6.0

fairly significant
Typical Repair Cost:
$490
Average Mileage:
84,050 miles
Total Complaints:
1 complaints

Most common solutions:

  1. replace brake wheel cylinders, shoes & drums (1 reports)
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problem #1

Aug 072011

Neon ES 2.0L

  • Automatic transmission
  • 84,011 miles

Brakes deteriorated from being kept not in a garage, but outside. I believe these were the original drum brakes, 11 years of hot summers, icy winters and 84k miles later. Latest two drivers of the vehicle -- not me, who likes to baby my Neon -- may have also been more aggressive in their driving habits and may have contributed more to the one drum failing.

Original brakes on this car -- at least the disc brakes -- lasted for the first approx. 45k miles.

Parts plus labor here in Northern VA (USA) = approx. USD $490 in August 2011 at a trusted NON-DODGE mechanic. (The only Dodge mechanics I've ever had a good relationship with were at Sam Nay's Waco Dodge-Hyundai in Waco, TX from about 2000-2005, which I think now only services Hyundais.)

In addition to repair costs, we also needed a flat-bed tow here in Northern VA at USD $115 to get it safely to the mechanic a few miles away.

Expensive and inconvenient, but not horrendous given the age of the car -- nothing more than a serious annoyance when you have a decent emergency fund just for stuff like old car repairs.

We just got the car back yesterday. Everything seems to be in working order for now. Underside looked rather corroded / rusted, so more problems may come down the road. We'll just do what we can to keep her patched up at least until we're out of serious debt. = )

- Lynda G., Aldie, VA, US