Hello,

My name's Ben and I'm new to the Dodge world. My sister totaled her '03 Neon SXT (4cyl, 2.0L) (80,800 mi) back before Christmas. She bought an '03 Civic to replace it, and I'm currently in the midst of getting the Neon fixed to get back on the road.

I'm no mechanic but have excellent mechanically skills as I own an Audi (if you know anything about German luxury cars...you understand what I mean lol). However, on our forums we do a LOT of DIY/How-to's and post them in a section of our forum. I have tried searching the DIY section on this forum and it seems very hard to navigate around to find specific DIYs on the 2nd Gen Neon (always seems to come up things for RAMs, Durangos, etc.)
I'm a missing something here? lol

The main DIYs I'm looking for are the front rotors/pads and rear drums/shoes. It is one of the last things I am going to replace on her Neon as I've read all about braking issues w/ Neons and hers looks pretty rusted. The girl hardly even cleaned out the cabin, let alone do I think she worried about replacing drums when they should've been! I know they do squeal an awful lot. So I went to Advanced Auto and picked up Wearever rear drums ($30/pc), Wagner Ultra-quiet Brake Shoes, 1 Set (4) Bosch Copper Super+ spark plugs (which took me 11 mins to install! I was AMAZED at how easy it was compared to the Audi rotfl - I loved it!) and then went over to Autozone where they had the Wagner Left & Right Drum Auto-Alignment kit, & New rear drum hardware kit. I was told it is best to replace the hardware/alignment kits whenever you're doing new drums as the old ones can get rusted up and seize, affecting your braking performance.

Coming from an Audi and all previous cars of mine having disc brakes on all 4 wheels, I am unfamiliar with the drum setup and exactly how about to go changing them with the new alignment/hardware kits. I haven't disassembled anything yet, as I'm a research than do sort of guy. So any help that you fine gentlemen or ladies can assist me with, including tech/DIY articles with perhaps photos, would be highly appreciated as I'd like to knock out all four wheels this weekend.

One more thing - I had read on Car Complaints about '03-05 Neon's losing their tranny's early, and a few had said "Pay the $60 and buy a transmission cooler!" Well, I have that ordered and in the mail as we speak - am I doing the right thing, here? I suppose in the Neons they either lack an OEM cooler in the bottom half of the Rad or if it is supplied, it doesn't do a very good job? Any input on this, folks?

I kindly thank you,

- Ben -

P.S. After rotors/pads/drums/shoes are complete, in case you were wondering, I just need to do a little bit of welding under the radiator support, finish painting the bumper/fenders/hood and reassembling. As far as the engine/tranny, I do not believe anything was touched in the accident - I did end up having to do fix the power steering pump/reservoir, however - and then will research PA's laws of everything I have to do to get her back on the road (Advanced state inspection, etc.) I'm looking forward to having a little fun with the Dodge though!

 

Anyone? I plan on knocking these all out tomorrow (drums, shoes, rotors, pads, and tranny cooler which just came in 2 days ago). The tranny cooler instructions are on the box but aren't the MOST detailed. Does anyone have any pics of the coolant lines coming from the tranny that I will be using? The only damn tech articles I can find are for the RAM.

 

Here is a link for the tranny cooler. Lots of good info. https://dodgeforum.com/forum/2nd-gen...on-cooler.html

Basically take a new hose from the return port on the lower radiator , it goes to the new coolers intake, then a hose from the new cooler back to the tranny return. Works grreat for me.

Tranny > Radiator > Tranny cooler > Tranny


As far as breaks, the front are easy, remove the wheel, remove the caliper (two bolts) and the rotor will slid off. Pull old pads out, compress the piston, put new pads in, put new rotors on, slide the caliper on and bolt it up. Last would be bleeding the brakes.
The rear is alot more work....... getting the drum off will be a pain in the *** if there is rust, then take a pic or two of the inside, pull it all out. Print the picture and put it all back in. I hate doing drums, it takes forever, but that is how I do it!

Hope that helps! Good luck!

 

Thanks NHarinton for the info! You were right, my friend! The first time I have ever dealt with the drum/shoe setup and one side has taken me ALL day! It took me over 2 hrs to get that damn drum off! Her neon's an '03 w/ 80,800 miles and I don't think she's EVER replaced the rear drums/shoes. Ever! It was so rusted on, the drum was actually rusted onto the shoe! A big hunk of the shoe broke off of itself when I was prying the drum off. Unbelievable.

