I have a 2005 Dodge Neon SXT and it has been in my mechanic's shop since 1/21/10 because of what seems to be a fairly expensive problem.

It started in June of 2009, my check engine light came on and I never really did anything about it (bad owner! I know...) because my tags weren't due for renewal until December. I ruled out bad wires, plugs & coil over the months, so I knew it would be a more expensive problem so I tried to delay it as much as possible because I was laid off in July and I couldn't afford to take it in. Fast forward to January, I was pulled over for expired tags so I was determined to take care of the problem so I took it to my mechanic and told him what we had done to troubleshoot. Once he did some more testing, he told me that there was absolutely no compression in the first cylinder which meant it would probably be a $1,000+ job. I told him I wouldn't have the money for a few weeks because I needed to wait for my tax refunds to come in. He delayed fixing it for a while, then we had the horrendous snow storm in February (yay noreasters) so he wasn't able to make it into the shop for two weeks. As of two days ago my car has been in the shop for two months and I'm still kind of confused as to what the problem is and why its going to cost me so much (he gave me an estimate of $1,350, which includes parts and labor for the problem + a timing belt).

Can anyone give me an insight into what the problem is & why it costs so much? It is apparently very involved with taking many parts off to get to the problem. I'm so sick of waiting for my car to be done. I want to drive her for miles and miles. I also just got a job delivering pizzas and I've been driving my dad's Ford Expedition (for one, EW FORD, and for two, EW GAS MILEAGE).

Help... I'm just a girl.

 

What are the codes? Just the P0301? What is the mechanic saying the problem is and the solution?

 

Just that code. The mechanic said something about the cylinder needing to be replaced... or the engine replacing... or solenoid. I'm not sure. He had to drop the oil pan out to get to some part. I'm just lost from the point of knowing it had low/no compression.

 

Talked to the mechanic today to find out what exactly the problem is. He said when he took the head off, all of the intake guides were in rough shape, which was caused by either no oil changes (which isn't the case), improper oil changes, or cheap oil. He has the head at the machine shop and won't get it back until Monday. I'm so pissed off. I've taken my car to the same place for the last 30,000 miles for all of my oil changes and other work and its got me pointed at THEM for the problem.

I could cry.

 

Just find a used motor at a junk yard for a couple hundred and bring it too him. It is a quick easy switch, I did mine in my garage in a day. Thats pulling the old motor and putting the new one in.

He should not charge more then a few hundred bucks to put it in.

 

By intake guides, I'm thinking he means valve guides? Either broken or in poor enough shape could cause zero compression. Bad guides should generally be preceded by oil consumption. Was there any? It is just a part in the engine that wears. However, I would highly doubt the oil choice caused it. Darn near the only oil you could buy nowadays that would cause a problem would cause much more damage than wearing valve guides (non-detergent oil). The thing with valve guides amongst other parts up there is they don't get a lot of lubrication so they can wear and fail faster than other parts. It sounds like his explanation may not have been the greatest, or what he thinks caused the problem, but it is a part that wears and can fail. I'm curious what part exactly he had to drop the oil pan for as the head is on top of the engine. Is he changing the oil pump?

Also, I'd hate to add on, but since he is that far into the engine and considering your mileage, you should consider having him replace the water pump in addition to the timing belt to save another $300-$500 labor plus parts at 105,000 miles to change it. Both the belt and water pump should be changed at the same time. Since he has the head off, he should just need the part to do it; therefore, you should really only be paying for those parts, not "double labor" as shops will try and get out of people sometimes, since the labor needed to get to those parts is pretty much done at this point. Just a though/recommendation to save you more money and trouble down the road.

EDIT: Rethinking, that code looked familiar. That's a misfire code (P0300) on cylinder 1 (P0301). How the heck did he arrive at worn valve guides as the solution to that code?? I'm assuming he had to have tested all ignition/electrical and fuel components first? If so, I could see that being a bit of labor...

 

Yeah, a good amount of the money being put into this is the labor. $65/hour... arg. He tested just about everything he could to determine what the problem was. I'm going to see if he can write down in detail what the problem is instead of trying to relay it to me verbally. I know it all kind of gets lost in translation between an expert and a novice like me. I'm also kind of sad that I didn't realize before that I could just get a new motor for about the same price and have my car back so much sooner than now. Oh well, live & learn, right?

Darthroush, thanks for the comments you made, I have a little better understanding of this now.

 

Thats my take on it now, anything major goes wrong.... head to the scrap yard for a new motor. The yard down the street has 3 motors, all with less then 50k and he sells them for $150. Cant beat that.

Ask him for a print out of the issues he see's, should not be hard for him to do.

 

You're welcome. Glad it helped make it clearer. Let me know if anything else is unclear and I'll try and help you understand it better as well.

 

I went ahead and told him to change the water pump, too. I'm still waiting for him to finish with the car, I'm so tired of waiting! I have been with out her since January 19th, I miss my car...

I'm planning on getting a new paint job & getting dents removed soon... any good suggestions for what color to paint it? Theres a guy in my town who has a neon and its painted black on top that fades into a baby blue. I like the way it looks but I'm thinking of either red or deep purple for the bottom color.