alwaysFlOoReD's Neon

I needed a vehicle cheap on gas and that I could take to auto-cross and similar events. That means not a truck. Piss me off that all these clubs are so prejudiced against trucks. Oh well, enough bitching! I bought a 98 Neon for $60.00 with a bad knock. The body is good as is the interior, it just needs a good cleaning. In my research for racing the neon I found that there is Neon spec class ice racing. It's meant to keep costs down by specifying what mods you're allowed, in this case none. It also specs the engine which is supposed to be a SOHC. The 98 came with a DOHC so I found another Neon, a 96, for $400.00 with what I thought was a fairly good SOHC motor.

The 96 versus my current DD, a 2004 f-150 w/ 5.4l/ auto getting ~ 20.5 l/100km [ 11.5 mpg U.S.]



Some more pics







The 98-





The 96 has had a lot of work done to it in the past, there are leds all over the place and wiring for a high end stereo and other stuff dead-ending everywhere. I spent a few hours ripping out the dash and then the extra wiring that makes it hard for me to see what's stock.







When I first got the 96, it would run at a very high rpm ~3500 when cold, slowly dropping to ~1800 when warm. The rpm would jump if a load was put on the electrical such as a heater fan. I checked neons.org for possible fixes. First I checked the vacuum lines and found one disconnected at the charcoal canister. I then ran the car again and pulled codes. I got the following;
p0123 throttle position sensor switch A high
p0134 o2 bank1 sensor 1
p01351 ignition coil A primary secondary
p1391 interim loss CMP or CKP

Not really knowing what those mean I decided to look at the o2 sensors. After figuring out how to remove the intake, I saw one o2 sensor wire unhooked. I looked under the car and the second o2 sensor bung has been removed. So I decided to move the existing o2 over to the other o2 sensor wire thinking that the pcm needs the first o2 reading more than the second.....don't know if this is true or not- just guessing. At this time I haven't fired up the car to find out any changes.
The same afternoon I decided to check the spark plugs and found two wires soaked in oil. Pulled the plugs and found one oil fouled and another close behind. The owner had said that he had recently replaced the valve cover gasket and had screwed up on one plug-tube gasket in the process. It looks like he forgot to do one as one showed no signs of replacement. I then tried to do a compression test and was able to thread the tester into 3 of 4 holes. The test was done cold @ ~-10C.
1] 130 psi
2] n/a
3] 170 psi
4] 195 psi
It seems the upper portion of cylinder 2 has no threads left. A spark plug threads in fine but also has .5" more threading than my compression tester. I tried to adapt a gauge to my leakdown tester but didn't think of the need for a check valve so that didn't work. I'll be going back today to install some air lines so I can do a leakdown test. Then I'll button the motor back up and see what results.

Thanks for looking,

Richard

Well, I made an adapter to be able to connect my compression tester to the hose of the leakdown tester. I used some silver bearing acid core solder and soldered a fitting for air lines on the end of the compression tester 13/16" sparkplug adapter. I can now plug the two together, but the readings are a little lower because of the extra space in the line. That should be alright as all I'm doing is comparing readings across the cylinders. Speaking of which here are the new readings;
1] 100 old was 130
2] 130 old was n/a
3] 125 old was 170
4] 135 old was 195

