My daughter had a 99 Neon DOHC, the bearing in the idler pully in the timing assembly froze up and threw the timing belt while she was traveling about 35 mph. I bought the car and replaced the pully and installed a new timing belt. When I fired it up it was apparant it had bent some vavles. Since it was cold and I had no place out of the weather to pull the head, I took it to a local mechanic. He pulled the head and told me it had bent one valve. He had the head resurfaced and replaced the valve. I got the car back and it ran alright except after a few days it started smoking. It seamed worse when it would set and idle and when I'd take off it would really let out a cloud of blue smoke. Sometimes it is worse than at others. It is using almost 1 qt. of oil every 300 miles. Check engine light comes on and it is for catalytic converter inefficiency. My daughter had this car for several years and works at Walmart. She always had the oil changed there evry 3000 miles and never had to add any between changes. She doesn't even know where it goes. For as long as she drove the car she can't remember the check engine light ever coming on and the only prblem she has ever had was with an A/C line. I suspect damaged vavle guides and I also suspect that the valve gide seal were not even replaced. I also suspect more valve damage however a compression check didn't show any to be leaking. Also since I got the car back when running down the highway it would cut out at times. Does anyone have any input on this? I didn't think about it at the time but how could one of these motors only bend one valve? And is it possible to get a good compression reading if say other valve stems are bent?
This is my first experience with a Neon. I drive a 94 Ford SHO with a Yamaha engine that I really love to drive. This Neon is fun and if it had the pep as my SHO it would be a blast.

 

it could be another bent valve, or it could be a valve seal leaving or messed up valve guide.

 

I bent all 16 valves. Most of them you couldn't tell by looking at them. Warped the head as well. You can find a complete DOHC head in good/great shape for $150-200 on ebay, www.car-parts.com, or classifieds (here and other Neon enthusiast sites). The head from the Dodge 2.4L DOHC from the same timeframe (Caravan, Stratus, etc.) is the same casting number, just a different intake camshaft, and the cam sensor is rotated... it'll work in a pinch though with minimal work...

My dad had 3 SHO's - '89 (totalled), '91 (5-speed), and '93 (auto for mom)... Definitely fun to drive. If your daughter's DOHC is a 5-speed, take them to the track once she's up and running better... you might be surprised... The SHO has 70 HP over the DOHC, but it also has an extra 700+ lbs.

Best of luck!

 

^x2 the mechanic should have replaced the seals while the headas off. im willing to bet on the seals. i had to replace 4 of mine when my timing belt blew. damn interference motors!