Hi all. My car had some recent work at a bad dealership. It had an intake problem (was idling high and low) and an oil leak. They fixed the intake, installed a new headgasket, oil pan gasket, some other gaskets, rear main seal and a belt). This all took place over a month of repeated visits. I remember when attempting to pick it up one time (after the rear main seal work), the service advisor said, "Sorry, we finished the work but it's running really rough. The technician still needs to tune it up".
I picked it up the next day and it was still running rough. Over the weeks it got worse and worse. I opened the hood and discovered the battery was not bolted down (and sliding around in the tray). There were two other fasteners that were lost during the repairs as well (one to my Iceman intake and another one I don't recall where). I buttoned things up. I did not want to go back to the first dealer as it had been a nightmare experience and cost me dearly. You'd have to know the full history to understand my decision to just walk away.
I turned the Neon into Pence Dodge. They took a look at the car and called me immediately. The advisor said (in an urgent/questioning tone), "Has someone been working on this car? My technician started it. It was so bad he didn't want to work on it until we called you." I told them the history. They determined all the pulleys were out of alignment and charged me $150 to fix them. They helped me convince the other dealer to reimburse me for the repair. However, there still exists a high RPM vibration that was not there before the rear main seal repair. I'm suspecting a motor mount (not likely) or some kind of harmonic balancer.........is there such a thing? I poured an oil additive in as well - no change. Any thoughts?
Sorry for the long post. I just needed to purge myself here.
By the way, I ended up buying a brand new Dodge Ram Quad Cab last Saturday from Pence Dodge. They took care of me so I decided to buy from them.
JB

 

I had a vibration that was unusual - I had a CV joint going bad - did not make the usual popping noise when you where making a turn - but had the higher RPM it would send a noticable vibration through the steering wheel, Eventually the CV joing did start making a popping noise - and when I replaced my Driver side Shaft - the vibration was finally gone!

Not sure if it is the same issue - but it was baffeling trying to trouble shoot.

Did you 2nd Dealer not have any ideas into the vibration?

96 Dodge Neon NYG DOHC

 

Thanks. The second dealer was willing to look at it. We wanted to get the pulley thing fixed first so I could drive the car back and see if we were back to normal. At this point I may have dealer 2 look at it again. Having another vehicle as backupbmakes that a lot easier.
JB

 

There is a harmonic balancer on it I believe. Check out the motor mounts and look for tears in the rubber. Even if there are no tears in it, buy and install a set of motor mount inserts, these will keep the mounts from ever getting torn from wear. They will also transmit a little more vibration though. It definately sounds like an issue with the engines balance or a mount. But then again with what the other place did/didn't do, it could be a tuning issue.