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I have a 2005 Dodge Neon SXT with 213000 miles. I was driving highway speeds for about 30 minutes and came to a stop at a red light. Suddenly, my oil light came on and went off after a second or two. This happened twice at that same light. Knowing that I had plenty of oil I’m guessing that it was a low pressure problem caused by a worn engine. This is the only time that has happened since then. Do you think this is what caused the problem? Would it be advisable to upgrade to thicker oil? I’m pretty sure I used either 10W30 or 5W20 (which is what the oil cap says). My last question is how hard is it to replace the engine with a used one? I am pretty good at figuring things out but I am just unsure because I don’t want to get over my head and screw up my whole car. The main thing I am worried about is connecting the engine to the transmission (auto). How is that done? Thanks – TCB
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Before you consider replacing the engine you should install a mechanical gauge to measure the true oil pressure. Chryslers are notorious for pressure sending switches going bad and can cause the problem you are having.
[quote=”wysetech” post=89726]Before you consider replacing the engine you should install a mechanical gauge to measure the true oil pressure. Chryslers are notorious for pressure sending switches going bad and can cause the problem you are having.[/quote]
+++1!
Yea, gather the evidence that the engine actually does have an oil psi problem first. It could be just a bad sending unit as suggested.
Keep us posted.
Will do! Thanks! I’m not too concerned about it because this happened about a month ago and the oil light hasn’t come on since. I was just curious to hear what y’all had to say.
Brillon, you just gave me some confidence in my engine lasting that long! I have an 05 Neon SXT (original owner, purchased Jan 2006) with 75k miles on it and I was thinking something “major” was going to creep up and bite me in the ass in terms of a repair.
What type of driving is that 200k+ mileage? Outside of W/T parts (brakes, rotors, wheels, tie rod ends) what all have you had to replace?
Well this Neon was actually my mom’s. She bought it in 06 new. I bought it from her 2 years ago for $700. The car is great and a blast to drive. I really cannot complain about it at all. The only things mechanical that have broken in 8 years are the air duct going from the air box to the intake and the crankshaft position sensor. Really thats absolutely it for the cars 213k miles. Those miles are a good mix between highway and city miles. Just make sure you keep that maintenance up. If I don’t end up having to put a new engine in, I’m expecting at LEAST 250k. Let me say too, that I hit a deer going 55mph and ended up only replacing the hood and headlight. Thats pretty damn good too. It’s really an awesome car. Heres a pic of the car after the deer was hit, and then a pic i just took of the car. Can’t beat it for $700!
Funny, I got the same exact color.
You know, I know parts just “go” but I’m wondering if you have like no potholes/crappy roads around you guys?
Like I said, I’ve replaced normal w/t parts (including a tie rod end and rear control arm bushing) and just recently had at least 2 (upper and lower, didn’t check middle) motor mounts which were REAL bad replaced. Makes me wonder how the heck you got 130k+ miles and didn’t have mounts go bad. 🙁
Sorry about that. I did have to replace them all. Lol. Completely forgot. I live in South Carolina. Theres nothing but rocky dirt roads and poorly maintained paved roads around where I live. The car could use some new struts but I’m not too worried about it.
OOC, did you use AM (AutoZone/Advanced Auto) mounts or OEM? Only asking because that’s one of the reasons I’m here lol. After replacing them with the Anchor mounts, which seem to be the only real available brand outside of OEM, I (including a TON of people) all have vibrations that weren’t that before mount replacement regardless of how bad the mount actually was and trust me mine was basically barely hanging on to anything on the motor bolt.
My center mount is Anchor. Only because it was the most expensive. The lower and upper torque struts are from Autozone not sure what brand but probably Anchor also. I haven’t had any problems with the mounts. I’ve had them for about a year. The car is as quiet as ever and has no unexplained vibrations.
So you did the upper, lower, middle? Did you do the tranny-side (driver-side) mount as well?
