Hello All. I am hoping someone could help me with a diagnosis. My mechanical skills are limited to following directions and replacing parts, but not so much as to knowing what parts to check. My son was driving a 2000 Neon ES. The story was that he was driving home and the engine temperature was increasing. He pulled over and noticed that it was loosing some coolant. He proceeded to drive the car another 2mi to Autozone to pick up some coolant to try to make it home. While inside, the car lost most of its coolant. He refilled it, hoping to make it the next 7mi to home. While driving home he says he noticed the temp increasing again, but it wasn't at the "redline" yet. This is when the story gets worse...

about 2mi from home he says the temperature suddenly spiked, then there was the classic engine death sound. A loud whirring noise, black smoke (from under the hood) and complete failure of the engine. The system also locked up, taking out the steering and other systems. He pushed it on to a side road. When I arrived i looked at it (just to pretend I had a clue...) there was a little dime sized oil puddle, coolant and resivior was dry, and the engine wouldn'r turn over. Now it sits in our driveway, for either repair or scrap.

I thought maybe head gasket, probably more and I figured there was a likelyhood that the head would be warped too. Is there any hope of repairing it? If so I thought it might be a good "father-son" project.

Any ideas are welcome and I great appreciate any and all help...

 

Sounds like maybe the water pump locked up, and perhaps a timing belt destruction at the same time. How many miles were on it? The timing belt and water pump should be changed at 105,000 miles.

Best bet at this point for "ease" of repair, and probably cost, might just be to replace the engine with a used one.

 

With Dodge Neons, they need to run colder than most engines. If they get up in heat even halfway, that's not good. They have aluminum heads, which warp under that kind of heat...

You'd be looking at replacing the entire top of the engine most likely, if not more. I'm with Darth on this one... Get a used engine to stick in there if you want to keep the car.

 

The car had 180k on it, It had a good life...

I might keep it and swap a used engine when time and money permit...

any pointers for getting a good used engine?

 

In that 180K, was the timing belt and water pump ever changed?
Mostly, it's just going to come down to finding a legit person/place selling the engine who will be honest about the engine's condition. You can ask some better shops in your area where you could find a decent used engine. Some of them may even find you one for a small fee.