R.I.P. Marvin

Well this is certainly the last kind of post I expected to have to make :(

Last night I was driving along doing about 50ish, and all of a sudden the car lost power and dropped to 35. I hit the accelorator a bit and it wouldn't go past 40. So I knew something was up and started to pull off the road (very busy Phx street) and just as I got out of traffic and into the middle turn lane, the car died and wouldn't restart. Checked codes and only got a 55 (meaning end of codes or no problems). Opened the hood and there was oil all over the top of my tranny, oil coming out of the filter on my Iceman intake, and oil nicely pooled in my intake manifold and throttle body...aka oil in all sorts of places there shouldn't be :( I was right in front of an Autozone so someone there helped me get the car out of the turn lane and onto a sidestreet. Got the car towed home and did a compression test: 90 90 30 0 Not good news. 160-200 is normally what it should read for each cylinder and be within 10% of each other. There is also oil all over the pistons as well, you could see it shining a light down into the spark plug chambers.

Something went terribly wrong in the bottom end. At this point it's not worth dropping more $ to get it running only to sell it. A friend of ours was going to buy it, but I am glad this happened while we still had the car because I'd feel like **** if this happened after he got it or if he had given it to his daughter.....it would have been a first car for her.

So this is officially the end of the road for Marvin :crying:

Sad news indeed Kat :( Its always tough to let something you've grown accustomed to go.

:sadwavey: Marvin













Never pay again for live sex! (http://showmewebcam.com/?p=1) | Hot girls doing naughty stuff for free! (http://showmewebcam.com/?p=3) | Chat for free! (http://showmewebcam.com/?p=5)

Sorry to hear that. As you say, it's lucky that you had not sold it.

Hope you get a good replacement quickly.

Marvin was a good car who served well for many miles. He will be missed. /minister. Bye Bye Marvin:sadwavey:

how many miles does marvin have??? I've always wondered how reliable neons are

161,xxx miles. Tranny is still strong, the body's still in great shape, interior is perfect. Just under the hood hasnt done so well. My first motor blew at 96,000 miles because my water pump seized and shredded my timing belt. The new motor had 400 miles on it when it went in....and never really did all that great. I think the longest I have gone without anything major is 6 months :(

Well all things considered the car did serve me well and if anything I learned alot about cars over the years. At least we tried :)

srry to hear...bring on the bimmer! (BTW did u decide on a new car yet?)

srry to hear...bring on the bimmer! (BTW did u decide on a new car yet?)


Well for now the Bimmer Dreams are on hold. We could easily afford an E30 3 series (84-91) but after research the reliability is about 50/50 mixed reviews. The problem is if it has a major breakdown, that could cost more than we make in a month to repair. Plus it's kinda too old of a car to risk that happening. Alex has personally talked to a few more BMW guys and they all love their cars but confirm when a part does go, it's expensive.

I thought about a truck too, but Alex said he didn't really think I belonged in a truck, and that I may not be happy with it, since I am more a car person and like to drive alot. So I am now considering a '97 Volvo 850....which line I am not sure of, but at least something that runs well. I have been playing around on the Volvo forums at swedespeed.com and have gotten alot of help there. Friendly crew too. Alot of the 850 owners do their own work, and the expenses are moderate. Some parts cost more than Neon parts but they are solid cars. An attorney in my office has 4 Volvo's in the stable and has also owned 2 others previously. He had nothing but good things to say about Volvo in general. He told me if I found a 97 in good conditon, with 75K or less miles on it, he recommended it. I also ran into an old friend from high school at my gym the other day. His wife drives a 91 240 and they love it and want to look into getting another newer Volvo.
So that's what I am looking into now. Later on Alex might get a Volvo wagon to have as a utility vehicle, but first priority right now is getting me a running car.

sounds good...volvos are very reliable cars...good choice

Poor Marvin. :( Bye bye and rest in peace. :sadwavey:

Poor Marvin. :( Bye bye and rest in peace. :sadwavey:
:sadwavey:

if you want a good reliable car, you can never go wrong with Nissans!!

Well for now the Bimmer Dreams are on hold. We could easily afford an E30 3 series (84-91) but after research the reliability is about 50/50 mixed reviews. The problem is if it has a major breakdown, that could cost more than we make in a month to repair. Plus it's kinda too old of a car to risk that happening. Alex has personally talked to a few more BMW guys and they all love their cars but confirm when a part does go, it's expensive.

I thought about a truck too, but Alex said he didn't really think I belonged in a truck, and that I may not be happy with it, since I am more a car person and like to drive alot. So I am now considering a '97 Volvo 850....which line I am not sure of, but at least something that runs well. I have been playing around on the Volvo forums at swedespeed.com and have gotten alot of help there. Friendly crew too. Alot of the 850 owners do their own work, and the expenses are moderate. Some parts cost more than Neon parts but they are solid cars. An attorney in my office has 4 Volvo's in the stable and has also owned 2 others previously. He had nothing but good things to say about Volvo in general. He told me if I found a 97 in good conditon, with 75K or less miles on it, he recommended it. I also ran into an old friend from high school at my gym the other day. His wife drives a 91 240 and they love it and want to look into getting another newer Volvo.
So that's what I am looking into now. Later on Alex might get a Volvo wagon to have as a utility vehicle, but first priority right now is getting me a running car.

