Help my neon is leaking oil!!!!

[lulu1226]

My 95 dodge neon only has 87, 000 miles on it and is leaking oil. I went to my dealership and he said either the CAM sensor is leaking or the head gasket. Is there a reacall on anything on the neon ? Please send me any information or input you might have? Thanks.

[specter]

the older neons (until they fixed it in 98 or 99...i forget) are renown for headgasket issues around 85,000 miles....thats might be your culprit

[dnkygirl]

Ok here's what you need to check.

1. Look at your coolant see if there's oil in there. Normally it should be green or pink not dirty brown. If it is that's sure fire head gasket.
2. If it's the cam it will just leak like mad... and you will lose oil... watch your oil levels.

I need to replace my cam sensor now. It started out spotting now it's awol. Hopefully for you it's just the sensor 25 bucks versus 500-600 bucks is a real problem.


demi

[KatWoman]

Originally Posted by dnkygirl

Ok here's what you need to check.

1. Look at your coolant see if there's oil in there. Normally it should be green or pink not dirty brown. If it is that's sure fire head gasket.
2. If it's the cam it will just leak like mad... and you will lose oil... watch your oil levels.

I need to replace my cam sensor now. It started out spotting now it's awol. Hopefully for you it's just the sensor 25 bucks versus 500-600 bucks is a real problem.


demi

Yep, and here's what my coolant looked like on Jan 1 of this year



And here's how the car is still sitting

[dnkygirl]

geez wiz... man that's awful... sorry to see that happen to you kat. Are you doing a new head and all that or was it just the gasket? How do you get all the oil out of the cooling system?


dnkygirl

[KatWoman]

Originally Posted by dnkygirl

geez wiz... man that's awful... sorry to see that happen to you kat. Are you doing a new head and all that or was it just the gasket? How do you get all the oil out of the cooling system?


dnkygirl

The head is getting machined and cleaned really good. I have a friend who started a port n polish business late last year. He's giving it a good cleaning and making sure the head is straight. We are doing a whole new upper gasket kit (HG, valve cover/tube seals, intake/exhaust manifold gasket). Last year we did the timing belt and water pump while we had it all open. Car's only gone 8,500 miles since that time. You really don't need to do a new head unless it's really messed up. But you should always get it machined/milled when you do this kind of job. LAst year we didn't because of budget and time constraints. As for getting the oil out of the cooling system, we flushed it out with a garden hose to get most of the crap out, but once the motor is back together I have to take it to the shop to get a full chemical flush for it. And it takes 2-3 more flushes after that to really get everything out. Another thing too is I had to buy a brand new radiator because I accidentally punched a hole in my old one when removing the lower radiator hose But so much garbage came out of the old one we think we are better off with a new one anyway.

[dnkygirl]

Originally Posted by KatWoman

The head is getting machined and cleaned really good. I have a friend who started a port n polish business late last year. He's giving it a good cleaning and making sure the head is straight. We are doing a whole new upper gasket kit (HG, valve cover/tube seals, intake/exhaust manifold gasket). Last year we did the timing belt and water pump while we had it all open. Car's only gone 8,500 miles since that time. You really don't need to do a new head unless it's really messed up. But you should always get it machined/milled when you do this kind of job. LAst year we didn't because of budget and time constraints. As for getting the oil out of the cooling system, we flushed it out with a garden hose to get most of the crap out, but once the motor is back together I have to take it to the shop to get a full chemical flush for it. And it takes 2-3 more flushes after that to really get everything out. Another thing too is I had to buy a brand new radiator because I accidentally punched a hole in my old one when removing the lower radiator hose But so much garbage came out of the old one we think we are better off with a new one anyway.

agh... yeah i just changed my timing belt and water pump as well about 31,000 miles ago. I had a major blow out of the water pump driving across town. Took out 2 valves and i had to have the head machined as well. I love my neon so 2 grand later.. it's back up and running and now i have an oil leak. I'm beginning to wonder when is enough ... really enough. This one seems to be minor... if i can get the broken lug nut off the passenger side tire i might be able to see where exactly it's coming from. I checked the cam sensor.. it's dry as dirt.. I was able to get under there just a little to see that it wasn't the crank sensor either... it seems to be coming directly from the oil pan area. So maybe the oil pan gasket or the oil level sensor. It's hard to tell with all that oil everywhere....

demi

[a1supersport]

Originally Posted by KatWoman

Yep, and here's what my coolant looked like on Jan 1 of this year



And here's how the car is still sitting

Geez, that's awful!! Would it have been cheaper/faster/easier to just find a "donor" Neon and pull the engine/trans? Then maybe work on the original motor at a slower pace and get it "tip-top". Just a thought