maybe it's not a neon?? neons came with a 2.0 or 2.4. There was a smaller european engine but i doubt it has that. I've never seen or heard of a gauge reading a word, normally they read a trouble code. You can look over the codes here http://www.dodgetalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=131829 Have your buddy turn the key from off to on then off to on without turning the engine over and see if there is a trouble code that appears in the guage cluster, or stop by a nation-wide car part store and ask them to scan the trouble code for you. Most will do it for free.