i have a 2001 dodge neon , 208k miles, ran great until about a week ago, it started with small puffs of smoke(at start up), and that was the only symtom, a couple days later, it started to "miss" at a cold start, and driving it, coming to a stop, (in N) the engine keeps the RPMS up until the car is stopped.(just started doing this too) whenever i am accelerating, i dont really notice much of a power difference, but when i let off the gas the engine will backfire, sometimes once or twice, about 5 percent of the time, it doesnt do anything but the revving while stopping, but, when this backfiring stuff started, and revving, the engine started smoking more. its more of a constant small stream, not thick, just you can see it if your looking for it. whenever im outside of the car looking anyway. when the ac kicks on, surges the engine alot, and a small puff of smoke comes out, followed by the same thing it done before.

with the revving coming to a stop, the car will also idle very very slow(about half the time), so slow the oil pressure light will come on unless i rev the motor up away from the point of dying(doesnt die just idles that low), this happens when i just got off interstate going about 75mph for 20 minutes. (sometimes it will do it randomly, but most often during the interstate period)

never had a motor go bad on me before, but this to me sounds like the rings, but, then again i didnt know it could happen so rapidly. at first i thought valve seals.

this car has had the trans rebuilt, plugs, air filter, oil changed at the regular maint.
never has the plugs wires been changed, coil pack, and im not sure about the timing belt eaither.

when i got this car at 175k, it still had the original motor mounts, bushings spark plug wires( from the looks of them)
i drive the car 80 miles 5 days a week, and 30 miles a day the other 2 days.

i have put 30k+ miles on it in the past 10 months without a hiccup.
i bought it from the 2nd owner, and he said he didnt do much to it, i doubt the headgasket has been changed eaither, but its white smoke and smells like oil.

my thoughts now are, it could be out of time, but, with it smoking, is that a symtom of being out of time? dont want to throw money at it, just for the rings to be collapsing.

any help appreciated!!!

 

what kind of smoke, white, blue, black.. ?? Sounds more like fuel mix to me.. Vac leak?, O2 sensor?, TBI?, etc.. All need to be eliminated from calculation before condemning rings!! Just a thought .. Backfiring can be timing related, however sticking valve can do the same. at idle see if vac guage flutters erratically. if not valves and timing are ok and you need to look into more. Bad rings rarely cause idle issues and backfiring....

 

An easy way to tell if there's a shot valve is to stick a piece of paper in front of the tail pipe when it's running. If it gets sucked to the pipe, you have a valve issue. Doing a compression test can tell if your rings are shot. Check the compression normally and if any readings are low, put a little oil into the cylinder and do the test again. If the compression gets higher, your rings said bye bye. Backfiring is normally a timing issue which is bad juju.

 

No mention of timing belt replacement in the history of the vehicle.

For about $250, you can get all the parts to replace the head gasket, timing belt, water pump, ect... I was just through all that.

Joe