Hopefully I will soon be the proud new owner of a 98 R/T. I am somewhat aware of the headgasket problems but what should I do in regards to it when I go to the dealer (It is a Dodge dealer)? I'm sorry if this sounds a bit elementary but this will be my first car that hasn't been the classic paid family hand-me-down. Thanks in advance for any information you guys might have.
~Cori

Welcome to the board :)

Are you getting the car from a private party or a dealer? If getting it from a dealer I would ask them what kind of warranty, if any, they will offer with the car. If from a private person, and if the car is still under warranty find out if it can transfer to you.

Also go to Modern Mopars (http://www.modernmopars.org) go into their "tech support" forum. There are some people who have gone thru the head gasket ordeal. I went thru it myself with my '97 but it was covered under the extended warranty. Later down the road I had a different motor put in my car but when it's HG goes I will be SOL. It's about a $500+ job, just to warn ya ahead of time.

Hope this helps you some :)

I got it! I am officially the proud new owner of a '98 black R/T. There is a 3000 mile/3 month warranty left so I suppose it's better than nothing. A friend of mine is a mechanical engineer and works on the Neon motors at the H.Q. here in Auburn Hills so he'll be able to take care of me if something drastic were to happen. I'm happy :)

Congrats! :) Hope it is good to you. Do you have any plans for it? Also sounds like you are taken care of since you know someone...it pays to know people. If I didn't my Neon would prob be long gone LOL

Plans are still up in the air since a) I'm poor again and b) the sloppy Michigan winter is quickly approaching. So by spring hopefully I'll have a rainy day fund again. Summer wheels/tires will be one of the first things. Brakes are probably on the to-do list as well. Being a female I'm big into how things look, yet all the guys I hang out with have the attitude "why spend money if it isn't going to enhance the performance?" (though I do understand why they feel that way). So I'm sure I will soon be "rice girl" to them heh.

Very cool. Well the motto for my car is mostly "clean n simple" or "all show and no go". My fiance and the rest of the guys in our group pick on me just for having a Neon but its all good. BTW if you are interested there is also an all girls forum in case you haven't seen it or been there yet. Give saturntangerine a holler....she's the mod for that forum :)

Originally posted by ilbfastSumday
I got it! I am officially the proud new owner of a '98 black R/T. There is a 3000 mile/3 month warranty left so I suppose it's better than nothing. A friend of mine is a mechanical engineer and works on the Neon motors at the H.Q. here in Auburn Hills so he'll be able to take care of me if something drastic were to happen. I'm happy :)

I say go right to a shop, and have them replace the head gasket under warrantee. My friends 97 expresso with 69k miles needed a new headgasket. Plus his head was warped, and 2 valves were bad. Cost him 1500 for all that.

Originally posted by Hybrid Boy


I say go right to a shop, and have them replace the head gasket under warrantee. My friends 97 expresso with 69k miles needed a new headgasket. Plus his head was warped, and 2 valves were bad. Cost him 1500 for all that.

What Hybrid said. Also if you do get the HG done, get the timing belt replaced while they have the motor torn apart and save a few bucks. But make them give you the old timing belt. I had a HG job done and asked them to do the timing belt and they tried talking me out of it. I said do it anyways. 6 months later the belt shredded and I lost my motor. Fortunately I had a friend who had a spare motor laying around. I have an ugly feeling they charged for the belt and never replaced it :mad:

it doesnt matter how many miles it has on it or how old it is.. if the head gasket blows take it to dealer they will fix it for free.. its a factory defect. believe me i know.. mine is leaking really bad.. but its my second engine in the car(1st one got flooded) so they sid they can not honor the defective repairs.head gasket jobs are expensive especially if you go into all the pressure testing and all to make sure it aint warrped. they told me 1500.. so fu@k them.. i just got a new race head fully P/P matched 3 angle vavle job..the works for 700. so hahahaha to those fu@kers at the dealership

well nice find on the car if your intrested I have body parts for sell.....