An excellent suggestion! I will do that, thank you.

That's odd. I've heard over time many different independant people saying they needed to adjust their timing or had it done when they tell me what their car was in for.

I have no idea what either of those mean. Please explain them to me?

I suggested the coil pack (among other things) to the dealer the 2nd time I went there and they said they'd investigate it. They didn't outright say it wasn't the problem, but in the end they didn't say it was either. They said it was the fuel pump.

I will go back to the hometown mechanic but before I do I'm going to ask them what exact specifications the part is, and then I'll call around and find prices from auto shops. That way I know I'm not being screwed. I do know though that they said it's a combo part, perhaps a regulator and a pump in one, or something similar. At any rate if I can find the part much cheaper from a store, I'll demand a receipt and refund for the part the mechanic charged me for, buy the same part from the store, and have the mechanic install it for me. I may end up walking away with more money than I have now, which is what I need.The part might be as much anywhere else though, and if it is I'll just ask them to replace it with a new one because the other mechanic said it's still the problem, and to make sure there are NO OTHER PROBLEMS before giving it back to me. If after that they give it back to me and the same thing happens a third time, I'm calling the better business bureau.

What more information would you like? I'm not sure what I haven't told you that you'd like to know, so if you can clarify I'd be happy to give you more info. I'm curious to know what the problem really IS! I have heard reputable things about my hometown mechanic and it's hard to believe a brand new part on my car would fail in the exact same waydays afterthe old one did. If this carcosts more to repairI'm going to have to park it for a few months. I don't have thousands of dollars to throw at inept mechanics to do crap to it when it doesn't solve the initial problem. As it stands I have to be at my job at like 5 in the morning in a few weeks (inventory) and I have no clue how I'm going to get there if my car isn't fixed. it's ludicrous.
And thank you for the PVC Valve suggestion. It will go on the list of things for them to check.

At the moment my list of things for the mechanic to check is:

Fuel pump/regulator/injector thingy
Coil Pack
clogged CATor fuel injectors/rails
timing belt

If anybody has any more suggestions or input it's very welcome.

 

Sohc means single over head cam and Dohc means Duel overhead cam.As far as more info you could give.Im really wondering If your catylic convertor is turning red after the car is running bad for a while.If you look under the car from the drivers side door, about right in the middle of car, on the exhaust.

I have seen brand new parts fail within days before.If that is the case though, the shop that replaced it should have the reciept and be able to replace again.

The way I found out I had a coil pack going bad was with a spark plug tester light.I did this at night so I could really see it.Pulled a plug wire from one of the plugs, and installed a little test light between the coil pack and the spark plug.On my neon the tester light barely lit up everytime it sparked.So I put light on friends car at it was MUCH brighter.I knew then for sure my coil pack was bad.You can get one of these tester lights at many auto parts stores I believe.Awesome tool to have for any car. Anyways..keep us posted, and good luck.

 

Oh and its PCV valve, not PVC. PCV stands for positive crankcase ventilation.

 

my car was doing literally the same exact thing.....just figured out what was wrong tonight after about a month of toying with it. Have your mechanic check the crank position sensor. mine was going bad but was not throwing a check engine light. After replacing it the car is running perfect!

 

im suffering with the same problem and i think spud was to but i think he replaced the crank sensor to no sucess. however that is my next part to replace. also for the shops that quoted 600 bucks for the fuel pump you should tell them to go screw them selves. u can get the walbro pump for like 110. the regulator( depending on year and aall that) for 40-70 bucks. and the regulator just pulls out and pushes back in for like a 2 min install. the fuel pump only take about 15 min to change and that was for a first timer.

 

I have a 96 Neon, SOHC. I reported this same problem last year. From October to April, it runs like a top. From May to September, it will start to miss at highway speeds, and in some instances stall. So, I let it sit on the side of the road for about 3-4 minutes, and it starts up again. But the outside temperature needs to be above 80 or so. In Houston, that isn't hard to do. It gives a code 12, and sometimes a 43. But if I clear the codes, they may not pop up for 2 or 3 weeks. I changed coil pack..didn't help. Changed plugs...didn't help. Does the 96 Neon have an ambient temperature sensor that may be sending a bad reading or signal? It's so frustrating because it's so intermittant.

 

Did you change the spark plug wires?

Where at in Houston are you?

 

West Side, near Dairy Ashford and Westheimer. So if you ever see a red neon sitting on the side of the beltway, that's me.

 

*update*

To answer previous questions, its a single overhead cam, I haven't changed spark plug wires, and I haven't had the crank position sensor checked, haven't had my catalytic converter checked.

I will ask the hometown mechanic to check these things when I have money. As of right now I'm broke and bussing it.

I got off the phone just a little while ago with the hometown mechanic. I told him to have my car towed from the dealer it was at, which was 30 miles away.

He did, and after his guys checked the car out he says that the fuel pump module he installed the first time is not the problem, so he can't waive the towing fee. $175. The pump module he says is $560 and its model E7097-M. He bought it from an auto parts dealer.

The hometown mechanic said the first time he gave the car to me, he gave me a paper with codes, and said that the paper had a list of things that needed to be worked on "soon." (and this is the truth.) The problem is that those things acted up "sooner than he could forsee" and five days later I had the same problem 30 miles away. When I took it to the Dealer and they swapped the o2 sensor. This guy also says that they didn't replace some other parts which would prevent the o2 sensor from just going bad again (tubes I think). He also said that the car has 500 more miles on it (which is also true) and that's why it acted up again so soon is because I ran it so much.

He now says that he wishes to replace the my Idle Control Valve ($115 + labor), and my ignition wire set which he's doing free cause I origonally bought them there not way too long ago. With labor and the valve added to the towing costs its $329 to do all of that. And this work should settle most of my problems he says. My take is, how is this an idle or ignition problem? The car starts up just fine, and acts up at 60mph, THEN while idling, not exclusively just while idling. Not only that, but MOST of my problems? Why not all? He says he can't garauntee something unforseen will happen again.

And further according to him those tubes will need to be replaced "soon.". At this point I don't have another $330 plus tax to toss into my car for it to not work still.

I could likely find another neon of the same model and buy it, and use my current one as parts, but even then I don't have the money.

This is so damn frustrating.

 

IAC Valve is $49.99 plus tax from Autozone and takes about 10-15 minutes to change. No way should you pay $329 to fix that. Do you know anyone with ANY mechanical aptitude?


And what "tubes" are you talking about that need to be replaced.