Vehicle is a 2003 Dodge Neon SXT with 39k miles. Almost since new it has made a scraping, grinding, crunching noise when I accelerate and turn at the same time (e.g. exiting my driveway). The dealer has examined it several times, done some work on the transmission and front axles. Replaced one drive shaft as I recall. No improvement.
So, for the past year or so I have just been driving it hoping for something to fail so that the cause of the noise will become obvious. No luck, just the same noise. Had the thing back to the dealer a couple of weeks ago. Event took the "technician" for a ride to point out the noise in question. Concensus is that it is not a transmision problem but rather a bushing somewhere in the suspension. The "technician" said they would have no way to figure out which bushing!
Well, when I changed the oil and rotated the tires I noticed that the busings on the back of the lower control arm appear to be shot. I can see the remains of the rubber seal at the top and the square metal piece which forms the center of the bushing. My guess is that this component is experiencing metal to metal contact and causing the offending noise.
Has anyone else experienced similar failures on this series of Neon? Anyone replaced the bushings? It appears to be a doable job if I purchase a spring compressor. Mainly a matter of freeing the control arm and pulling it out far enough to replace the bushing.
I was planning to rebuild the suspension on my 1980 MGB not my 2003 Neon. Oh well.
Regards,
Ken
you can email snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com using the username taylor2jnk (lets see howmuch spam email_me gets :-)