Hello I'm new here. I am trying to help a friend with their 97 Neon 2.0 SOHC. It will not start. It turns over and over and doesn't fire. I checked for fuel (actually pulled the fuel rail and injectors out while trying to start it and fuel was coming out. I have also verified spark and it has a brand new Ignition coil and plug wires and plugs. So now I am either looking at a bad ground somewhere or the timing belt has slipped a few gear teeth and is out of time. I can't seem to find a bad ground anywhere. The engine compartment is fairly clean. Car has about 175K miles on it.

I pulled the timing cover off and noticed it was broke in a few spots. I just wonder if a rock or something got caught in the gears and caused the belt to slip. This would cause a no start condition as well correct? My friend told me the last time the car was running...it would randomly stall while driving or coming to a stop. Now it just won't start. Can anyone shed some light on this thing? I'm pretty verse with cars and work on them all the time but no ASE mechanic. Thanks for any help.

 

The check engine lights not on is it? I thought it might be sensor..... You can do a compression test to see if the belt slipped and hit some valves.

 

I just checked the compression and sure enough the number 4 cylinder only had 75 PSI the rest had between 120-130. I bet the belt slipped a few teeth and one of the cylinders hit the valves. Car is junk now, it's going to cost more to fix this than what the whole car is worth. Thanks anyways guys!

 

Hey man it doesn't cost that much to fix if you do it yourself! You can get the valves replaced for a reasonable price and a new head gasket isn't that much.... Check it out, it might be worth it.

 

yeah seriously. thats how i got my car. the head gasket was blown, someone just wanted to get rid of it. I bought it for mad cheap and spent like 100$ fixing it up. Runs like new now.

 

well normally i would agree with you guys but my friend pretty much won this car from a local dealer here and only had to pay tax which was like $200...so it's not even really worth taking the time to fix it...the car is pretty beat up anyways...has over 175K on it now

 

where you from - how much do you want for it