Hey All, as the title says I'm new to Neon's (about a month now). and I am having some serious issues with mine. I was looking around and I found this site and it seemed to have a lot of knowledgeable people on it. Any help in these issues are appreciated!

1) I bought the car last month and replaced the engine in it, due to a loud ticking sound while driving and accelerating. later found out that the push-rod or something was bent in it? I'm not too sure. Replaced the motor with a newer one (only 60,000 km on it) and its been good for a bit (only drove it for 2 weeks), but now it seems the ticking has returned, the engine warms up and everything, sounds exactly like the old one. like a diesel engine. upon looking around people refer to it as 'neon noise' or piston slap. Upon reading more into it, I found that a lot of people had this issue when it first started up, but seemed to go away after warming up. but it dosent in my case. It gets louder and the ticking becomes closer together when acclerating.

Another thing that has got me confused is the low gas mileage i get. (im canadian and i only get like 400-450km to a 45L tank) Im not racing the thing at high speeds, 100km/h or lower. its mostly highway driven, id say 95% of the time. I have been using STP gas cleaner, seems to help a bit. I put in some fuel injector cleaner and thats when i really started noticing the ticking sound. could they be related? I traded up from a 96 Escort Gt and my friend told me her neon is the best car out there. I ask her general questions and I drove her car to. the exact same car 01's LE or LX, and she tells me she gets around 600- 700km to a tank.

Any help on these issues would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

 

Every Neon I've had has had some level of valve ticking, it seems to be rather normal in these cars, especially if it's had a timing belt job. Bad gas mileage could be a multitude of things. Clogged injectors, dirty air filter, dirty fuel filter, bad plugs, etc.

Bottom line- if you're worried, take it to a reputable mechanic & have it checked out. It can't hurt & you may catch a serious problem early enough to save the engine.

 

Alright thanks for the information! I will look into it this weekend, I tried to get a fuel filter for it before, no parts store have it on stock, or can even get it. I tried the dealer ship and they gave me some information. I read the book and its part of the fuel pump unit i do believe. can i just order the filter, or does it have to be the entire unit?

I also purchased today Bosch Platinum +4 plugs today. The new engine was sitting in a junk yard for a bit, and we didnt change the plugs when we put the new motor in.

 

Regular Champion ro NGK plugs only. Bosch and platinum plugs are not effective with neons.

 

Word. And tick, to some degree is normal. I still havn't found out the root cause or a cure.

 

Fuel filter is in the gas tank from what I was told, its pretty much unservicable. Plugs no platnium, I run Iridium in mine.

 

the only way to get the filter is with a pump from the aftermarket, non serviceable

 

Hi Im new to Neons Also. I've actually been looking around to buy one for awhile now. I found an srt-4 2005 today and test drove it. Everything was good except for the turbo boost gage thingy which doesnt seem to be working. Is that a big problem? Can it be fixed at low expense? & also its all stock with 65000 miles on it a little under 9grand...good buy? I didnt hear no whistles which i usually hear with turbos in cars, which is probably the blow-off valve or sumthing, which it doesnt have, wondering if the turbo is ok in it? Im really an illiterate to this stuff at the moment so Im trying to sponge some knowledge. Any help would be much appreciated. lol thanks guys.

 

welcome!...enjoy!...

 

It would be best to start a new thread about this, probably even more so in the SRT4 section. Welcome though, both of you!

mach1nova - You mention poor fuel mileage and a ticking with acceleration. Have you tested for a bad injector?