your neons have hydraulic lash adjusters like my old school 2.2L. Over time they wear out and don't hold pressure anymore. So you end up with a bunch of slop in the valvetrain. Pull the valve cover and the rocker bars, and carefully remove the lash adjusters. If you can compress them with your fingers they're definitely bad. I'm sure there's a spec for them, I just don't know of it. If they're still really stiff (can't compress it with you're fingers at all) they're probably OK. You'll know it if you've got a bad one!