Questions and Answers

Dodge Neon; Lots Of Problems Q. Dear Mr Ciulla, Before I inundate you with my problems, let me first compliment you on the excellent service you are providing. In an attempt not to bother you with my own questions, I went through all your previously posted articles to find the answers I'm looking for, and I found parts of some, but would like some further input from you anyway, if possible.

I purchased a second hand car just over a year ago:
1996 Dodge Neon Sport
65,000 miles (now 85,000)
Automatic transmission
2.0 lit res 4 cylinder

And I have a number of regrets due to the following problems upon which I'm hoping you can shed some light.

1. I had my wheels balanced three weeks ago but I have a vibration (minor wobble) on the steering wheel at 55 mph and above. Is it likely that the balancing I had done was not done properly? Or is the accuracy of balancing a wheel not accurate above a certain speed threshold?

2. I was experiencing a knock which sounded as though it was coming from in front of the passenger's feet (front-bottom-right corner of the car). It sounded a lot like CV joint knocking (with which I am quite familiar) but was not related to any turning of the wheel and directly related to velocity. The sound would occur consistently but would vary in volume.

My mechanic eventually claimed he could hear it and said it was due to loose strut mountings. I have not had the strut mountings tightened or fixed or replaced (or whatever it is they require) but I have subsequently put new tires on the car (Yokohama Avid H4) and the knock has largely gone away. But if the strut mounting IS loose, could it have corrupted my wheel balance (described in 1)?

3. Subsequent to all of this I now hear an intermittent knock which sounds like it is coming from in front and below the steering wheel. It's a "knucks" type of sound, the same sort of sound a bad CV joint makes when you reverse with the wheels locked in a full turn. It occurs about once every 15 minutes, usually during acceleration in first or second gear.

4. In addition to this intermittent knock (3), the engine is reliably pinging in first and second gear at low revs and high torque. This problem is escalating. I use regular 87 in my car, which I understand may be the cause of this, but see 5.

5. The car sputters with growing frequency. This is my primary concern at the moment with this car. My first suspicion was that it was fuel related because it seemed to cough with acceleration. My mechanic (a different one) observed nothing unusual on the computer (and claimed that this meant nothing was wrong).

This problem occurs mostly at low speeds and especially at low revs and seems to be able to be induced by gear changes, but is not limited to gear changes. Just before the car changes down, when I apply the brakes, it sputters a bit. I have tried to demonstrate this to a mechanic but it never happens when he's in the car. Although, more recently it is much more frequent. The best he could do was to identify (as I had) a noticeably unstable idle - without any indication of this on the tachometer which depicts a steady 800 rpm.

This problem is most prominent when the car has been standing for a while (a couple of hours is enough) and I reverse out of a parking space. It will chug a few times as I reverse out, as though threatening to stall. And then as I pull off it will chug some more. Then once I'm moving it quiets down and chugs a few times on the road to my destination, mostly when I accelerate from waiting at a traffic light or up a steep hill.

Finally, this problem is provoked considerably by the air conditioning. If it is on, it is frequent (two or three times a minute), if it is off, it is not as frequent (once every three minutes).

Note: When I turn the car off it does not continue to sputter (as a previous car of mine did which had similar symptoms to the ones I'm describing here). It turns off without a problem.

6. Possibly related to 5. and maybe 4. is when it changes from third into forth, the rpm spikes. In other words, in first, it accelerates to 2,000 rpm then changes to second. Second increases to about 2,200 rpm and then changes to third which increases to 2,500 rpm and then ramps up to about 3,000 rpm before it changing to forth and dropping to 2,000 rpm

7. Finally, my instruments die intermittently. Sometimes it's just the speedometer, and others it is all of them. I have seen a number of your readers describing this problem with the 1996 Neon so I have your responses on this already.

What if any suggestions can you give me in order to attempt to address these issues. And, in your opinion, is this car going to end up costing me more than it's worth? I know now that Dodge Neons are not my favorite cars and that the purchase of this one was a huge mistake, but I want to make the best of a bad situation.

Regards,
Matthew

A. WOW! I didn't know if I should read this book or wait for the movie to come out. All kidding aside now, lets do this by the numbers.

1. Most modern high speed wheel balancers will balance a wheel/tire assembly so there is no vibration up to, and in most cases over, 85 mph. However, there may be an imbalance in the brake rotor/hub assembly. Brake rotors are balanced from the factory and 99% of the time you don't need to do anything with them. But if somehow they get unbalanced, then you need to do an on the car wheel balance which will balance everything.

Another thing that will cause a steering wheel vibration is a defect in a tire. Some times cords inside the tire slip and cause the tire to go egg shaped. Or there could be a flat spot on the tire. All the balancing in the world will do no good if the tire has a defect. Another possibility is tire and wheel run out.

Radial run out is the vertical distance between the high and low points on the tire or wheel edge measured at the center line of the tread.

Lateral run out is the horizontal movement of the tire or wheel measured near the shoulder of the tire.

There is a specification for this and run out of more than the preferred specification can cause the vehicle to shake. Usually run out can be reduced by relocating the wheel and tire on the wheels studs and/or rotating the tire on the wheel (match mounting).

Applicable TSBs here are #22-01-97 dated 6/13/1997 Tire & Wheel - Run out and #02-09-99 dated 7/02/1999 Steering/Suspension - Smooth Road Vibration.

2. There were a couple of TSBs issued about this problem. #23-47-97 dated 9/26/1997 Front Foot Well - Creak/Rattle on Bumps and #02-06-98A dated 6/19/1998 Front Suspension - Popping Noise On Bumps. Both of these require modifications to the body and frame and should be done by the dealer.

3. See 2.

4. See 5.

5. No codes in the computer do not mean there is nothing wrong. That's like saying the operation was a success but the patient died. There was a recall on 2/02/1996, Recall #96V026000: Engine Wiring Harness May Short Circuit. This may be the cause of this problem. I would take it to the dealer and find out if the recall was done.

Otherwise I would check fuel pressure and make sure it's good and steady. I'd make sure the correct spark plugs are installed (Champion RC9YC) and gapped properly (0.033" to 0.038"). Also check the ignition timing and see if it is correct. Make sure the EGR system is working correctly and the knock sensor is good. Sometimes carbon builds up on the piston tops and causes a ping. A top engine cleaner should clear this up.

6. Could be related to 5.

Usually when this happens, it indicates either a bad printed circuit board in the instrument cluster. It could also be a bad voltage limiter or connection to the instrument cluster.

All of this may seem insurmountable, but there is nothing here that can't be fixed with out some work. I would recommend going to the dealer to have this issues resolved since they know the car and have the best chance of fixing it once and for all.