So I get a call from the wife at ~4pm...the car (not the honda, the neon) made a really bad noise and just quit... I leave work early and go to where it is on the side of the road (she was able to find a ride home from a friend b4 I could get there)...I go to turn it over...the noise it horrid and it wont start. My buddy who happens to own the local little auto shop showed up minutes after I got there...he look at it and found where the noise was at while I turned it over. I havent had a chance to tear it open...but lets just say this...the plastic timing cover shows heat/stress lines the shape of the cam gear.

So...there is a good chance that this stupid little dodge 2.0 that I dumped ~2500 into on a complete rebuild 60k miles ago is complete ****...or at least the head...yaye for me...looks like I have something to do (as if I needed it) this weekend[&o]


On a brighter note I decided since I had already was dirty from messing with that pos it was time to put the freshly painted rotas back on....AND I washed it lol in the dark, hope I didnt miss any spots (not that it matters it will probably rain tomorrow) but I couldnt put the clean wheels on the dirty car...


Pics tomorrow when I get daylight

 

If it makes you feel any better, I bought a 91 eclipse GSX two years ago. Garaged it for the winter, bought rims and intake for it, drive it for a month and suddenly while down shifting a piston stopped firing. Got home and took the spark plug out and the electrode was SMASHED flat. Tried another spark plug and the same thing happened. I got a little light and could see something in the cylinder. When I used a long magnet it turned out to be a washer in the cylinder... here's the interested part, it was too big to fit through the spark plug hole. So after a month of little work here, little work there, I got the head off and grabbed this little washer. It was completely intact, yet like I said too big to come from the spark plug hole. And it was turbo charged so... wtf where did it come from XD I ended up dumping that POS a month afterwards.

 

I'd love to dump this car...but I've put more money into that motor than I paid for the whole car...at this point it really depends on what the damages are....if its under a few hundred I'll fix it...dont have much choice really though....wife is going from this car as a DD back to my lifted burb...30mpg to 8-9....that hurts these days.

 

What year neon is it? I hope it's not the first gen. I had to fix my little lady's 1st gen ALL THE TIME until we got the 99 Camry.

 

Yeah its a first gen...95. I fixed all of the "common" issues with it when I did the full rebuild...only a few things are original...honestly was hoping when she said it quit it was the injectors as they've seen every mile of the 230k thats on it. Pretty much everything besides those has been upgraded/replaced (that stuff is only up to ~60-65k)...The head on this thing (which is likely to be the most effed in this situation) is the part I spent the most money on...sent it to a shop to have it worked on...and when the head was shaved it only made the interferance greater....so...I'm gonna cry probably when I take it apart...I think I paid maybe 3-400 for the work on the head (maybe closer to 6...its been too long, I need to find the receipts) and then whatever it was I paid for the crane cam...guess we'll see this weekend. I'll post some pics if there are any worth looking at.

 

So initial problem....the timing belt tension pulley seized and just tore up the plastic wheel it was riding on. So that part cheap to fix...however...that coming apart allowed enough slack that the belt stopped turning the cam...yet for a small period of time the pistons continued. And being an interferance engine...more than likely there is much more damage. Since its either toasted or not...and me not wanting to spend more money on it. I'm gonna replace the pulley and see what it sounds like. If it sounds like it might be ok...then we'll run it. If not I'll just part it out. I still have all reciepts for everything I just bought for it within the last 40k miles...so next paycheck I guess we'll see whats up.

 

can't wait for pics!

 

Pics I would have taken so far werent that fun...the pulley is made of plastic...so when the metal bearing in the middle of it seized it just melted that down and shreaded it. If it is screwed I'll pull the head and show off the damage.

 

... why did you put ~2500 into a 95 neon?... the car isn't even worth that much

 

.....I was dumb? It was 4 years ago...and I had just bought the car for not much less than that...at the time it was that much into a motor...or the same for another car and chance ending up in the same place down teh road...my only fault was not replacing the tensioner and pulley when I built it. If I had done that I wouldnt be in this spot. Ah well...live and learn I guess. At this point I will be getting the car to a point where I can dump it...and then more than likely get the wife into a 96+ 4door civic. Gotta pick up the pulley today and see what the motor sounds like here in the next day or two.