Greetings,
I recently acquired an 03 Neon, SE, 4 cyl, AT.
Engine runs right, tranny.......advertised with issues. Ok.
It was slipping gears while taking it home. Research indicated bad shift solenoid. Ok, not expensive, changed it.
Dropped the pan. NOTE: The fluid was a little thick, "milky" pink/grey. Hmmmm... So, replaced the filter, re-installed the pan, and added new fluid (ATF+4).
Initially, it was shifting great (yeah!). Smooth through all the gears. I was happy. I drove the car about 40 miles and all was well. BUT, it was short lived.
At freeway speed, it started to "buck". I was able to exit and creep out of traffic lanes, but it ultimately lost drive (connection).
After turning off the engine for a few minutes and letting it "rest", it will creep forward slowly, then lose drive, lightly buck and produce a "grinding" sound. No reverse at all. Things were going so well for those first 40 miles. It seemed that new fluid an filter was the answer. But, no. What the heck? Thank you for any advice. Peace. Gp

 

I've changed fluid/filters on transmissions before and it actually made things worse.

 

The look of the tranny fluid on the pan drop sorta sounds like a radiator tranny fluid heat exchanger coolant leak into the tranny fluid?
How does the tranny fluid look now?
After the shift solenoid replacement & reinstalling the pan, did you continue on with a full tranny fluid pump out, to rid the valve body, torque converter, cooler & lines of old fluid, or did you just refill the pan & go?

 

I did just what you described.
I installed the filter, closed the pan up and topped it off.


Hmmm....
I take it that if the cooler is in the radiator (and it's leaking), the radiator will have to be replaced(?)


Might mean I need to replace the filter (again), button it up and THEN get it flushed and filled(?)


Sound right?


Even this sounds easier than replacing the tranny.

 

Ok, good feedback. SO, lets think about this some more. Seeing as how you didn't perform the full fluid pump out, the new fluid is likely contaminated with whatever was in the remaining old fluid, so possibly could explain it behaving ok for a while BUT coolant, if present in our tranny fluid, isn't friendly to clutch material, so it's unknown if it's already damaged the material, or if it's because the old fluid & any additional coolant has further contaminated the new/old fluid mix & continues to cause mischief?
So, right now you also don't know if the radiator is leaking coolant into the tranny fluid, or if you have another kind of problem.
So, how does the radiator coolant look right now?
If you disconnect say the lower tranny line at the radiator, does coolant leak out of the line?
If you remove the radiator cap & pressurize the system to spec, do you get coolant leaking out the disconnected tranny line radiator connection?
If so, you'd have a couple of options, a new radiator, or plug the existing radiator tranny line connections & add a external tranny cooler, the least favorable option imo.
EDIT: Does the tranny fluid level now seem to be overfilled?
More thoughts for pondering, let us know what you find.

 

Well, I took the Neon in for a evaluation / diagnostics on the tranny.
Turns out the tranny is shot. No 2nd, 3rd, or 4th and it has no reverse.
So, I'm sitting on the fence about replacing the tranny, or selling it (needing a tranny). If I approach it as a component change, I'm sure I could do it. Maybe flip a coin(?).
Thanks for you responses. Gp

 

Ok, good feedback, but sorry to hear they think the tranny is history. But lets think about tis some more.

Since your considering replacing the tranny, did you, or the shop come think there was coolant in the tranny fluid & that's what took it out? If so, you'll want to put that problem right before replacing the tranny, lest the problem also take out the replacement.

More thoughts for consideration, let us know what you decide & how it goes.

 

Yes, I did consider the presence of coolant.
If I decide to replace the tranny, I will also replace the radiator to address even the risk of cross contamination. Thanks.

 

Did the shop think/determine if there was coolant in the tranny fluid?

 

Have you had a shop pull transmission trouble codes? Mine was doing crazy stuff like your describing. All of the shops wanted to replace my transmission. I replaced the oil pump, installed an updated solenoid and never had another issue.