so on friday my wife blew out the headgasket on her neon....but while the headgasket was on its way out, and now that its fixed, it has a very odd running problem.....

 

the car runs fine for about 15 minuites from a cold start....then it starts to stutter and backfire through the intake

 

it starts to chug really bad and eventually dies.....wont start at all, but if you let it sit for 5 minuites then it starts without any problems and runs like a new car....for a few minuites..then it starts all over again

 

im getting redy to pull my hair out because i cant figure out the problem...
so far i have check the cat. and its fine, checked the timing and its dead on, removed the egr valve
changed the pcm, changed the cam sensor, crank sensor, throttle position sensor, idle air control valve, map sensor, coil pack, plug wires, plugs, relays, fuel injectors, upstream 02 sensor, and i think thats it...
yet it still has the problem
im getting so pissed...anyone have any idea what it could be???

 

Bad PCM?

try swapping another pcm in and see if it does the same thing. I've had that problem with my 99dohc pcm, I swapped my 97 in and it has been running good since.

 

completly off the wall but what about the coolant temp sensor?

 

well.....3 days since this problem started, i now have it fixed......aparently i replaced a bad crank sensor with another bad crank sensor...so it works now...now i have time to work on my neon

 

Those crank and cam sensors can be a pain.

 

my crank sensor on my 95 motor was rusted into the block couldn't get it out and it busted all apart but still had half in, my brother dremel drilled it out for me when I was on a **** break... lol lucky it was out of the car!

 

it just pissed me off because i changed every sensor on the car atleast 3 times.....except the crank sensor, only changed that once....but atleast i know which sensors are good