Problems with 1996 Dodge Neon ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING

No summary

While driving vehicle overheated. vehicle had to be towed to the dealership, where the engine head gasket was found blown. vehicle was repaired under warranty. please provide any further information. *ak

Engine head gasket oil leak. multiple garagemen indicate majority of neons have same problem. *ak

Head gasket failed and damaged engine block. needs new engine. according to your records, this is a very common problem with the neon. please .recall. *ak

Excessive tire wear in the front....head gasket blown and leaking oil badly...excessive gas consumption, (180 miles to a 12 gallon tank) dashboard cluster (all guages including, speedodmeter, odometer, and fuel and temp guages) does not work at all now...was shorting out and coming on from time to time but does not work at all now....( dot number: tire size: p165/80r13 )

Head gasket warped diagnosed at dealer when was having another repair, wiring harness short caused smoke to fill car while driving had it towed to dealer.

Oil lekage; consumer gotten two different reasons where it could be coming from. dealer nor mechanic can't really determine what the problem was. consumer saw leakage fom under left front tire.*ak

My 1996 dodge neon has a blown head gasket. this could cause a fire by allowing the oil to make contact with the exhaust manifold. i have done some research to find that there are many cases of this happening to other neons. it is a design defect and should be recalled by chrysler. *ak

Defective engine head gasket broke which caused oil to leak onto engine compartment and could ruin engine compartment. common problem. dodge won't assist consumer because he went to independent dealer. please provide further information.*ak

Original and replaced head gasket both leaked oil.

Ongoing oil leakage; vehicle taken to an independent repair shop, and was informed there was a blown head gasket. dealer repaired the vehicle. *ak *ml

No summary listed for this vehicle. *ak

These vehicles need to be recalled now,the head gaskets are defective and they know it, i'm tired of oil flowing out of the back of the engine, all over the exhaust manifold which will cause a fire,, please help. *ak

Head gasket failed after i owned the car 1 year, why hasn't chrysler issued a recall for this problem - i have been told repeatedly that this is a very common problem and i am discovering this on the nhtsa site as well!

Oil leaks, raditor smoking.

Vehicle stalls and vibrates at any speed. vehicle has been to repair shop three times, and the dealer can't determine the problem. *ak

Head gasket failure. also caused damage to engine head .chrysler corporate offered no assistance. nor return phone calls. *ak

I have had my car in for repair 4 times in 3 yrs. first the spark plugs were bad, had to be replace. second the wires melted together in my steering wheel column, 4rd the fueld sensor went out in fuel pump had to have the fuel pump replaced. ask warrenty company what most common problem with the dodge neon was they said the head gasket blowing, now i guess it's my turn for that i took to dealer today for oil leak , they said head gasket blown, need to tear down engine to make sure nothing else is bad ( cracked block / head) seems like an awful lot of problems for a car that's not that old and has been maintained, very dissapointed in vehicle

Vehicle started leaking a large amount of oil. also. heard a knocking in the engine. dealer contacted, and could remedy problem. repairwork was done at owner's expense. problem still exists. provide further information. *ak

This is the same problem alot of other people are having. the car is excessively leaking oil and when it is checked it turned out to be the cylinder head gasket. my mechanic said it would be $610.70 to fix. he was kind enough to even check for recalls for me. i cannot believe with the amoint of complaints , that there has not been a recall. my mechanic even made me a copy of an advertisement in motorage magazine for fel-pro that mentions the "troublesome and expensive problem on their '95-'97 2.0l engines. conventional head gasket designs cannot withstand the stress at the oil pressure hole, causing oil to leak" if this quote was a lie i think chrysler would have pulled the ad and filed a lawsuit. obviously it is true, and the consumers are paying. this was my first and last chrysler. i am going back to chevy.

I have heard that there is a major problem with head gaskets in the dodge neons. and that dodge has redesigned them. what about those of us who are stuck with the bad gaskets? i have talked with every dodge dealer within a 100 mile radius as well as a few mechanic shops. a couple of them told me that dodge was thinking about doing a recall on the head gaskets. i want to know why i should have to pay 500-800 dollars for something that dodge new was going to happen sooner or later. every dealer i have spoken with has said they have had to replace alot of head gaskets on the neons. please advise me if dodge is going to do a recall or not. thank you for your attention to this matter.

The problems that are occuring on a daily basis are: the gas gauge doesn't work,the speedometer doesn't work,the temperature gauge doesn't work,the mileage gauge doesn't work because the speedometer isn't working.sometimes while you are driving the lights(seat belt,etc.)will pop on making the dinging noise letting you know that everything is on(like when you 1st start up the car)but nothing starts working then but the temperature gauge.we never know how much fuel we have put in our car,how fast we are going,or if the car is running hot or cold.at one point we were having to get jump starts all of the time. this is an ongoing problem that i noticed you have had a recall on but this vehicle wasn't included.since it is having the same exact problems that is described in the recall i don't understand why the manufacturer will not fix the vehicle.this is rediculous there was a recall on the same type of vehicle,same year and everything but because there was only 15,000 cars done and our car could have been the 15,001 car on the assembly at the time we have to suffer and pay for the manufacturers mistakes.

The pipes ruptured and oil and water mixed together causing the radiator to collect thick brown mass. car overheated and temperature gauge to break and a leak of oil out of the broken pipe.

