2002 Dodge Neon Overheating

It's time for a replacement car for your aunt the motor is on its last legs. The Neon is a disposable car. Find her a Honda or Toyota. Or a Ford. That's my humble opinion.

Justin thank you for your response do you have any idea as to if the oil in the spark plug holes could have anything to do with overheating or is that most likely a completely different issue?

The engine is on it's last legs. Your wasting your time and money on less you rebuild the engine. Then what is next?

mark seriously go away you arent helping anyone. the oil in the spark plug tubes is common. it'll cause a missfire but not much else, it comes from either the valve cover gasket, or the sealant at the bottom of the tube.

Justin, what do you think 90 PSI in the #1 hole indacates?

Justin when you refer to the sealant at the bottom of the tube are you talking about the valve seal guides? Or are you talking about the spark plug tubes.

mark, it has to be the head gasket or a bent valve. seeing as the timing belt didnt break i doubt its a bent valve. i doubt its the rings as the other 3 have great compression, you can verify this by adding a tiny bit of oil to the cyl and checking the compression again. if the #s go up its rings, if it stays the same its a gasket or valve. Ben, i am talking about the spark plug tubes

Justin. Iam still of the opinion that a 12 year old Neon with compression problems is a money pit. What's it worth? What happens when the transmission gos south?

its not really a matter of worth, when does anyone ever get a return on their cars? hardly ever unless we are talking about classic muscle cars. the fact of the matter is its almost always cheaper to fix a car thats paid off than to have a car payment every month. so long as you're doing your own work anyway, which if your asking on here is most likely the case, otherwise you would be dropping it off at a shop and have them deal with it.

You can make $250.00 car payments per month and get to work. Get to the Dr. And be reasonably assured that you will get home every night. Or you can be late for work. Miss Dr's appointment and risk the change of sleeping in your car on the side of the road all while making your mechanics bass boat payments.

Justin Thank you for your help, I changed the valve gasket as well as the gaskets on the bolts for the cover and put in new spark plugs as the old where pretty worn out. So far the overheating issues have been resolved the total cost of parts were $57.45 so as long as the car runs for 7 days its more cost effective then getting a new car.

^my point exactly, thank you ben mark consumerism has you by the balls, good luck with that

Justin. Keep your AAA membership current. As a matter of fact, get the gold card.

Bohomark just cant fix things himself. thats his reasoning behind a new car, as he stated paying a mechanic. I am also having this problem with my g/f neon what did you do to fix it?

94Z28 I changed the valve gasket. A few months later I replaced the radiator it had a clog in the lower part which was part of the problem. It was hard to me to diagnose the radiator clog I needed to use a temperature gun as there was no easy way to touch the radiator in different spots. Look for cool spots on the radiator with a temperature gun.

I'm having the same problem Ben did it fix the problem?

Boholmark the only way your replacement car makes sence is if you have the money to cober the car paymemt. Most dont so if they own the car and can fix it when it does mess up then that car will last longer than any that you will ever own because as soon as they break you replace them. We get put moneys worth and fix it and keep using it. What once is broken can solve more than something new