So my 97 Neon has 100,000 miles. I was hoping to drive it until its death, but now smoke is sporadically coming out of the tail, like a big white cloud. Sometimes it doesnt smoke and sometimes it comes out of engine a bit. a mechanic told me hes pretty sure its a cylinder gone. Would it be worth spending the $100. to go to a dealership to look at it. I thought maybe they'd know what neons problems are. A month ago my car probably would have been worth a grand cause the insides in fabulous condition but now I'm thinking I wont get anything. At a loss for what to do. Can this smoke have anything to do with this headgasket I've been hearing about?

 

If your dealer can look at it for $100, it might be worth the expense. Personally, I doubt the headgasket is blown unless you are experiencing water loss and/or overheating problems. I assume you are also seeing some oil loss between oil changes, correct?

If you know someone who's handy around cars, I'd try pulling the valve cover. I don't know about Neons (mine doesn't have enough miles to have pulled the valve cover) but my Caravan had a very similar problem. At <70K miles, it started using oil. With it, it turned out that 3 of the valve seals had come loose. As I say, I don't know that Neons have these, but they are little caps that slip over the valve stems, with the stem going up the middle. When they pop loose, this allows oil to be drawn past the stem and down into the engine, especially when cold or when revving the engine hard. I'd lose a bit over 1 quart of oil in 3K miles.

I had the rig into the shop for a tranny repair and they replaced the seals at the same time. (Caravans had a 70K mile warranty, which only cost me $125 for both repairs, transferring the warranty into my name.) Replacing the seals (they did this under warranty) was a $300 repair job... but if I'd done the job myself, I'd just have popped them back into place and taken the oil loss every few thousand miles... until I could pop them back again.

Other things that can cause this sort of prob are anything that can cause excessive pressure in the intake. These can be a plugged PVC valve and/or the EGR valve being plugged, among others... if it's not a loss of sealing in the valves. (You are certain your car has been properly maintained and not had the clock rolled back, right?) Locally, Kelley Blue Book has your car at closer to $3K in value... assuming all else is in as excellent condition as you mention... retail value.

With this smoke, I assume it won't pass emission standards for your state?

 

ironically a couple of months ago my car didnt pass emitions and then dmv gave me a list of mechanics to fixed it with a 500 dollar limit. this mechanic said he fixed the problem and got it to pass, but a week later the checkengine light came back on along with smoke. i would have gotten a thousand from the gov to take the car if there was a problem with the engine (which there is)but somehow the mechanic said it passed. ??
thanks so much for your input. i will try to get another mechanic to check out those things you mentioned. This experiance is quite nerve racking as I dont know whether to just give up on it.

 

I hate to state the obvious, rosey, but this is the Intrepid forum. While we 'trep owners are certainly more than happy to help out our smaller cousins, you might find more knowledgeable people in the Neon forum.