1st Aug 2008, 12:34
I have owned my 1998 Neon sedan since 1999. I bought it as a program car return. I have replaced the head gasket twice. Starter numerous times because of the main real oil seal leak. Have done 2 top ends on it. Replaced the fuel pump. Replaced the radiator. Now the transmission has gone out. I will be replacing that this weekend from 1 I get in a junk yard. The car has well over 300,000 miles on it. It only had 35,000 when I bought it. It has been a great car! It is fairly easy to work on, and parts are abundant. My main problem stems from that stupid main rear oil seal though. Oh, yeah I have the same problem with leakage in the trunk and back seat floorboards. Thanks for the advice. Once I fix the transmission, I will caulk around the taillight assembly and check for that washer mentioned above. It is a great A->B car. Since I will have the transmission off, I will try to replace the rear oil seal and see it that also fixes some other issues.
13th Aug 2008, 03:01
I too own a '98 Dodge Neon and am experiencing the same problems mentioned before, ie.. the headlights are so fogged I can hardly see to drive at night. The tape deck doesn't work and the speedometer works only part of the time. I can't get the a/c to work at all. I recharge it and it is good for a day or two and then no a/c. I live in AZ so rain isn't such a big problem for me. I have an oil leak, also. I have 150,000 miles + since the odometer doesn't work, I can't say exactly how many miles. I've put a lot of money in repairs to no avail and I won't buy another Dodge either.
25th Aug 2008, 15:07
98 Dodge Neon water leak in trunk. Very common. I just fixed it, easy. Three steps. Here they are. 1) Open trunk, observe top of tail light assembly. 2) Notice gap in tail light assembly (that's the design flaw) 3) Take aluminum tape, wide electrical tape or bondo; fill the gap. Problem solved.
29th Sep 2008, 17:31
My trunk leaks also. Used RTV silicone on both the tail light gaskets, still have a small leak on the left side, but can't see any water even after pouring a bucket on the rear window or going through a car wash. I do park on a hill with the drivers side going down. Can't figure it out for the life of me. As for oil, never need to add any, but have seen my anti-freeze level in the overflow drop about an inch in 3 months. So we know where that is going, might try some Barrs stop leak and Alumaseal. It has the metal reinforced head gasket, but this started when the rear main seal went out. I just drive her easy with 114K on the dial.
21st Feb 2009, 08:08
I bought my 1998 Neon in 2003, besides replacing the thermostat and brakes and rotors, basically general maintenance, I've had no problems with it knock on wood.
I currently have 111,100 miles on it, it does leak some oil, but I've had no other problems with it.
I love this little car, and would gladly buy another Dodge product. I paid $4000 for the car in 2003, and 6 years later I still have a decent running car.
15th Mar 2010, 09:47
I purchase my 1998 Dodge Neon about a year ago... I paid 800 dollars for it... not bad huh?... well just recently I been have problems with it... I just got my transmission rebuilt, and now I have encountered another problem... now every time I crank the car, the fuel pump fuse blows out... I know it's not the fuel pump because I just replace the old one with a brand new one... can anyone help me out...
11th Jun 2010, 13:22
I just purchased a 98 Dodge Neon about 3 weeks ago. Paid $600 for it. So far I have had to replace the rack (knew it was bad when I bought it), replaced the control arm bushings, replaced the ball joints on the front.
Need to replace the brakes and rear driver's side strut mount.
On top of what I have replaced and will need to replace, another problem presented itself. When the car has been driven for a few minutes, it will start to lurch forward. 3 times during the lurching, the battery and oil lights came on, then the car stalled. Has anybody experienced anything like this? If so, what could the possible causes be? I thought this would be a good car when I first bought it, now I regret buying it.
17th Jul 2010, 12:31
I bought my 1998 Dodge Neon new, and I now have over 221,000 miles on it. It's never been garaged, and I put 40,000 miles on it in the first year.
Even though I've experienced the leaky trunk, fogged headlamps, and oil issues (not the head gasket problem), I think that for the money I paid, this car has been more than good to me. And maybe I have a higher tolerance for glitches than others (?), but anyone that buys a car with high miles for less than a grand should expect problems.
Lastly, part of the reason why this car has lasted is probably because of fairly good upkeep and sensible driving - less than 80 mph on highways, when possible: coasting until braking & limiting use of A/C, gradual acceleration, etc...
Since I can't afford to buy a car every 5 years, I do all I can to extend the life of the one I have, and this seems to have worked.
9th Sep 2010, 17:55
My 1998 Neon has every problem you can think of. The oddest one is while driving, all the gauges will stop working, the radio shuts off, and the steering wheel locks up. Does anyone know about that?
6th Jun 2011, 02:36
I bought my '98 Dodge Neon in March 2010.
I have had to replace the cluster twice, but other than normal maintenance, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING WRONG WITH DODGE NEON'S.
Oil leak can be fixed (which I did myself) by removing the top panel, use caulk, place panel back, and let it sit and dry.
Replace at that point spark plugs + wires (if wanted), change oil and filter, and you just took care of the oil leak.
As for cluster lights and gauges going out - the top of dash is only clamped in, so remove it, then the 4 screws that are holding cluster in - you will notice that when the screws are removed, your cluster will come out and you can see the plugs sitting on back of dash - remove from insert, and then attach to cluster, put everything back, and voila, you will notice (unless the cluster is bad) everything working properly.
I have changed all my lights to LED lights - I use wax to clean the front light covers - you could easily use 400 grit sand paper and sand the front light cover, then wash it and you will be able to see.
Mechanics will tell you anything just to make a buck - Not once in the past year have I gone to mechanic for anything. If I cannot find the answer on Google, then it is not worth fixing.
I have replaced my doors to open Lambo style - I have pimped out my ride -
If you have any comments - leave them on your homepage.
LASTLY ***** IF SOMETHING BREAKS **** GOOGLE SOLUTION **** IF NO SOLUTION **** BEST SUGGESTION **** SCRAP THE CAR ****
15th Jul 2011, 10:08
I had a Neon 98 bought brand new from the lot. I was happy getting a new car as I used to have used car. At the 502 miles mark, the dash seem to have shutdown and the steering wheel locked up. This happened in a turn, so the car went straight and went down a small cliff, and the car was declared totaled by the insurance company. I did not experienced any other issues in the first 500 miles, but something tells me the car is not safe.
23rd Jul 2008, 08:35
I live in the UK and have just purchased a Chrysler Neon 2.0 16v CS, 1998 and have a couple of questions relating to it if I may?
The Heating System.
The air-con I believe needs re-gassing, will this be the new standard of gas and therefore possible to re-gas?
The heating air re-director is stuck blowing in the foot position wherever I move the switch itself i.e. windscreen, face level etc. Has anyone experienced this also?
The radio/cassette.
This is currently a double DIN radio/cassette and I was wanting to put in a CD player, I have a single DIN CD and the converter lead to ISO (European standard). Is there a blanking plate available to house the single DIN while filling the hole left or alternatively will any double DIN aftermarket CD stereo mount OK, connections aside?