If you can try to see if you can find a 940, I'm pretty sure it was the last rwd car that Volvo made. Plus they are extremely reliable my mom has a 760 turbo with over 180 miles not km miles on it and it don't seem to be dying anytime soon and my brother has a 240 with around 270km's on it we have beaten the ever living shit out of that over the winter and the fall so they are cheap and extremely reliable.

sorry to hear that

bye bye marvin. kat, i wish you the best of luck with your next choice as a vehicle.

Bye Marvin! :(

Sorry about your loss, Kat.

bye bye

sorry to hear that :mad:

Poor Marvin.
That car must've been cursed.

This should teach everyone never to buy a Chrysler

What can be said about our friend Marvin? He was Marvin, Neon Extrodinaire. He was one with the world around him, and though he had a few serious issues, he made the best of it, and was loved by everyone he knew, and some he didn't know. His dedication to his owner was shown by the way he refused to go to another, and died before he could be sold. Rest in peace, brother Marvin... rest in peace...

:sadwavey:

Sorry to hear that Kat, but look at it this way pretty soon you will have a new (to you) car to fix up, mod out, and personalize to your liking and that is always loads of fun spending hours looking at new accessories and perf parts on the net for your new baby.

Good luck with the search!

sorry to hear bout that Kat....well at least it's chillin with my B12, and both of Brian's cars up in car Heaven :smile:

so you still want those seats? j/k

My sentiments to you Kat, I know just how hard it is to have a car die on you, especialy one you really really liked.

But look on the bright side, now you can buy that Honda you always wanted :)

yea get a honda, less likely to die on you, very reliable cars. though I don't like em that much

Get a YUGO! I miss mine now! I saw two today on lots, and I seriously considered getting one of them, but alas, no space for one. :(
I think I'm going to talk my friend into getting one. :)

Good old fashioned Neon reliability showing through..........


I'm shocked at the service costs for an E30 in the States :o Everywhere else they are barely even dearer than a Japper to fix, oh well, the Japs'll bless you with reliability as will most Chermans, but they're expensive to fix, according to you.


Ah fuck it, get a Volvo, they don't die

Thanks for the condolences :D Marvin still sits in the garage, and getting quite dusty :( Well I am hoping to sell it as a priject/engine rebuild car. I posted an ad on a few Neon forums, and got an email from a guy in N. Cali that might be interested. He hasn't responded to my latest email yet so if that falls thru I am going to post an ad in the AutoTrader. If within a month no luck, I am going to try to sell my seats and wheels.

Another option.....a friend of Alex's in a local Impala club knows someone who has a newer motor sitting around and he needs cash (unemployed). If if is cheap enough (and I mean CHEAP) we MIGHT consider getting it and doing a swap so that I at least have a running car to sell. But that's a big fat MAYBE.

Well I went and looked at 8 Volvo 850's this weekend and was abhorred by the lack of maintenance most of them had. Some looked like the fluids never saw a change. 2 others were wrecked and then some of the people were shady too. But I have my choice narrowed down between 2 wagons, 1 of which I still need to go look at tonight. I drive 1 yesterday and loved it. Plus with getting ready to do projects for the house and maybe even get 2 more dogs, it will be the perfect luxury/utility vehicle.

If for some terrible reason neither wagon works out, my Plan B car is a 97-99 Maxima and my Plan C car is a 97-99 Toyota Camry. I really want to see the Volvo on the driveway....my last 2 options have leather seats....and they are to die for. Way more comfy than my NSX seats.

Hogie, if I can't rid of the Neon as a whole, then the seats will be for sale.....so stay tuned :D

What year of Neon is it? I've heard they had problems with some o-ring or something in the head gasket that was always causing oil leaks and such. It might not be as serious as you think it is, but I still dunno if it's worth it to risk fixing it for another problem to occur. I hate it when a well loved car dies, especially if it's been with you and carted you around forever. Rest in peace...(Or 'Rust in Pieces', since it is a car....)

What year of Neon is it? I've heard they had problems with some o-ring or something in the head gasket that was always causing oil leaks and such. It might not be as serious as you think it is, but I still dunno if it's worth it to risk fixing it for another problem to occur. I hate it when a well loved car dies, especially if it's been with you and carted you around forever. Rest in peace...(Or 'Rust in Pieces', since it is a car....)


It's a 97 and definitely was not the headgasket. The O-ring you speak of is a problem issue on the composite gaskets that came on Neons that rolled off the line before Oct. or Nov. of 1998. I already had that issue last year and replaced it with an MLS (multi-layer steel) gasket. Unfortunately my head warped and allowed coolant/oil to mix again and I repeated the job again 2 months ago. I had even checked the oil on the morning of Marvin's last day on the road and it was full, but noticibly dirty for having been changed less than 1000 miles ago. I figured maybe I just needed another change to get the rest of the crap out of the system....well now that my motor has blown, it wasn't dirty, it was burned.

The lack of compression in the cylinders and the fact that the pistons have oil all over them tells us that most likely a piston ring probably blew and let oil get into the cylinder chambers. I would say a piston broke, but there wasn't any noise or clatter when the car died. It just stalled out as if I ran out of gas. That or something caused too much pressure up in the head and caused oil to be forced thru the breather tube on my intake and allowed the motor to suck in oil (where it should ahve only sucked in air) and then things went to hell from there. This is not a cheap or quick fix, not to mention all the clean up internally.

The bluebook on my car (running of course) is $2500-2900. I've already dumped $2000+ into it in the last year. Not worth resurrecting again. If someone wants a shot at it, they are more than free (after giving me some cash :lol: ) to go for it :D

It's toast... you gonna opt for an SRT4 now? :D

a moment of silence for the dearly departed marvin.... :sadwavey: