My 1st Car
Born December 9, 1999 in the hour of 12pm, this page tells the ongoing story of my neon, as well as providing a wealth of information about it in general. I find the car to be well built and a good value, although with any car, there are issues.My neon is a 2000 Chrysler Neon LX fully loaded with all the features in bright silver. Actually it's a 2000.5 model as it has a few revisions over the original 2000s. I purchased it from Bob Roach at Winnipeg Dodge Jeep January 8, 2000 and took delivery January 18.
History
December 9, 1999 | My Car is Born and leaves the Belvidere, Illinois, USA plant around 12pm. |
January 18, 2000 | My Car is delivered. |
February 9, 2000 | Well the first few tanks of gas are running about 20mpg and 1000km was obtained as I pulled into the parking lot. |
March 13, 2000 | Hit 2000km. |
September 7, 2000 | All the way to 10000km, running around 26mpg now. |
October 25, 2000 | Had the recall done in regards to the PCV valve, around 11500km now, mileage has slumped to 22-23mpg. |
December 17, 2000 | Gas mileage dropped to a new low, 17mpg. |
January 3, 2001 | Had the horn replaced due to failure. |
January 20, 2001 | Disabled the automatic usage of A/C in defrost mode, it is now controlled manually, should improve gas mileage. |
February 17, 2001 | Gas mileage hit a new low of 16mpg, the only driving on that tank of gas was the short trip to work and back, but still, it is rated at 30mpg city, 16 is bad. |
March 30, 2001 | Surpassed the 15,000km mark, mileage has recovered to a more tolerable 20mpg with the warmer weather. |
August 7, 2001 | Brought it in for the Brake Booster Hose recall, also had them look at the HVAC fan, of course it follows the cliche and it wasn't making any noise today, so it didn't get fixed. |
September 9, 2001 | Performed Modification to make side markers blink in correlation with turn signals. HOW-TO |
October 7, 2001 | Surpassed the 20,000km mark. |
November 12, 2001 | Installed an Interior Car Warmer. |
November 27, 2001 | Service appointment for delayed transmission engagement, electronic lock failure, mechanical lock failure, and a badge that fell apart. They ordered the part for the transmission, replaced the badge, but couldn't reproduce the other two intermittent problems so nothing was done with them. |
December 3, 2001 | Service appointment to install the transmission part to remedy the delayed engagement. |
April 23, 2002 | Stopped by the dealer while the HVAC fan was squealing, they put a blower motor on order for later replacement |
May 2, 2002 | Surpassed 25,000 km |
June 8, 2002 | Modified the springs retaining the trunk lid to exert more force, there are 4 positions for the springs, it shipped with them at 3/4 strength, I bumped it up to the maximum |
June 26, 2002 | Had the HVAC blower motor replaced |
September 30, 2002 | 30,000km |
January 16, 2003 | Fixed passenger door lock actuator, replaced warped front rotors |
September 1, 2003 | Called in roadside assistance to install spare tire after discovering a punctured driver's side rear tire |
September 3, 2003 | Had the puncture repaired after differing opinions |
September 23, 2003 | Replaced the front left suspension ground strap (04794265AD) |
September 24, 2003 | Surpassed 40,000km |
January 29, 2004 | The vehicle failed to cope with -40c weather. Battery was weakened and barely started the vehicle after a couple attempts. Electrical systems could be noticed resetting themselves. Tire couldn't maintain its seal and went flat. Rear center high mount stop light was punched back while trying to open the frozen trunk. Spare tire barely held air long enough to make it to the service center. Subsequently, lock system failed and locked me out of a running car in the cold. The next day the tire continued not to be able to hold air and required another remounting and sealing. |
April 1, 2004 | Repaired the center high mount stop light mounting |
April 5, 2004 | Replaced the driver's power door lock mechanism |
June 2, 2004 | Changed the spark plugs. Needs a 5/8" spark plug socket and two regular socket extenders. |
June 10, 2004 | Surpassed 50,000 km fetching lunch. |
December 23, 2004 | Replaced with a 2005 Honda Accord |
December 28, 2004 | Replaced the tires at 62,000 km |
January 4, 2005 | Repaired broken AC, safety check completed, locking wheel lugs stripped and removed |
April 7, 2005 | Sold |