please head question
Veteran
Joined: Sep 2009
Posts: 253
Likes: 0
From: Ohio/Tennessee
that is most deffinatly false if you are positive its the head gasket jus cange it out do the water pump and timing belt while your at it and check your idler pulley and make sure there is no play
Captain
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 724
Likes: 1
From: Hazel Green, AL
He explains what/why he is doing in this post:
https://dodgeforum.com/forum/1st-gen...out-heads.html
but you should have used the same post and not created a new one.
Oh well, that said, if your 1995 DOHC head came off a working motor and you are just putting that same head on the 1998 DOHC motor that has a bad head, then all you need to do is get a new MLS head gasket. It is highly recommended that you also replace the cyl. head bolts too, but you do not have to. The MLS stands for Multi-Layered Steel, and quite frankly, I doubt you could even find an original designed 1995 DOHC head gasket, as the #1 problem ALL 1995 neons had was the use of a crappy head gasket that would blow out.
The heads of all Neon's are aluminum. The blocks of all Neons are cast/steel. If you need a head to be serviced, you need a professional machine shop to do it right as it is extemely easy to warp an aluminum head. If all you are doing is swapping it out, you do not have to have it machined. What they would do is clean it thoroughly, check the head for squareness (within tolerance for warpage), level the surface for mating the head gasket to block if necessary, re-grind the valve seats and stems (replacing any bad ones), replace any bad valve springs if any, put in new valve seals, check the cam shaft bearings for wear and replace any out of spec. Check the cam(s) to see they are within specs., basically giving you a new head when done.
As for your timing belt and water pump, since you replaced them 3000 miles ago, I am hoping that you also replaced the idler pulleys at the same time (using a timing belt kit includes them), so if you did, you shouldn't have to worry, just put on the new head and you should be fine.
https://dodgeforum.com/forum/1st-gen...out-heads.html
but you should have used the same post and not created a new one.
Oh well, that said, if your 1995 DOHC head came off a working motor and you are just putting that same head on the 1998 DOHC motor that has a bad head, then all you need to do is get a new MLS head gasket. It is highly recommended that you also replace the cyl. head bolts too, but you do not have to. The MLS stands for Multi-Layered Steel, and quite frankly, I doubt you could even find an original designed 1995 DOHC head gasket, as the #1 problem ALL 1995 neons had was the use of a crappy head gasket that would blow out.
The heads of all Neon's are aluminum. The blocks of all Neons are cast/steel. If you need a head to be serviced, you need a professional machine shop to do it right as it is extemely easy to warp an aluminum head. If all you are doing is swapping it out, you do not have to have it machined. What they would do is clean it thoroughly, check the head for squareness (within tolerance for warpage), level the surface for mating the head gasket to block if necessary, re-grind the valve seats and stems (replacing any bad ones), replace any bad valve springs if any, put in new valve seals, check the cam shaft bearings for wear and replace any out of spec. Check the cam(s) to see they are within specs., basically giving you a new head when done.
As for your timing belt and water pump, since you replaced them 3000 miles ago, I am hoping that you also replaced the idler pulleys at the same time (using a timing belt kit includes them), so if you did, you shouldn't have to worry, just put on the new head and you should be fine.