05 Neon Transmission questions

Albius · Post by **Albius** » Thu Jun 05, 2014 12:31 pm

Hi there.

I have some questions about my car and its behavior. (mileage is near of 44,000 or 68000 kms)

First question is:
How do I know what is my final gears ratio? I have read some info of the manual trannys in the Neons (T-350) and I found that there are 2 final gears ratio configurations for the same model years (3.50 and 3.88)

Second question (more technical):

Situation: When I start the car in the morning I hear a sound like a water pump is faulty, (like a snore or something like that, I don't know how to describe it exactly in english) My water pump was changed about 3 months ago for the OEM one and the timing belt was replaced too. So the noise definetly doesn't come from the right side of the engine bay. When I approach my ear to my tranny in cold the sound is very noticeable, but the sound decreases while the car is getting warm and/or I drive it for 10-15 minutes.

When I drive the car for a while (1-2 hours) my clutch pedal squeaks a little bit when I press and depress to shift, isn't hear like the squeal of a rat; the sound is like a severely stretched cable. Once the car cools off or before the first start every morning I press-depress pedal but I can not hear nothing from it.

I know my clutch is not in good shape now so I guess the snore coming from the tranny is caused by clutch disc or flywheel (I don't know what). Probably the clutch bearing/collar is bad too. So I don't want to speculate anything about any internal damage because the tranny responds perfect to the acceleration.

I don't have any (or not noticeable) clutch slipping and my gears don't bounce at any RPM range, I don't have clutch pivot leaking and the fluid is in the level so I don't have a synchro or clutch cylinder problem neither.

Can you guys help me to figure out the exact problem I have in order to have a more solid base of the symptoms and compare the diagnostics that the mechanic can give me?

Thanks in advance for any help.

chipdogg · Post by **chipdogg** » Thu Jun 05, 2014 1:12 pm

Odds are you have a 3.55. But you can get the part number off of the trans. It's behind the driver's side tire on the end of the trans, may need to remove some plastic covers to see it. On a silver tag thats bolted to end of trans. Post it up, I can look up what gears it has.

Your car doesn't have a clutch cable, it is hydraulically actuated. If there's a squeak coming from pedal when you push it, probablyjust needs some lube on the pivot.

As for the noise, it's not uncommon for the t350's to develop a noise that sounds like marbles are in them. Can be lots of things, bad bearing, shift forks delaminated, etc. Only way to tell and fix it is to tear trans apart and inspect everything.

I rebuild them and if you plan on doing the clutch sometime soon, it would be a good time to have the trans taken care of as well. I have plenty of good cores, so what I usually do is rebuild one I have that's the same as yours and ship it to you. Then when you have your clutch replaced, the trans can also be swapped out and you send your old one back. That way you aren't without your carfor a while.

Albius · Post by **Albius** » Thu Jun 05, 2014 5:40 pm

Thanks for the reply @chipdogg.

The part number I could get from the little plate that is in the tranny es 4668697AF

Is this one?

Funny to read that these transmissions develop noises by the time. My dad had a 2000 Neon that never made noises as such, but for now I have a clearer idea of the possible causes.

The car has like 44000 miles (68000 kms) now but I admit that 41000 (63000 kms) are bad driven by the lady I got from. I noticed it in the next weeks I bought the car. That is one of the reasons it has this kind of problems "sooner than expected"

Is really amazing that I find a T350 expert and rebuilder in this forum, just a few mechanics here in Mexico know transmissions really well, so I probably ask you more and more questions regard of it.

The mechanic told me that was a useless clutch, so I will need to replace it with the OEM one in a month or so.

Can you tell me if with the clutch replacement is a correction of the surface in the flexplate needed? (in spanish we call it "rectify") Many people say yes, other people say no, so I'm a little confused about that.

Thanks for all your support.

chipdogg · Post by **chipdogg** » Thu Jun 05, 2014 6:56 pm

Yup that's the part number. It's a later 3.55 with .81 5th gear. Pretty much what I guessed. Odds are it came with ATF+4 like they switched to in the later years to save money. It's not really that great of a fluid for the transmissions and I've seen quite a few problems with the ATF filled transmissions compared to the earlier ones, particularly shift fork delamination.

It's weird though, according to the transmission chart, that part number was for the 2001-2002 Neons. So either it was swapped at one time, or was lying around the assembly line a few years and ended up in your car.

Miles don't mean much, I've taken apart 200k mile transmissions that showed little wear, and 50k mile transmissions that needed a total rebuild.

As for the clutch replacement, it's a whole assembly. Flywheel, disc, pressure plate all riveted together for OEM. Won't have to worry about any machining/measuring of step height or anything.

And of course I'm on these boards, I post on lots of boards of the cars these transmissions were found in.

Albius · Post by **Albius** » Fri Jun 13, 2014 12:37 pm

Hi there again!

I found the label in my tranny and the PN is P04668697AF

I assume you can tell what gear ratio I have. It would be hugely useful to know exactly the number of teeth my gears have and that stuff and buy some parts if it is needed

Do you recommend another clutch kit brand besides OEM?

Thanks!

sidepipe87 · Post by **sidepipe87** » Fri Jun 13, 2014 3:26 pm

chipdogg wrote:It's a later 3.55 with .81 5th gear.