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Please help...beating my head against the wall here.
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bettyrage85
New User
Sep 16, 2010, 12:12 AM
Post #1 of 2
(1406 views)
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Please help...beating my head against the wall here.
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Alright, to begin with I have a 1995 Dodge Neon Sport, SOHC
I bought the car a few months back from a lady who didn't need it anymore. She warned me that it had some issues, but, like an idiot, I thought it didn't sound like anything too complicated. I don't know what I was thinking...
When you start the car up, it starts strong and will run strong like it has no issues. After you run it for a while (the length of time varies a LOT and it seems like it has to do with the temperature outside..the hotter it is, the sooner it starts acting up) it starts to chug (this is the best word I have for it). The car literally lurches, the RPMs jump around, occasionally it backfires, and this all starts happening slowly, then increases. It will chug once every few minutes, then it happens every few seconds, and at that point you need to find a way to be pulling over. When the car is doing this, the temperature on the dash stays normal. So, you pull over and as soon as you slow down, the car shuts off anyway. It won't start right back up. You have to let it sit for a few minutes. Then, it will start back up. The second time you start it, it won't run nearly as long, and it seems like the amount of time you let it sit is directly related to how long it will run.
When I first got it, I was following my roommate while he was driving the car, to get his idea on it (he is a diesel mechanic), and when the car started chugging, a lot of black smoke came out of the tailpipe along with some glowing orange chunks. First thought was well, the cat must be all plugged up. So, we punched all the stuff out of it, and removed the muffler because it had a bunch of crap in it, too. Took it for a test drive...no change.
This is a list of all the parts we have thrown at it so far:
Plugs
Wires
Coil packs
Speed Sensor (the speedo doesn't work, either...at least not all the time)
Cam sensor
and a computer out of another one that ran without issue.
I am running out of ideas, not to mention time and money. I bought it cheap because I love neons, and figured I'd fix it up (I thought it would be simple, like the coil pack...oops) then sell it for about $1000. I have asked several mechanics to take a look at it, and they all seem to be stumped, as well.
A friend of mine has a Snap-On ETHOS code reader, and he hooked it up to this car to check the codes. I'm getting four codes. One says the battery has been disconnected within the last 50 key-on cycles (which I know), one says the radiator fan relay circuit is messed up (I figured I'd add in a toggle switch just in case, once I got the shutting off issue figured out...the engine never gets hot unless you sit there idling for a while, so I know the temp sensor is working), one says the timing belt has skipped one tooth or more (this one made me scratch my head a little, and I've been getting a lot of odd feedback regarding it. Some people say if it was the timing belt, the car would never run fine. It would run like crap all the time. Another guy said it's obviously the problem with the car, but I'm not sure about him, and the cheapest I've found someone to replace it for is $200. If that's the problem, I will drop the $200 in an instant to have it fixed, but I'm not confident yet that that will fix the issue). And the final code says I have a cylinder misfiring. I used to own a Neon a few years ago and it had that same code come up, so I'm relatively sure that this isn't the issue with this one.
Not sure how many miles are actually on the car, but the dash reads 245000+ (remember, speedo doesn't work..RPMs, fuel and temp do, though). I know it had an engine put in it about 65k miles ago, and that engine had about 80k miles on it, I think.
The ETHOS scanner said my MAP sensor was going wonky. At this point, I'm just tired of "maybe"s. I don't mind fixing the car and replacing all the stuff that needs replaced, but I am tired of throwing money at it for, essentially, nothing.
Please, someone...help. If I left any details out, ask me and I will get you the answers. I just don't know what to do.
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Sidom
Veteran
/ Moderator
Sep 16, 2010, 8:56 PM
Post #2 of 2
(1387 views)
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Re: Please help...beating my head against the wall here.
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Well it looks like you got a good one..... You listed some good symptoms but no real usable data to go off of. Not even an actual trouble code. Just your interpretations of them which not even close....
Going off what you posted it really sounds like you have an electrical problem going on.....There is a couple of things you missed throwing at it but at this point I would really suggest getting it check out by a qualified shop. It's a good thing to save some labor money when you know what the problem is but at this point you don't. Going off the list you changed so far, it's probably cost you more already than what a diag would've to begin with(unless you stole the parts).
If you and your friends have a scanner (Ethos will do just fine) and scope then, we'll help you track down the problem but if you don't, you pretty much changed all the easy stuff and it may be time to bite the bullet, cut your losses & take it in.......
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