Would like to know why this head gasket problem has not prompted a recall. i put 3-4 qts of oil in a week. can not afford to get ot fixed now. shouldn't have to after 27,000 mls. i'll never buy dodge again. *ak

The 1996 dodge neon should be recalled. no safety defect (s) listed in summary. *ak

Oil leakage/seeping on the posterior side of the engine block head gasket.

Engine head gasket has failed, leaking large amounts of oil into the posterior part of the engine. through research have found this is a common problem with the neon, and at times has resulted in engine fires. this poses a significant safety risk and i am wondering why there has not been a recall. i also feel that chrysler should be held accountable for this failure and needs to pay for the cost of the repair. *ak

Problem with a blown engine head gasket causing oil leakages. dealer notified and informed repairs was not under a mfr. recall. *ak

Due to an oil leak the engine head gaskets have blown out. dealer has been contacted. *ak

There is oil leaking from the distributer cap area, consumer has to put in a quart of oil in vehicle once every seven days. please give any further details.*ak

Due to a defective engine head gasket there is a oil leak coming from the gasket and leaking onto exhaust manifold which may cause a fire. dealer is aware of problem, but did not receive enough complaints to warrent a recall. parts unavailable due to backorders. *ak

No summary listed for above vehicle. *ak

I had the head gasket oil leak repaired at an independent mechanic's shop (a certified mechanic) after the several dealers were booked solid. i couldn't wait to have the repair done two weeks later. now, only a year after the repair was done, the same repair needs done again. from what several dealers have told me, many neons develop this head gasket leak and need repair. my car was only two and 1/2 years old when the head gasket went. i don't understand why chrysler has not recalled the cars to have it fixed. it has been very costly to me. i again have to have the repair done next wednesday.

Major oil leak. i took the car to two mechnics, who told me the head gasket needed replaced. i spoke to the local dealer and was told that the car was out of warranty, and that the job would cost over $700. i later found out that this is a comon problem and the replacement part is not the same as the original because of some defect. chrysler still does not acknowlege a problem?

Abs brakes would make squealing noises first thing in moring, but later squealing noises would disappear. brake pads are worn down. passenger's window would be whistling; has no weather stripping. the spark plugs keeps blowing out. also, engine head gaskets are not working properly. whenever the spark plugs are blown, the vehicle would just stop running. *ak

Recall 96v026000/626; experiencing same wire harness problems. vehicle engine problems on 11-nov-98. also wire harness problems. second incident consumer was involved in. dealer cannot remedy the problem. provide further information. *ak

Please help me with chrylser. i have made numberous calls and they will not listen to me. it is ridiculous that i should have to pay for all of this. the car is obviously a "lemon."

No summary

Consumer experiencing oil leaks from engine, unable to locate where it coming from. dealer notified. *ak

I get oil changes regularly so that the car will last, then the last oil change i get, a month later oil starts leaking severely out from under the care. two estimated later and the head gasket needs to be replaced. not only has that gone up but the front brakes and rotors have already been replaced at 40,000 miles. i am always replacing something on this car and it is not even 3 years old. will these cars ever last the full loan?

Engine is leaking oil. took it to dealer who said that it needs a new head gasket. when i complained about the cost (approx $500.) he said they could take care of 1/2 of it. said that the problem is a poorly manufactured gasket & they replace a lot-in fact item is on back order

Engine head gasket is leaking oil. consumer contacted dealer. *ak

Oil leaks from the engine head gaskets every eight months. dealer contacted and did repairs. problem still exisits. also, car stalls while driving, due to a problem with the computer. *ak *ml

After only 70000 miles the dodge neon has a leaking head gasket. through converstations discovered that this seems to be a common problem. is there a recall in the works? thanks, damien

We have been told by several mechnics that the head gasket leaking on dodge neons is a common problem.

Engine gaskets and seals and rack and pinion steering failed.

Whenever the brakes were applied, they would squeak. had noticed the rotors were rusting out. had taken vehicle to dealer & told would not repair the rotors due to state using salt on the road. also, the head gaskets had blown & started to leak a lot of oil. *ak

Valve cover gaskets have failed twice since 1998 and currently needing to have the problem fixed again. also, the transmission failed just after warranty term. dodge knows of oil leak problems and have made no efforts to rectify.

Would like to add my (now) 2 experiences to the mix of many, in regards to head gasket problems with the 1996 dodge neon line of vehicles. this seems to be a very common problem, and chrysler has done nothing to ease the costs of this problem for hundreds of thousands of customers. i have replaced the head gasket (under extended warranty) twice now. the first time the blown head gasket caused enough damage that the entire engine head had to be replaced the first time. as i was writing this, i received a call from the 5-star chrysler dealership/service shop who is doing the work for a second time now (the car was also purchased there), and found out i will be without the car for another week because this time the damage is requiring replacement of the entire engine due to warping. even though this is covered by extended warranty, i have to pay $100 about every 20,000 miles to have this problem fixed. i am told chrysler is on their 6th revision of this gasket, but no recall or consumer warning has been made public. searching through the internet, it is staggeringly easy to find many others who are having this same problem. this costs me money and the inconvenience of being without one of my vehicles for a known problem. *ak

While driving the vehicle stalls unexpectedly which may cause an accident. dealer replaced spark plugs/head gaskets, etc. problem is still occurring, dlr cannot determine problem, cause unknown. please provide details. *ak