QuestionDoug,
Sorry I didn't specify that before, it is a 2.0 DOHC with many mods done to it. The previous owner hooked up a vacume gauge to it as if it had a turbo...but it never did have one. So maybe...this guy was just a little slow in the head and missed something somewhere. Although he seemed pretty honest about everything when selling the car and I think he would have mentioned the high idle. Either way...that is not going to be an expensive fix and does not have me worried as much as the alignment.
About the alignment...All 4 tires have a different wear on them, one of them is showing threads. So it may be that, but during a test drive I was steering left and right at about 20 MPH, similar to when NASCAR vehicles warm up their tires, and I heard a semi-loud pop in the front of the vehicle. It only happened when I was cranking the crap out of the wheel, just giving it a durability test. Big boys and their little toys I guess.
The Engine is rebuilt and has a lot of mods done to it and the car itself only has 100,000 on it, so I believe in my heart that it will last me a couple of years. I know it has to be hard for you to troubleshoot the problem without seeing the vehicle, but I appreciate your help Doug.
Michael
-------------------------
Followup To
Question -
I am a Soldier currently stationed in Iraq, and back in December I bought a 95' Dodge Neon Sport on ebay. It goes without saying what my first mistake was...anyways, I got home on R & R for a couple of weeks and decided to take it on a test drive. I noticed that the alignment was way off (which the seller told me over e-mail), which I know can be a tie rod or maybe just needs an alignment done on it, how much does that usually run in a shop? Secondly, the idle level is way to high. When I would have the clutch pushed in, or it was in nuetral, it was idling at about 2200. Any idea what that could be about?
Answer -
Hey Michael,
First let me say thanks for serving our country. I'm a military brat myself and understand SOME of the challenges you are dealing with. I'm not much of one for politics or really the war but I do support the military and have friends who serve as well.
As for this neon... it's not a complete pile but the 1g neons did have a few problems. The pull could be any number of things from bent steering components, worn tires, to even a bent frame.
You neon has front and rear toe adjustments and that's it from the factory. After that point you can buy struts that allow for camber adjustments or even just simple bolts (specially for alignments) that allow for movement.
If you really want to spend money there are after-market kits that allow for extreme adjustments of this car. I auto-cross my 95 neon and don't even have THAT much done to it so that would be over-kill.
First thing you need to do is check the tires for inflation and tread wear. If they're low or high you could have your pull right there. If they are worn abnormally then they're not worth getting an alignment done on. Replace and do the alignment. If you're concerned about putting good tires on a cheap car go to wally-world and get some of their $35.00 tires and then get it aligned. Wear out those tires and re-evaluate from there.
The alignmet will cost you somewhere from $75-125 and you should stress that you want read-outs before and after taken and want to leave with that same piece of paper in hand (to report back to me or other trusted mechanic). Tell them you want a 4-wheel alignment because failure to adjust the rear, on cars that have adjustments like yours, cause cause a pull, not correct the pull or not show worn parts that adjusting would have.
The high idle could be a number of things. I'll need to know if this is a DOHC or SOHC neon. Chances are you've got a bad idle air control motor or a vacuum leak somewhere. A car of carb cleaner and a quick drowning of the intake side of things may help find a vacuum leak. Every now and again you may find a frayed throttle cable or sticking throttle plate to be the cause of a high idle.
You have some options here, it's not a total waste and being a neon owner myself we can figure this one out or help cut your loss before it's too late.
Doug
AnswerSounds like it's had a "spirited life". Hit me up on AIM sometime DOHC2lplpower and we'll talk more about the car.
I think alot of your pull will be from tire wear at this point. The clunking is a concern because they've had bearing issues in the past. ALSO, I've tried finding a clunk in my front suspension for a year or more only to have the answer fall in my lap (not literally). The strut to knuckle bolts were loose ever so slightly and allowed a bit of movement in those "tire warming" type manuevers.
Strange thing was that I had adjusted the camber, on the rack, and tightened them myself with an impact gun. Well, it took locking two wrenches together and a bit more effort to apply ALL the force needed to keep them from shifting at all. Try that and maybe you won't need the bearing, bushings, tie rod ends, strut seats, and struts I put on years back trying to find the noise. 100K miles it was a "Modify/maintain" my way out of a problem but still... who would have thought just a little German Torque would have fixed the problem.
Doug
