I am finally getting ready to retire my 2000 Gen. 2 Neon after 140,000 miles and 2 major accidents (hit by bad drivers front & rear) as it's clutch is going to pot and other minor glitches are popping up. I've driven every model year Neon except a 1995, and I want to buy another Gen. 1 Neon again this time around, as the local junk yard has tons of these sitting in there for parts now. I know the 1999 is best year of these as the head-gasket issue was resolved by then, but I want to know how many others prior to this year absolutely had this problem and other major glitches I ought to seek out while shopping for my USED Gen. 1 95-99 Neon? And how does one know what to look for under the hood to tell if a head-gasket has been replaced or not? I know about the foamy-oil if it's a bad one, but what else if it has been?

Send me your input gang. Thanks.

 

For info on how to tell if a neon has the MLS, CLICK ME. 99's got the MLS from the factory, but many others have been replaced. Biggest thing to look for or ask, would be last time the timing belt, water pump and tensioner pulley were changed. They should be changed every 100,000 miles.

I would suggest finding a 97-99 DOHC neon as parts, sensors and other stuff can be freely swapped between these year models. 96 parts will swap also, but has a slightly different wiring harness and PCM and the 95 is its own thing altogether (except interior parts).