Would somebody tell me the difference between shocks and struts ? The rear suspension of my '99 Neon is nearly dead, but I don't know what to buy, shocks or struts (I'm not a 'car guy').

When it is being driven, the engine is so noisy (clicking), particularly when the gear shifts. I tried fuel system cleaner, synthetic oil, oil treatment (Lucas). None of them worked.
One of the spark plug get wet with oil (not much, but not dry like the other three). Does it mean a broken piston ring ? (There is no noticeable engine oil reduction). The car runs good / powerful enough.
Any ideas what's causing it ?


Thank you.

shocks are those gigantic springs that surround the strut and the strut is the piston that goes through the center of the shock

the noise your hearing from your motor is your valves are worn out or your valve seats are worn


the oil in your spark plug hole is nothing that bad its not worn piston rings its just the seal on the valve cover there like 5 bucks or so depends where you get them

Thanks for your reply.

Do you think it's easy to do the replacement (valve cover or even the valve itself) ? Not by me off course, but by a mechanic. What I'm trying to say is it's so common that the part is not expensive but the labor cost is very. In this case, will it be costly ? What the worst thing that might happen if I just leave it that way (no replacement) ?

Again thank you.

its not the valve cover that the clicking noise is coming from; its the valve train. the valve cover just covers the cam and lifters n such to keep debris out and oil in.

this job most likly will cost a pretty penny because you are not supposed to just relplace one valve you have to replace the whole set

the whole entire top end of the motor has to be removed and dissasembled the head might have to be remachined plus what ever he might find while hes checking everything out worn (valve springs worn valve guides worn lifters ex ex) the parts and labor are going to be expensive so expect pay 1200+

your best bet would be to go to a junk yard and find a working motor I picked one up for my car and payed 125 for it and it had 37,000 miles on it and ran great

the worst thing that could most likly will happen is first the noise is going to get worse and worse until the valve will acctually snap off and fall into the cylinder and the piston is going to have a hole blown straight threw it and then you will have a serious problem on your hands.

to replace the seal for the spark plug is really easy

there is going to be i think 8 bolts on the valve cover to take off 3 of them hold on the coil pack(big black thing with spark plug wires connecting) disconnect one at a time and put a peice of tape on it marking witch connector on coil its supposed to connect to. after that remove the screws take the valve cover offand the seal thats leaking will mostlike be stuck to the valve cover replace the seal and then just reverse everything I just said

just a couple things to remeber is to put the valve cover gasket back on and i cant urge enough to connect the spark wire to the right connector on the coil or you could have some major problems and to connect the wire that supplies the coil with power and to al;so attach the one ground wire that goes from your engine bay to the valve cover its that thingy that looks kinda like snake skin and is attached to the left side of the engine cover under one of the bolts

Thanks a lot for the useful information...I appreciate. I'll try what you have explained.



Thanks again....

Edednon