manual trans may not sound so far fetched after all..

was able to borrow a scanner - no codes.

Pulled pan and filter and strained trans fluid and definetely found more metal than I expected to see.

There was some on the magnet but quite a bit more still in suspension.

Had only been driven 2 miles since the noise was heard so maybe this time it was caught early.

I thought maybe there might have been metal left inside from the last rebuild (rear planetary basically exploded) but I don't think it would have lasted this long if that were true.

Looks like I'm going to get REAL knowledgeable about neons this week... close to a timing belt water pump change so I may just pull the motor and trans and do it all at the same time.