Neon S 2.0L

• Automatic transmission
• 72,000 miles

I have a 2004 Dodge Neon with Auto trans. We started experiencing problems with the transmission at around 40000 miles. When stopping it would sometimes feel like someone bumped into the back of you. Also sometimes you could feel the transmission jump while driving.
We took it to Dodge who said they couldn't find a transmission problem but found a broken spark plug, wanted to change the plug wires, air cleaner and do a computer upgrade all for around $300.00.
The car was still under warranty since I bought the 7/70000 but the computer nupgrade was not covered. I am very able to replace spark plugs etc and I really felt that a computer upgrade should not be a charged item. I told them to put the car back the way it was when I brought it in and I would take it home and do the replacements myself. When we got ready to leave the car would hardly run and now the check engine light was on. I had to argue with the dealer to get them to fix it and threatened to call the sheriff before they put it back to its running condition.
I later called the dealer to tell them that even after replacing the parts that the transmission was still acting up. They said that they could not find the problem before and that unless there was a failure that they could not fix it.
We continued to drive it and finally at 72,000 the transmission started to act up one morning and when we stopped in 4 lanes of traffic at a light it would no move!
On Monday morning I called the dealer who said too bad its out of warranty now! I explained that it was a pre-existing condition and they told me that I would have to call Chrysler Corp.
I called Chrysler who called a local dealer and told them that I would tow the car there and they could run diagnostics on it. I would have to pay for diagnostics ($100.00) and they would determine at that point if they could honor the warranty.
Chrysler called me the next day to state that since the maintenance was not done by the dealers that they were claiming lack of proper maintenance as the cause of the failure.
When I went to the dealer they hadn't even moved the car and in fact hadn't even started the car. They just found a BS reason not to honor the warranty and left me with an either pay for it or else.
I hooked a chain to it and pulled it down the street to a transmission repair shop who had done work for me in the past. I told them to take it apart, save the parts and tell me if it was a manufacture defect of lack of maintenance.
The Trans. shop found that the transmission was defective (Planetary gears and oil passages) like many of the ones they had already worked on in the past. It was manufacture defect. In fact the Tech who worked on my transmission was a former employee of Chrysler and said they are all bad and that if better parts are not used to replace them that they will have the same failure again.
My advice to you is if you put in another transmission form Chrysler or the same stock parts get rid of it ASAP because it is not going to last.
I will be asking Chrysler to reimburse me but I really think I will have to take them to small claims court to even have a chance of seeing any of the $1700 it cast for repairs.
I own 4 Dodges and 1 Jeep and may never buy another Chrysler product again. They also gave me a BS run around on the brakes on my Dakota.
Take care and good luck,
Richard