BrandonS

A buddy of mine has a 300zx TT, which is currently waiting for a motor. In the mean time he has been using his neon to get around. Unfortunatly the neon just quit on him at 85,000 miles. After doing some research, it sounds as though the engine simply lost compression and putted out do to a factory defect in the head gasket. We've completly dissassembled the car, and replaced ever seal except the main seal. We've even gone as far as to replace the water pump, exhaust manifold, and intake just for kicks and giggles. The thing that scare's me is this. The origonal head gasket looked worn, but didn't look all that bad, not like it would have lead to a compression failure. The engine was dirty, very dirty however. When we first started cleaning the block and pistons we could barely turn the crank to raise #2 and #3 pistons. After cleaning we were able to turn the crank like it was nothing, easily being 4 to 5 times easier to turn. To make it better, the block is in awesome shape, with no lip forming around the inside of the piston walls what so ever. The head itself looks immaculate as well. The head is perfectly clean and has been checked for warping with a level. Its perfectly level. If anyone has any experience on the issue, or knows of a common or reaccurring problem with 97 neon's of this type please let me know. Thnx,

Brandon

QUIKAG

Neon's are throw away cars. I can't believe you've taken the time to dig into the motor. The car (before it broke) couldn't have been worth more than a few grand. How much time and money have you already put into the motor? Unless you're doing it for a learning experience, I say drive the car off a cliff and go buy a beater Honda Civic to drive while his 300ZX is fixed.

BrandonS

Yes, i should drive it off a cliff, but its still pretty decent and only has 85,000 miles.... which is still high for a neon of course. On top of this, we recieved an insane discount on parts from the local shop. We ordered $600 worth of parts, and only ended up paying less than $300. We recieved the discount for being airforce....., and were given the same "contracted" discount given to the federal goverment.... cha ching! So, if it works..... whoohoo! If it doesn't...., $300 bucks down the drain. Oh well

Brandon

QUIKAG

Well, for $300, it's a good learning experience either way it works out.

BrandonS

Ha, yea, its been fun, but it needs to be back on the road. It just seems a shame to loose a car thats only 6yrs old. We've done more testing, and determined that the spark plugs don't fire, as the ignition coil is recieving no power. The fuel pump is as well recieving no power. The engine turns over fine. The computer isn't corrosponding or even registering with a computer diagnostic tool that one of our buddies brought over from his shop. We are simply out of idea's. We've come to the conclusion that it must be a computer problem. Any thoughts on this?? Also, any thoughts as to where the engine fuel flow/ignition cut off is that automatically cuts off fuel and ignition when the oil is too low??? I checked the haynes manual but found nothing. Any help from a pro would be greatly appreciated. Dodge won't even let us talk to one of their techs..... They make a piece of crap car and won't even give us somewords with a tech who is chilling in the corner doing nothing.... Wow. Oh well

Brandon