Tranny fluid burned up twice! Help!

[deadBird]

What would cause the transmission fluid to burn up like this? My friend was driving a 2001 dodge neon around, and he noticed that it started slipping. He immediately stopped driving it, and noticed that the transmission fluid was burned. So he changed the fluid & filter.

The first night out after this, he was driving for about an hour. Went into a store for a bit, came out and started driving for about another 10 minutes when the transmission started slipping again. Once again the fluid was burned.

What are the many causes I can look for?

[Fractured1]

sounds like the clutch plates are shot inside the tranny...they are slipping and causing the fluid to heat up..

[yale329]

I really hate to give bad news, but yes, your trans is toast.
Could have been a trans pump. I would suggest going to a good transmission place recommended by freinds, or go to your local Auto wrecking place that would do such jobs. The very sad truth is you can pay two grand and get a one year warrenty, at a rebuild shop giving you 1 year or 20,0000 kilomiters or get a good one from a write off vehicle installed for $600.00 from a write off. ps, ask how many miles are on the trans you chosse and get it in writing if you chose a ued one. They should know.
Good luck, Wayne

[das2123]

What kind of fluid did your friend put in his transmssion? Is it an auto or manual transmission? If it's an auto and he put anything other than Mopar ATF+3 or 4, then he used the wrong fluid. The neon trannies are very sensitive and require Mopar fluid as other fluids don't work well in the neon.

[eldiablo1100]

like Fractured1 said, sounds like the friction discs in the transmission are gone

[deadBird]

But the wierd thing is, this just started one day. Since then he's drained & refilled twice. both times after a day, the fluid is burnt again. Could this simply be it overheating for some other reason?

[sheetmagnet]

I went through many ATX's and had many problems, including your problem you described.

First, DO NOT DRIVE THIS CAR until it is fixed. If the slipping came on this quick and drastic, then it won't take long for the clutch packs to literally weld themselves together... and then you'll start losing the ability for it to shift into gears altogether.

New fluid getting burnt in an hour? Definitely a serious overheating problem. What probably could have happened (since it is the most common cause from what I have seen) is that over time, the clutch packs wear away. The tiny debris that floats around in the fluid gets plugged up somewhere in one of your cooling lines or in the trans cooler/radiator itself. As soon as this blockage occurs, you lose the ability to cycle the fluid and cool it, your transmission heats up to 300-400 degrees, burning the fluid, and the clutch packs start chewing away like crazy, causing more friction, debris, etc. The only way to fix it... whatever may be left anyway... would be to pull the lines off the tranny and do a straight-through flush with fluid, afterwards replacing with fresh fluid and filter. If you don't have the means of doing this yourself, many transmission shops have a machine that easily hooks up and does this, and it is relatively inexpensive (just make sure to insist they hook it up to the entire fluid system including the radiator, not just the tranny). Should be $100 or less to pay for it to be done. I would try that first before, or if it's not too late... better than shelling out $$$$ for a rebuild or a new tranny.

[sheetmagnet]

Oh and for the record I got so fed up with the ATX's that is one of the reasons that I insisted that my '04 neon had a MTX when I bought it :-) lol

[deadBird]

Thanks you! Have you ever used SeaFoam TransTune? Would this work in this situation? We certainly don't have the money to be paying $100 for this.

[sheetmagnet]

Originally Posted by deadBird

Thanks you! Have you ever used SeaFoam TransTune? Would this work in this situation? We certainly don't have the money to be paying $100 for this.

I haven't ever tried it, but I have tried other brands, and they rarely work... with the symptoms you have mentioned, it might even make it worse. Have you attempted to flush the system yourself? The only cost involved would be fluid (for now...)