AutoZone definitely only sells Anchor but yea apparently a ton of people (even with any make of car) seem to have some sort of issues with vibrations after replacing mounts, sometimes even with OEM mounts.
Did you do the alignment procedure as well? I didn’t and I am out about .5-1″, from the quick looking I did in the dark, but I don’t think it would cause the vibrations I’m having in the front-end and through the steering wheel.
If you didn’t do the alignment procedure after replacing them, then damn you are one lucky SOB all around. Outside of making sure everything is tightened (my biggest concern is the vibration, which is only at IDLE/sub-700 rpms is that bolts will vibrate loose, especially something with the steering column) again and doing the alignment I’ll be pissed off if it doesn’t go away completely. 🙁
The problem tends to really be how the AM mounts are hard rubber, and I’m sure being cold as hell this winter, hasn’t really given them any time to warm up/break-in since I replaced them 3 weeks ago. :-/
EDIT: You must not have done the tranny side mount since that is the most expensive $108 compared to the $35 on the upper/lower and $60 on the middle mount.
No I never did the tranny mount and I couldn’t have been bothered to adjust the upper and lowers the way you’re supposed to. When I changed the center one, I made sure to draw the outline in sharpie around the old one like they did in the Haynes Manuel. Wondering if you did this to yours because I know it could cause vibration if the mount moves from it’s original spot. Did you make sure to install the new center mount back in the exact same spot where the old one came out?
Oh yeah, and I replaced the master cylinder to stop a brake leak and now one of my wheel cylinders is leaking. I just put it up on here today.
I didn’t do the center mount since it’s a pita to do and I didn’t feel like taking the whole belt assembly off.
My center mount was horrible. It really is a SOB to change. You barely have any clearance to work and it sucks having to jack the motor up and down repeatedly. But it was definitely worth the work… At least in my case. My car vibrated so much before that it sounded like an old Honda Civic with a can exhaust. After I replaced it the car was so quiet that when I took it for the first drive after replacing, I literally had to pull over because I was laughing so hard. I would look into it if I were you. Maybe you actually need one just as bad as you needed the others.
That’s actually funny how yours vibrated (possibly due to the bad middle?) when my lower, I was literally able to just push (with minimal force, almost nothing) the actual metal piece that’s surrounded by rubber right off.
My lower was destroyed, the upper wasn’t as bad, but still seperated. The tranny side one doesn’t look bad at all, but after ripping everything apart to take it off (since that’s the only way I seen how anyway) to actually even see the rubber I was like “yea I don’t want to deal with this again”.
Like I said though, literally zero complaints about vibrations before replacing those 3 mounts, outside of deep thumps when slowly hitting bumps in the road (which btw, are for the most part completely gone) there was no way to tell they were bad outside of actually looking at them.
As for the jacking up/down to get the plate off to even get to the middle mount, I don’t like the thought of moving my engine like that lol. I had to do it when I did the tranny side a little and I was like “dude, SLOWLLLLLLLLLLLLLLY let out the hydraulics. It was kinda funny since I’m sure people jack up/down inchs at a time and I was like nanometers with it.
You do bring up a good question, depending on how much you know about engines/mounting. If I had the passenger-side (the three you did) bolted on and I was jacking (from the tranny case itself) up/down would that cause any problems with those mounts? Nothing on the passenger side was loosened while moving the engine up/down when doing the tranny side…
Also, for anyone else, these (on our car) 4 mounts, upper/lower/middle/tranny, they aren’t literally all that’s holding the engine in the bay, right? I mean it obbviously sites on the frame somehow, no? Is it possible when I was lifting the engine up and then when I went back down I didn’t “seat” it properly on mounts or something that it rests on? It’s just real strange the vibrations are in the steering column/wheel and sometimes in the drive-side grill and a layman for the most part, I assume it’s the only thing I touched on the driver-side, and that’s the tranny mount?
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