I commute 100miles a day, 6 days a week in my neon. Never gave me a lick of problems. always do preventative maintenance(usually with help). I had brakes and hub assemblies next in line. unfortunately yesterday when I was just about home, turning into the hood, i suddenly lost gear and it was making a "zinging" noise. Kinda like a siren. I went to neutral, got up the road a bit and put it back in drive*nothing*, rev'd it up and got enough momentum to coast to the front of the house. Ran it thru all the gears, again*nothing* but a zinging noise.

Thought I broke an axle, so I jacked up one side at a time, to check for free spin, to no avail. Both tires off the ground, and one spins the other, as normal, EXCEPT it was in park. Does anyone know WHAT IS WRONG WITH MY CAR?

 

Do you have a CEL?

 

I've been told the shaft inside of the gearset is prone to breaking on these trannys.

 

No light. Which makes me wonder even more, now that you mention this.
No signs of any problems the whole way home, and even when I got to the stop light and was sitting there, no probs. It was an "all of a sudden" type of thing.

Last time I had a light, it was my CPS. And I believe you pointed me in the right direction on that one as well, darthroush.

I appreciate your input!

 

Can anyone confirm this? And advise if repairable by a somewhat mechanically inclined desk jockey?

Thanks

 

I haven't heard that, but, my car had the oil pump go out. It also apparently happened before because the old parts had "02 Neon" marked on them. Mine did some funny stuff when the pump was going out, including losing all gears and making interesting noises.

 

The front pump would also cause no engagement in any gears.. the only reason I talk about those shafts was something I had heard from an old Chrysler tech who could literally rebuild those 41TEs with his eyes closed.

http://www.stratusphere.net/a604info.html

That link will give you some common problems.

If you search around google long enough I found a decent amount of people where the splines on that transfer shaft I was talking about actually stripped out. So it's hit and miss.

 

He's right about the solenoid packs, come to think of it. Mine always made that buzzing sound and ever since I installed a new one (the latest one as well), I don't recall hearing that noise...I think? lol

 

Thank you both for the all info. I will definitely look into that. Ill keep you posted on how it works out.

 

Well, I installed the new TCS. And I'm getting the same buzzing and no immediate gears.
When I put it in reverse. the buzzing quit, but I didn't move(got excited there for a second). gave it a little gas and it tried really hard to move, but I barely got out of the driveway. So I slowly cycled the shifter for a while to see if it would work itself in, only to move in either direction with winding up RPM's. At this point I'm fed up, and exhausted. Put it in drive, hit the gas and it gradually went uphill to garage door. There it sits.

Also, after the install, but before start up and all 4 were on level ground. I checked T-fluid cold, and it was up on the "hot dots", honestly did not even notice that before. Fired it up, idled for about 15 minutes while I put everything away, checked it again, and it was in same spot.(?) (again, fluid is transparent and clean red, with normal odor.) after dicking around up and down the driveway,, same spot.

This makes me lean to the pump now, also questioning if problems could occur from "over-filling"?