First Timer here. I recently bought an 04 Neon SXT 5 speed and had a few questions/concerns. First, when I am letting the clutch out, at the very end of the pedal travel the car shutters. It only does this when it is completely warm and seems to get worse the longer I drive it. It almost feels like the car is severly skipping, but it only does it when clutch is reaching the end of engagement. Second, there is a whistling noise coming from the engine around the belt(s). If ya'll have any idea as to what these problem please let me know. Thanks.

 

I have an '04 Neon 5 speed that also shutters from a start; it almost feels liek wheel hop.
I'd be interested in what people have to say.

 

Wheel hop, that is exactly what it feels like, any ideas?

 

Maybe the flywheel needs to be surfaced?

 

Flywheel Resurfacing? That seems abnormal for 26,000 miles. What would cause a flywheel to warp?

 

Wheel spinning isn't uncommon in these cars, especially w/ the original tires. I had 130 miles (yes, barely enough time to drive it the weekend) before I knew those Firestones had to come off for something better. Unfortunately, I went w/ a hard rubber (80K) tire, so tire slip is still happening, but w/o the original tire chatter. At 26K, check for uneven wear and/or have the tires rotated. The fronts are probably down where it might be worth the investment to go with a performance tire. (Go one size larger for a better price point. It'll make your speedo read low by 5%, but will give better traction. If that fixes the prob, money well spent.)

As for clutch chatter, that doesn't seem unlikely. W/ the 2005 (and the 2004 is supposedly the same) the 1st gearing is too tall. (They took the standard tranny and jacked up the final gearing... thus why you can do 40MPH, or stall, in reverse.) A driver can overcome this w/o tire spinning in 2 ways... rev-up and slip the clutch or stall the engine, until you learn its quirks. Given that the clutch is marginal, overheating wouldn't be uncommon... thus a "burned" disk and/or warped clutch/flywheel. I suspect some of this prob is clutch chatter, not wheel spin. (All friction material, brakes included, are suseptable to this condition especially in their first days. They don't "fit" 100% & it's easy to break one in incorrectly... a prob that can last as long as the material. The high spots get glazed before they wear in correctly.)

What you can hope for is that the friction material is just a bit glazed... it may recover somewhat. Practice bringing up the RPMs while keeping the clutch "just so" while at around 1800RPM... slowly increasing the gas pedal. It takes practice. Try to learn to bring the clutch out as quickly as possible w/o stalling the engine & w/o too much gas. Think "high end sportscar"... which is what this car drives like (w/o the super high performance or price tag.)

 

I'm already on a new set of tires (195/60/15) wich is a little bigger than the stock 185s. I've driven manual transmissions for 30 years and have never experiences such shudder/wheel hop on such little power.

I'll try your recommendation for clutch glazing and see what happens, but I am not yet convinced.

I was leaning toward motor mounts. What are the symptoms of worn mounts?

 

Well I replaced the spark plugs and wires, added motor mount inserts, and tried re-glazing thing and the problem has not been resolved. Actually the motor mounts made it worse. Also, I am pretty sure that it is the clutch/flywheel since I can now get it to shutter when decelerating in first gear (Downshifting) while releasing the clutch. That a shame since I just bought the car, but at least now I know why the previous owner traded it in .

 

Also, would ya'll recommend going with another stock clutch/flywheel or getting an aftermarket system? Which would be less expensive, or if similarly priced would an aftermarket clutch be worth it for just mild bolt on mods? Thanks.

 

well i had this hesitating action going on with my 2001 neon and it usually only happened from a dead stop. almost as if the car werent firing off of all cylinders. then there was a clunk if i tried to rev it out of hesitation and the service enging light would come on. i dont know if this is what you are talking about but i changed my plugs to ngk cuz you cant run platinum plugs in a neon and then changed my wires and replaced the motor mounts and everything ran like brand new. dont know if that is your problem but let me know. lata