if there was a way I could test them without having to rip the motor apart.

Also I was wondering where the parking brake adjustment screw is located.

 

To adjust the parking brake, you will need to remove the rear tires to gain access to the rear spindles. Climb under the car and look at the rear dust shield, You should see a black rectangular rubber grommet, remove it and adjust the star wheel on the inside by turning it with a screw driver. (should be the same for discs and drums)

If this doesn't fix your problem, the e-brake shoes may be worn out.

 

What I would suggest is to jack up the car and pull the right front wheel. Remove the plastic cap that covers the right engine mount bolt. Look for seperation between the metal insert (the part the bolt goes through) and the rubber. Have a friend start the car, and put it in drive; have him/her lightly depress the brake; this will cause the motor to torque, and you can watch what that mount is doing. With that many miles on the car I would just go ahead and change the timing belt, water pump, and that right engine mount. I'll bet you lunch the noise goes away.

 

First you have a 03 SE, so that means you have rear drum brakes. There isn't a separate emergency brake pad (that's for disk brakes). Second, you parking brake handle has excessive travel probably caused by pad wear. Since the pads are worn and the emergency brake handle uses the same pads as normal braking, you have to move the handle farther for the pad to engage the drum. Third, both front and rear brakes compensate for wear automatically; you do not have to make manual adjustments (see page 9-2 of the Haynes manual.)

Recommendations: pull the rear drums and inspect the brakes. There is the possibility that dirt and corrosion have prevented the self-adjuster mechanism from operating properly, but if that is the case, you need to get in there to fix that.

 

I'm going to jack my car up tomorrow and let you know how my engine mount looks. I tried to do a quick test and just have my friend put it in reverse and drive but the engine movement didn't look that extreme. Also about the brakes, I think my adjustment star is frozen or backing itself off. My e-brake used to work until I started drifting a ton, now it barely works and I just adjusted the stars the other day, it probably doesn't help that my drums are out of round.

I'll adjust the brakes and look at the mount and do the test and let yall know.

 

Kyle, do not be decieved by the movement of the engine; you need to inspect that mount. If the upper and lower torque struts are in good shape they will keep the engine from moving too far, but the right mount is probably shot & causing your "clunk". If you are driving the car like I think you are, (hard starts and stops) that will take its toll on the engine mounts. Back to the brakes; if you are using the e-brake to get the rear end of the car to slide around that's not drifting. That's the poor man's way (a car without a limited slip differential) to get the back end to come around. Looks cool & it's fun, but I'll bet your rear pads are shot ... drums too (don't know how you know the are "out of round"; it's the inside diameter that matters.) Forget "adjusting" the brakes; you probably need a serious brake job and may have broken some of the self adjuster parts.

 

I messed around with the adjusters today and I got one of them to adjust and the other one is completely unadjusted and the star is frozen, so needless to say I'm not going to have an E-brake for a while because I don't want to tear those things apart again, I do need new hardware though. But the shoes are worn near the top but otherwise basically brand new. One of the drums was out of round when I bought it, the brakes catch and release.

As for the mounts I still have to inspect it, I had one of my friends torque the engine, but still not conclusive movement or sound. Going to check my ball joints again and bushings.

 

Bottom torque arm was cracking severely but not seperated yet. I'm assuming the mid-mount is gone since my ball joints were good and struts and control arm bushings and sway bar looked good.

 

So I replaced the tie rod that had play and that noise is gone, but there is still a noise coming from the right side of the engine, still thinkin mounts.

 

What kind of noise?