I have a 2003 Neon SXT ~160k miles. when I accelerate my steering wheel will flop to one side and when I brake or downshift my steering wheel will straighten back out. I've been replacing parts left and right trying to fix this problem but I'm at the end of the line. I've already replaced my Lower control arms, sway bar links, driver side axle, brakes, calipers, rotors, strut mounts, and struts. I've also replace the upper and lower engine mounts on the passenger side. my tie rods feel secure and every mechanic says that they look good. transmission was replaced with a used one less than 20k miles ago. does anybody have any idea what causes this.

 

How's the alignment?

 

alignment is just fine... i'm replacing the actual motor mount (as opposed to the torque mounts) so that should stop the shaking. i kinda doubt it will cause the steering to stop snapping back though. could it be the power steering. or is the engine rising out of the motor mount at higher revs?

 

If the mounts are bad, they will cause all sorts of NVH. Use Dodge ones though as aftermarket ones are not fluid filled.

 

did the problem start after a repair?...after the used trans went in?


the only way to verify the alignment is to have it aligned. Anytime the sub-frame is removed ie trans replacement...it should be aligned.

 

It was aligned after most of the above replacements but that changed nothing
It started a short while after the transmission was replaced. I also noticed that my mechanic didn't replace the transmission mount when he did the transmission replacement so I'm putting a new mount in tomorrow morning along with a passenger side front CV Half shaft assembly.

 

Interesting, I did a job on a neon with new strut kits, inner & outer tie rods, sway bar bushings, end links, control arm bushings as well and its doing this similar issue after a full alignment. The struts made the front 1 inch higher, could cv axles going bad but dont make noise do this? I checked the nuts on each spindle they are tight, re torqued the control arm bolts. Im stumped unless all 4 motor mounts are shot but the passenger side unit isnt cracked & the motor doesn't rock back an forth when I have the parking brake on with hood up & looking at the motor under brake & acceleration it doesn't move more then 1 inch but am sure the upper & lower needs to be re adj to spec. I just am at a loss here

 

Well I'm about to replace the final motor mount and the cv axle as I'm typing this so I'll update you when the job's done

 

im wondering if the axles on this one are shot but they don't pop or click like most do when worn out

 

So after 100 miles and some hard turns I no longer have a steering problem. Turns out that passenger side cv half shaft was pretty bad.