1st Gen Neon 1995 through 1999 Neons

Need Help! Car died!

Old May 1, 2008 | 12:23 PM
  #1  
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Default Need Help! Car died!

Hello to all.... I started by searching the forum and found some helpful tidbits but we are past the recommendations we found and still no luck!

1997 Neon 5 speed DOHC

Bought it last Friday. Car ran fine. Registered car and had a scheduled inspection today but yesterday the car died. (State law we NEED to get the car inspected within the next week or the registration is suspended so this is our urgency!)

Was out driving and the car was running fine. Filled up the gas tank. Drove another six miles (almost home) and the car lost power upon acceloration, stalled out and died. No CEL, just the battery light is coming on. Battery is fine. Car turns over but won't start. We are getting no spark. Checked all the fuses, all good. Next we went back the the coil pack. It isn't getting power. In the process of checking wires coming into the coil pack.....

Any suggestions, help or advice is appreciated!!!

TIA
 
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Old May 1, 2008 | 12:43 PM
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Default RE: Need Help! Car died!

Figure out of the wires going to the coilpack have power. My guess is that the cp went out, and it will be a cheap fix at a jy.
 
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Old May 1, 2008 | 12:52 PM
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Default RE: Need Help! Car died!

How do I figure out if there is power to the coil pack. There are three wires in the back in the connection. I figured the center is ground as it is the only one that makes a contact (lights up tester, with the alligator clip on pos battery terminal). The wires on either side show no light on tester, even when the car is turning over.
 
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Old May 1, 2008 | 02:57 PM
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Default RE: Need Help! Car died!

What about the alternator, don't buy anything if you not sure of what is broken. I'm not really sure that the coil went out like that, the car stoped sudenly or slowly died. If it died sudenly it can be the coilpack and if it died slowly check for battery voltage. 12 volt mean you battery is dead, 12.6 mean its full. Try this then tell us what you did and the result
 
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Old May 1, 2008 | 05:05 PM
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Default RE: Need Help! Car died!

Nope, the car died suddenly. It lost power during uphill acceloration, stalled and was dead. Barely got it to the shoulder of the road. Thought it might be the alternator last night so to rule it out we hooked it up to our Ram via jumper cables and fed it juice from that battery to see if it would start. No luck.
 
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Old May 1, 2008 | 06:06 PM
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Default RE: Need Help! Car died!

Maybe it is the alternator?
 
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Old May 2, 2008 | 12:48 PM
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Default RE: Need Help! Car died!

unplug ur coilpack plug and then plug it back in. c if that helps.. my coilpack plug wouldnt stay in and it owuld just up and die on my and wouldnt start. changed the plug and coilpack now it runs fine with no probs.. just my opinion on what might b wrong.
 
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Old May 2, 2008 | 12:54 PM
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Default RE: Need Help! Car died!

Battery voltage? Any code? Sparks at ALL cylinders?
 
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Old May 2, 2008 | 02:47 PM
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Default RE: Need Help! Car died!

Tested two cylinders, no spark. Coil pack has been unplugged and replugged. Don't know battery voltage but it is fully charged. Put light tester on positive batttery and ground on crank sensor. It is showing that it works (lights up, goes off, lights up, goes off when turning car over). Going to see if we can get the ECM tested. No codes showing.
 
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Old May 2, 2008 | 03:06 PM
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Default RE: Need Help! Car died!

no start procedure
1. using a digital volt/ohmmeter (DVOM) measure the the voltage for the negitive (-)batt terminal to the positve (+) terminal. the voltage should be at least 12.66. this amount of voltage is necessary for accurate inspection of the system.

2.Detach the ignition coil harness connector.

3.Connect a suitble test light to the B+ (battery voltage) terminal of the ignition coil electical connector and ground. The center terminal of the connector supply battery voltage.

4.Turn the key to the ON position. The test light should turn on then off. Leave the key in the ON position.
A. if the test light flashes momentairly ,the PCM gounded the ASD relay. Preceed to the next step.
B.if the test light did not flash. the ASD did not energize. this is caused by the relay or one of the relay circuits.

5.Crank the engine (if the key was placed intheOFF position in step 4. Turn the key to the ON wait till the light flashes once then crankthe engine.)
A.if the test light momentairly flashes during the cranking, the PCM is not reciveing camshaft/crankshaft position sensors signal.
B. for 1995 vehicles, if the light did not flash during craking, unplug the camshaft position sensor connector. Turn the key to the OFF position. Turn the key to theON position, wait for the test light to momentarily flash once, then crank the engine. if the light mementarily flashes the camshaft position sensor is shorted and must be replaced. If the light did not flash when the engine was cranked, the cause of the no start is either the crankshaft or camshaft position sensors 8 volt supply cuircuit to the crankshaft position sensor 5 volt output or gound circuits. Use DBR or equivilent scarn tool to test crankshaft position sensor and related ciruits
 
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