My neon was leaking oil so I took it to the mechanics and they fixed it to a certain degree but it's still leaking a few drops a day. They said that to fix the problem completely I'd have to change the head gasket which would cost me a lot of money (>$1000).
My question is what sort of risk am I putting myself and my car into by allowing for a few drops of oil leakage per day?
I've had the same problem on my '95 neon. First head gasket blew before they had figured out the MLS gasket, so I'm on my second "bad" gasket.
The car dripped a couple drips a day for over four years, now just recently it has developed a more significant leak and an appetite for coolant, although with no evidence in the engine oil, thankfully. It's sitting in the garage waiting for me to get off my duff, track down a FSM for the car, pick up a six pack, and get to work.
The head gaskets on these cars usually failed with an external leak just like yours due to a bad design. An oil passage in the EGR area on the rear of the block by the brake booster is too close the outside of the block and the gasket is too thin.
You may want to have the tech put some oil dye in the engine and make SURE that it's the head gasket. These cars are also known to leak oil from the cam cover and the cam position sensor. The latter is often confused with a head gasket leak due to its close proximity.
Short answer - as long as you're not mixing oil and coolant and the leak is manageable, you're fine.
Jeff Falkiner
95 neon - currently waiting for open-heart surgery to fix a coolant breach
99 Intrepid - the Green Monster
04 Sebring - the Silver Bullet
Guess again, oil leaking on the exhaust is highly flamable, Acually im surprised this wasnt a recall. the 4 cyl 2.5 had a recall e few years ago with the valve cover gasket/cover that leaked oil and caused fires....Oil is flamable I got news for you
Hmmm. Okay. I'll have to try to set some on fire when I get home and see how easily it's done. I've got to tell you I've seen some engines with more oil on the outside than on the inside that still don't roast.
I had an 87 Plymouth Van with the 3.0 L engine. A seal failed in the Valve cover and dumped oil on the exhaust manifold. Made lots of smoke but no fire. As another poster stated lots of engines get covered with oil and have no issues.
Chance of fire is about same as using Cell phone causing explosion when getting gas. Slim to none.
Doesn't matter how much oil there is, only the evaporated fumes will burn, ATF? well, I wouldn't know, but we were'nt talking ATF were we?
When I was in training for a fire dept. I was taken to a county training facility. They used oil pit fires to show trainees line handling. The "pit" was a small pool of water that they opened a valve and let a layer of oil onto. It was explained to us that since oil won't burn, only the oil VAPOR, it took a while for the instructor to get the pit burning. But once started, the heat from the burning vapor created more vapor, which burned making the fire hotter which created more vapor.....etc....etc.
Considering all the leaking valve cover gaskets and head gaskets on all the engines of all brands of cars (Chrysler isn't the only car maker with oil leak problems) you could imagine how bad it would be if oil was flammable like gasoline.
Don't take my word for it, ask a professional fireman, chemistry teacher, etc.
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