Maybe someone can help me before I scream. I have a 96 neon I bought new and haven't had alot of problems just the head gasket and minor repairs (it has 89,000 miles on it)until lately it misses to the extent of shaking you to death when idleing but when you up the rpm's it straightens out it also shows # 2 misfire changed the plugs, wires, coil pack, etc. I have had it to every shop and no one knows. However it doesn't have good compression # 1 has 170, #2 has 50, # 3 has 170, # 4 has 90, if you put oil in the cylinder it raises the compression temporaraly. Someone said that means bad rings but it should smoke and have blow by it doesn't. I really like my neon but am ready to run it off a cliff. ha ha No if it comes down to it I will put a new motor in it however I am not convinced thats what it needs it doesn't smoke uses no oil and has no blowby. Also when you unplug #2 injector it doesn't change anything but unplug another one and it about dies. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated...

 

im gonna go with your piston rings are shot..... there for you have little to no compression which is causing that cylinder to miss fire... when i got my car it was also miss firing but i solved that with plugs and wires.... compression tested show all cylinders had good compression... yours how ever does seem worse. they all should be over a 100 and be arounnd 150 or so depending on how many miles you have on the car. odds are you need new piston rings.

 

How much does it raise compression with the oil? I'd still lean towards rings, but you could also be looking at the vgalve seals and/or a damaged valve.

Best of luck!

 

yeh thats possible too i really didn't think of that.... either way it comes down to you having to take the motor apart to solve the problem. best of luck and if you need any more help or have questions feel free to ask.. keep us up to date.

 

Should say something about unplugging the injectors... If you're only getting 50# of compression, that fuel is never going to ignite. That's why unplugging that injector has no effect. Very odd for a car with such low mileage.

Do you have any mechanical skills? Know someone that does? You can usually pick up a complete used SOHC head in very good condition (e.g. flat) on ebay or neons.org for under $100. New head gasket (if needed) and head bolts (definitely needed) would run another $75-100 max. You could even do the timing belt, water pump, and tensioner while you're at it for another $150-200 or so since it's due in 15k miles anyways. While the head is off, you can remove the oil pan to pop out the #2 and #4 pistons and take a look at the rings (you'll need to borrow/rent a ring compressor to get the pistons back in). If the rings are bad, you'll have to replace them. Pretty sure you have to buy a complete set of 4 though, typically $75-100.

If it sounds pricey, keep in mind that a rebuilt engine is going to run you $1500-2000, plus another $800+ for installation. If it's "just" the valve seals, a shop is going to run in the $600 range to replace them (labor to remove and install the head, labor to remove and install the valves, labor to remove and install the valve seals, machine shop work to make sure the head is level, new head gasket, new head bolts, shop charges, diagnostic charges, material costs, and $50 for the 2 $10 valve seals). Even a used salvage yard engine will run $300-400 and there's no guarantee it will even run (well, maybe a 30 day warranty, but then you have to do the motor swap all over again...). If you aren't mechanically inclined though, a remanufactured engine from Jasper will run $2500+ (plus install), but comes with a 3 year/75,000 mile warranty.

 

Why would she need a new head? or is that recommended when replacing the valve seals and/or piston rings?
I might be having a similar problem on my 1997 dohc so I was wondering what the reasons for the new head are.
(i'm a complete newbie, its probably an obvious answer)

 

i dunno if you would need a new head or not i guess it depends how old it is and if any damage was done to it when things broke.. i know heads can be damaged easily is seals or valves go so that might be whats hes talking about.

 

It's a personal thing. You might be able to get a shop to swap out valve seals fairly cheap if that's the problem. Replacing the head covers the seals and the valves, along with making sure the head is level.

 

Thanks guys for the info! When I add oil it raises the compression to around 100 also I wouldn't need to change the water pump, or timing belt did that when changed the gasket. I see where radar love says I would have to have new head bolts if we didn't change them when changed the head gasket would that have caused my problem. I will try some of the advice and see what I can come up with. At the same time if I can get a motor with a warranty for around 2500. I might be better off. By the time i am done I will have over that in it anyways or atleast close. And yeah I am some what mech. inclined just never work on the newer stuff until my neon always had camaro's or trucks. Thanks again and will keep ya posted.....[sm=deal.gif]