i bought my 1996 dodge neon highline 6 months ago and the problems have started to roll in. when i drive for about 20-30 minutes ALL of my gauges stop working. when im at a stoplight or with the car on but no movement, it smokes bad when i take off.. it seems to burn alot of oil. i only paid $1300 for it so i dont know if i should just sell it or what.. what do you think?

 

as far as the gauges go, check the stick at the top of the page for first gen gauge cluster repair, that might be your problem. do a compression check on the car and it will tell you what kind of shape your head gasket is in, and the burning of oil might be a bad head gasket or bad spark plug tube seals.

general info cylinder compression pressure

standard 170 to 225 psi
service limit 100 psi
difference between cylanders 25%