I am going to buy a 95 Neon with 107k for $300. It is really clean inside and the outside is decent just dirty from sitting. It was owned by a old man who passed and a friend bought it less then a week ago for $800. Well his gf's Jetta broke down today and he needs money quick so you know the deal. Anyhow it has a couple things that need fixed. I would like to keep it and use it as a daily driver if I don't have to dump much into it otherwise I will just flip it and get my money back. Anyhow it runs great and drives pretty good. It is a late 95 and is 5 lug. It is SOHC and automatic. Here are the issues/codes.

Code 44- Battery temp sensor volts out of range. The battery light is on but the alt. is putting out over 14 volts and the battery is brand new. I plan to replace the sensor but from what I understand the battery light should not be on because of it.

Code 37- TCC solenoid. I know where it is and possible causes for it to be on. This is what I have found checking the car over. First the shifter is out of adjustment. It is a floor shifter and when in drive the shifter is all but in neutral and the rest of the gears are off like that. Also when the trans shifts, it shifts hard and low winds out a little before shifting and it seems to kick down when letting off the gas at higher speeds. Can the trans shifting be linked to the TCC soleniod? I plan to replace the solenoid clean the valve body and change the fluid and filter. The fluid in it now is good and clean and I don't think there is any major tranny damage. Is there something else I should look at?

Thanks in advance for the help and I hope to be able to keep this car for a while and drive the wheels off it. It is very clean and low milage for the year. I wouldn't know how to act with a car that gets 30mpg. I am used to about 10mpg.

 

Actually that is incorrect. If the sensor is unplugged, cracked/busted and malfunctioning, or if the connector has accumulated blech all over it and is hampering the connection, then it will indeed cause the battery light to come on. In the very unlikely event that the sensor is doing its job, then either your battery is going bad and is overheating, or the alternator is putting out too much charge and overheating the battery. Your post clearly indicates that that is not the case here. Because a "condition" is being "detected", the PCM voltage regulator is telling the alternator to reduce output. So while you can completely function without the stupid sensor, you have to look at the ugly red light to do so.....

The down side is that you must make sure that any new battery temp sensor you purchase has the older style round pins (95 models only), or you will have to splice a newer style connector onto your harness so that you can use the flat pin type.

As for the shifter being out of whack, that is an adjustment you need to make inside the car at the shifter. You may have some bushings out of whack that allows the shifter cables to be out of sync and to misalign visually. However, no. The TCC problem may be caused by blech and gunk fouling the connector and giving a misread. Cleaning it might help, but, from your statements above indicate that you probably need to replace it.

Now since you have 107K on it, here is something I think you really need to do immediately, unless you know for sure when/if it was done by the previous owner (the old man). Change out the timing belt using a full timing kit (belt, idler pulley) and the water pump. Why? It is way past time to do it, and if it pops while driving, you may end up with damage to the valves and pistons as it is an interference engine. The water pump is directly driven off the timing belt, so if it goes, it will usually take out the belt and you have the same problem. For about $120, you can do the full timing kit and water pump and know for a fact that as long as the head gasket holds (OEM 95 head gaskets were notorious for blowing out at about 50K - and may have already been replaced by an MLS gasket) you can DD the heck out it.

FYI, my 95 was given to me by my friend and I had to rebuild the engine (157K at the time) when the timing belt blew. I had to replace all the valves springs and stems for #1 cyl (bent), both intake and exhaust rockers, and had a small ding in the piston but OK. My car now has 178K and I laugh every day I drive it as I get 30 ~ 35mpg with no car payment - Yea!

 

I don't know if the timing belt or head gasket was ever done so it will be on the list of things to do, well at least the belt and all related parts. Thanks for the info.