I also did a leakdown test which came back as
1] 30%
2] 15%
3] 15%
4] 10%

I did the leakdown test with the valve cover off so I could see when the valve were closed. I ended up listening at the line of the leakdown tester as I turned the motor over for the sound of air escaping. That told me that the piston was coming up on compression stroke. When I hooked up the tester sometimes the engine would turn over so I ended up using the remote starter to kick the motor over until I got it into a spot where it wouldn't move any more. maybe not to an experienced tech, but to me it wazs surprising how little the engine needed to be turned to change the readings I was getting. Anyway, I wrote down the best readings that I found using that method....don't know if that's quite the correct way. Each cylinder I checked for sound at the crankcase, throttle, rad, and exhaust. I only found sound at the crankcase, indicating the air pressure was getting around the rings. Sounds were quite noticeable elsewhere when I as turning the motor over trying to find top dead center.
I fired it up after re-installing everything except the air cleaner housing and found the rpm's were still very high, at about 3400. My vacuum gauge was reading about 18"/hg. Some how I decided to stick my finger down the throttle body and found a hole that if I plugged, would kill the motor. After playing I found that I could place a cotton glove in the throttle bore such that there was enough air still getting in that the motor would run, but not at an excessively high rpm. A little deductive reasoning lead me to believe the IAC motor wasn't working. Too bad the Haynes manual doesn't describe that there is an IAC motor, perhaps I would have found the problem a little sooner. I'm reasonably certain that I've found the problem, I just have to wait to Monday to pick up a new part as the IAC that I have is seized.
I also found a bunch of parts on Kijiji for the 98 that I'm going to look at tomorrow, I offered the guy $700.00. Please tell me if that's too much;
http://reddeer.kijiji.ca/c-cars-vehicles-auto-parts-tires-engine-engine-parts-Dodge-neon-srt4-engine-Parts-W0QQAdIdZ459930494
Thanks for looking,

Richard

It's been a while since posting. I didn't get those parts, it seemed to be too much $ for used.
I bought a used iac valve and that somewhat solved the problem. That brought the idle down but now you could hear the miss! So I also bought and installed new wires and valve cover gaskets. Since the wires go thru the center of the valve cover, there is round gaskets that attach to the inside of the head that fit over sheetmetal "wells", one of which the PO never changed.




It's running OK but still not right. I was thinking that I could get the 96 going as a daily driver but after checking the wiring



and assorted other fixes; rear brake cylinder, rear struts, broken drivers mirror, ignition lock-out cable and wiring fixes I would need to do I decided to fix the 98.
Some pics as I was prepping and removing the engine;

A love tap to knock loose the tie rod


Holding the rotor still to remove the axle nut


Prying the lower control arm to release the lower ball joint
sorry, no pic, I used a 1" x 2" steel tube stuck into a hole on the frame to pry down on the control arm

tying back the knuckle to make room to remove the axle


Homemade tool for prying/popping the axle out




^^^didn't work, so second homemade tool




^^^this worked on the drivers side but when I got to the passenger side....uh uh!

So back to the drawing board. My home made slide hammer that I had made from scrap awhile ago






Fine thread 9/16"[or 5/8"...can't remember] x 24tpi


It happens that my other factory puller ends fit


So now using the slide hammer with a new attachment I can get both sides






Extended for pass. side




Everything disconnected and ready to pull


The air over hydraulic ram that I bought last year installed on my hoist


Some how the end was broken when I finally go to use it


So I buy a fitting and adapt it


but now the air over hydraulic isn't working....back to princess auto and they replace the ram no questions asked

The 96 engine coming out


I bought this little hoist that is meant for motorized wheel chairs at a yard sale for $50.00. It works great for wheeling the motor and tranny to where I want to work on it, and it gets high enough to place the engine on a work bench. I don't know that i would trust it to one of my big blocks tho




Before pressure washing I wanted to plug the axle holes. I came up with this


And with a little tape it plugged the hole


I have pulled both motors and trannies, pressure washed the sohc motor and manual trans and engine bay


I found a gasket hanging out by the egr,


this might have something to do with the engine not running right. Lots of wiring problems in the engine harness which I'm sorting through


I bought a new clutch kit and new timing belt kit [includes waterpump], and front and rear main seals as well as axle seals. I installed the timing belt kit without much problem.
I used some jb weld to fix the broken timing cover


There was a chunk missing so I used some tape




after removing the tape


engine harnesses- the 96 needs a starter plug end, the o2 plugs need changing to use in the 98, and there is damage to three wires leading to various sensors. I started fixing but decided to use the 98 engine harness and change the 96 injectors over to 98. I have to fix the rear engine side o2 plug as I forgot to disconnect it when lifting the motor out. The local dodge dealer wants $50.00 for the pigtail. The parts place wants $35.00. I'm going to the junkyard!

This pretty much brings things up to date.
Thanks for looking,

Richard