96 Dodge Neon - No Spark, No Start
 

Hello there,

I just replaced the head on my 1996 Dodge Neon, SOHC, 2.0L

After reassembly, the car started fine and ran good for about 2 minutes, then suddenly shut off. I thought maybe the belt slipped or something, but after checking the belt and the timing marks, everything was perfect.

I replaced the cam and crankshaft sensors with new components and checked voltage to the coil pack (12V on the center wire and 12.27V - 12.63V on wires 1 & 3 when cranking), which checked out fine. I also checked the voltage at the cam and crank sensors (.03-6.34V), which is fine as well. I checked the continuity on the wires between the coil pack and the PCM and again, it seems that the wires are connected (got 0.00 ohms).

I also did resistance checks on the coil and the resistance is in order as well (.6 ohms between pins 1&2 - 2&3 and 11K across the towers on the coil).

I am at a total loss on why there is no spark ... any suggestions would be great :)

Welcome to the site. I will move this thread to the first generation Neon section,
FF

check to see if the fuel pump fuse is good....located in the pdc behind the battery

96 Dodge Neon - No Spark, No Start
 

The fuse is fine ... I should have mentioned that I am getting fuel to the rail. Just no spark.

Have you checked to see if you have any PCM error codes?

Also, have you put a spark plug tester light on each wire to see if an actual spark is getting from the coil, thru the plug wires? If you are getting 12 volts to the coil pack in the center wire, and have the correct resistance across the coil pack at the plug wire terminal posts, then you should have a spark at the end of each wire that will light up a tester - assuming the coil pack isn't the problem.

I mentioned before about measuring the voltages at pin 1 and pin 3 at the coil during cranking. The voltage fluctuates between 12.27V and 12.67V while cranking the engine over ...

Shouldn't the voltage bottom out at the coil to 0 volts while cranking the engine? If so, perhaps this would be a PCM issue? I did check the grounds at the PCM, but I'm going to try testing them under load to make sure that the grounds might not be an issue.

I did put a new spark plug in each wire and grounded each one while cranking ... no spark.

PS: No error codes are present. Just codes 12 & 55

No Spark or Start.
 

I've been dealing with the exact same issue on my 99 DOHC. Bought used about 3 months ago, been great and just turned 100K. A few weeks back girlfriend called to say I'm broken down, no start & it was working fine.

To make this quicker, in the last two weeks I've changed out the cam sensor. Still would just randomly die, no check engine? Swapped out the crank sensor. The vehicle has not randomly died, but has started to give check engine codes. At first it was just P0300, mulit random mis-fire. Changes plugs, wires & coil. Kept clearing it, and P0300 would come back after about 15min of driving. Just tonight I got a second mis-fire code, specific to cyl 4 came up, didn't jot down code. Motor runs smooth with no hesitation or hick ups.

We have fuel pressure at the rail, several turns of the key, fuel pump keeps pumping. At least it does not die while driving along at 60. Now we just have this annoying CEL code, leading us no where.

My one good mechanic friend is not into Mopar much, and defiantly not Neon, and tells me to just sell it. I do not want to, and prefer this to all corollas and civics. Ya it's my girlfriends dd, but I don't want a ricer in the drive way if I can help it.

I wish I had info to offer that will fix this, but maybe this extra info may spark (no pun intended) a reply from someone that has been thru this before.........

The PCM pins pulse to ground. If you disconnect the coil connector and connect a small test lamp (LED type test lamp works best) from +bat to pin 1 or 3 of the harness connector, the test lamp should flash rapidly while cranking.

I just did that this morning. I connected the test light to the positive battery terminal and the other end of the test light to pin 1 and then to pin three. I cranked the engine and the light does not flash (or light up at all).

Have you checked the Auto-Shutdown (ASR) and Fuel relay(s) to see if you are getting the correct readings? They can be found in the Power Distribution Center (PDC) right behind the battery. You can easily pop off the bottom cover to put test leads on the right places. But before you do that:

If you hear the fuel pump kick in when you turn the key to ON (it may only last for a second or two so have someone do it for you so you can be under the hood and hear it and once pressurized, it won't kick in again until it leaks down) then that most likely is not your problem, but it is something to check. If the ASR or fuel pump relay won't come on, you won't get fire to the two outside wires.

If you don't hear anything, take your horn relay (same one as the ASR and Fuel relay - and only if your horn works) and try it first for the ASR, then the other. You can take the former ASR relay and stick it where the horn one was to "test" it out too. Ditto for the Fuel relay.