Hi there,
I have a 2000 dodge neon with 175k on it. I just recently spent alot of money on maintenance to keep it running great as it has been doing since I first got it. My question is I have a ticking noise coming from the engine and my mechanic friend took the valve cover off and used a stethiscope to listen to the rocker arms, and two exhaust and 4 intake rocker arms are making the ticking noise. He says its due to the lash adjusters wearing down, inside the rocker arm, and there is a small gap which causes the ticking. Now the ticking isnt bad. Its only notcicable at idle when the engine is warm. There is no ticking when I drive. I priced the parts and the exhaust rocker arms are 46 a piece and the intake rocker arms are 29 a piece at the dodge dealership, nobody else seems to carry them. Do you guys think its worth doing the work? Would you do it to your car if you were in my situation? Will it do more than just cure the ticking, or will I notice any improvement on the way it drives? Just would like someone elses opinion before I decide to do the work. It drives pretty well now and I am happy with my car, just find the ticking noise a little annoying, but I could live with it if its not gonna lead to something bad happening later. Thanks for any and all responses

 

if it aint tickin, it aint a neon. they all tick.

 

bone33 is right...

but if you decide to do them, look around.
Howell's for example if you divided the price evenly between all twelve rockers is only $25 a piece.
http://www.howellautomotive.com/inde...ROD&ProdID=698

 

It depends on how much your mechanic will charge you for labor. If the labor charge will be cheap and you really like your car then yeah go for it.

 

+ 1 to everyone, they all tick a little. no biggie imo

 

My 04 did it since about 10K. Normal. If it is quite at cruise and accel you are fine. Welcome to a Chrysler 4 cylinder engine.

 

Thanks to everyone who replied so far. I guess I will just put it off for now, maby next year I will do it. It mostly just ticks at idle, seems after going thru the posts and seeing replies relavant to this matter that alot of neons tick. When we took the valve cover off I was impressed at how clean the inside of the engine was. It looks brand new in there for 175k. I have been faithful on changing my oil since I first got it with 18k on it 8 yrs ago, so its been in great hands since I got her. She actually drives better now that I put alot of work into her than shes driven in along time. I will say these cars give civic and corrollas a run for their money no matter what the critics say. Alot of stuff I just replaced was stock from the factory andI could've gone longer, just I decided to overhaul for preventive maintenance resons. Like the exhaust I just changed my first muffler at 175k to a nice magnaflow one, put a cold air intake in too, and a supperior shift kit in the auto tranny and its a nice combo together. I appreciate the input though, I will wait till next spring, good luck with all your neons out there...

 

Well glad to see your enjoying your car. Since you did all that work now you'll be able to sit back and enjoy your car for a long time.