As far as the shoe setup goes, with some help from my friend w/ an 04 MTX Neon & blackberry messenger, it didn't take me long to understand each piece of the new hardware kit/self adjuster kit. I understand the basic concepts of the whole drum/shoe setup now.

My only problem is, I have the new shoes, retaining clips, e-brake washer, top spring, and self adjusting kit all on! (ha...finally!) I can NOT get the two bottom springs on! Is there a trick to Dodge's madness to get these two springs? Joe told me to use a Phillips screwdriver and pliers. Does anyone else have a better/easier way? My problem is b/c of the tension, it slips off of the screwdriver. Any help is appreciated! TIA!

 

thats how i do it, work it with a screw driver

 

The idea with putting a separate transmission cooler on these cars is to avoid coolant and ATF mixing together when the factory cooler breaks internally, and that mixture getting into the transmission and eating away the internals (clutch packs). If you leave the factory cooler hooked up to the system, you've just wasted $60-$100. The idea is to go from the transmission, to the aftermarket cooler, and back to the transmission with a cooler that is pretty much a direct replacement size, or, a tad bigger with a thermostat installed. If the fluid cools too much, that is bad as well as it won't properly heat up, leading ultimately to the fluid becoming sludge.

 

Thanks for the info darthroush I've read MANY of your threads/replies to others to get a better understanding on this situation. I have the new tranny cooler already which came with new hose, clamps, etc. but if I'm going to bypass the OEM cooler, I don't know if I bought the right one/a good one. It's a "Flex-A-Lite, Translife" for the 03-05 Neon. Also not sure how about to installing a thermostat on one of these - I've never owned a car that required an additional trans cooler...lol so this is all new to me

 

I looked those up. Really, even the smallest one looks like it should do just fine. The smallest is rated for 9,000GVW. Well above the Neon. What's the part number on the one you have?

 

Flex-A-Lite P/N 41186 (7.5"x15"x3/4") Trans. Oil Cooler 18,000 GVW with 6AN fitting - Thank you for helping me on all of this guys, I really appreciate it Can't wait to get her up and running again!

Now according to the installation instructions on the back, they are suggesting not bypassing the OEM cooler - should I do this, or bypass the system?

Instructions according to Flex-A-Lite (which seem simple enough):
After mounting the Flex-A-Lite (which I should install on the pass. side in front of the radiator, correct? That would be the side with my return line...), and with the engine cool, d/c the tranny fluid return line from the Rad and catch oil as it drains, attach correct hose adapter fitting into the tranny oil return line and rad oil return fittings, cut a piece of hose to reach from the rad fitting to the oil cooler hose fitting. Attach hose with clamp provided (do not over tighten). Use another length of hose to attach the tranny oil return line to the remaining oil cooler fitting. Attach using hose clamp. Avoid sharp bends or kinks in the hose. Check and replace transmission fluid as required.

Now that leads to my last question regarding this procedure. She currently has 80,800 miles on her and I'm sure my sister has never serviced the tranny...so I would love to replace the fluid and filter. I went out and bought 5 quarts of ATF+4 - however on one of the threads I see the capacity calls for 8-9 quarts for the entire system. Just by detaching the return line and letting the oil drain, I know it won't drain the torque converter - but about how much tranny fluid do you think I will need? I don't want to over fill the system, but also don't want to start the vehicle with not enough. How much should be a good starting point to add before starting the vehicle and going through all the gears, to ensure they will be properly oiled?

 

An 18,000 GVW cooler is more than enough for a Neon. You should probably invest in a thermostat for that monster. The fluid can actually be cooled too much. I mean, it is a good idea to get a bit bigger one if you are replacing the factory unit, instead of supplementing it which is the "normal" use of a cooler, but too big can be bad if it isn't regulated. The whole idea of this "mod" is to bypass the factory unit which can leak and destroy the transmission.

You can drain the torque converter with the line off too. That's the proper way to flush a transmission, actually. Read a bit down here until you get to James Bottger's method, about 1/4 way down. http://www.allpar.com/eek/atf.html That's the way to do it. As for how many quarts, just buy a case and have some spare fluid for either the transmssion and your power steering. Hey, there you go. Any extra ATF+4, use it change the P/S fluid. As for the level, you are generally just going to have to go by the dipstick. The only way you could just simply pour in X amount of quarts is if you can fully drain all of the fluid at once, like in the engine. Generally doesn't happen in a transmission unless you completely rebuild it. Based on my experience, if there isn't enough fluid, the car won't be going anywhere anyways. Mine wouldn't even shift out of park until there was enough fluid.