Please help! Neon bogs!
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Please help! Neon bogs!
Hey and thank you for viewing my post! I have a 95 dodge neon SOHC with some bogging problems at high rpms or certain speeds. Mainly at the peak of each gear. I have changed spark plugs and wires and even ignition coil boxes. I have two of them so I switch back and forth and nothing gets better. I also have two stock computers that I switch back and forth also. Still nothing happens good. I had the car tested for codes and got a misfiring code, I don't have the code any more. It was cleared but still have the same problem. The first time we checked for codes the oxygen sensor came up and didn't come up after we cleared it. It seems I have lost a lot of HP from this bogging. I went to auto zone to see if they would do a free test...they said since the check engine light wasn't on there really isn't anything they could do for me. They could still check it right?? For a while the car did fine and I put 93 octane in it and that day the car started bogging. Could a blown head gasket cause this?? Also, for a while the car would run fine when it was cold and it wouldn't bog down. Now it does but not in low rpms. Ive searched this problem in forums and that sorta thing and most people changed spark plugs, wires and ignition coils and that had fixed it. I don't hear any knocking or anything in the engine and no oil is leaking! I was told it could possibly be my fuel filter?? Also could something be clogged really bad? Should I clean my throttle body? Well if you have any other questions feel free to ask because I don't want to be throwing parts at this, that's just wasting money!!! Thank you and have a good day!
Captain
Joined: Mar 2009
Posts: 724
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From: Hazel Green, AL
I have a 95 Neon SOHC MTX also.
Try the following:
1) If you don't know when/if it has ever been done, replace the external fuel filter. Costs about $25 bucks.
2) The upstream O2 sensor may be getting old and weak. You can try to take it off and clean it. That may help, but you may also want to replace it. They are really only good for 60K to 80K miles anyway. You may go further then that before replacing one, but not always. Don't spend a lot of time worrying about the downstream sensor, it doesn't do a lot anyway. but you could clean it if you want.
3) You may want to clean both the intake manifold and throttle body. The intake manifold really gets carbon'd up from the EGR, and the throttle body IAC also gets gummed up the same way. That only takes a couple of hours and a few cans of cleaning fluid. Get some good long handled wire bottle brushes to really scrub out the intake. It can be extremely nasty inside.
4) Check the PCV valve and the oil separator (black plastic box behind the Intake manifold) hoses to make sure they are still intact. They have a bad tendency to dry and crack and lose the ability to pull engine gases properly. Replace the PCV if it seems clogged and the hoses are just radiator/heater hose pieces you can get by the foot cheap.
5) Check all the hoses into the charcoal canister. Sometimes they have pinhole leaks that create a vacuum loss that can affect performance. Really check the ones going from the canister to the rear of the engine compartment going around the passenger wheel well. That is where I found my hole that was rubbed into it by the holding chip.
6) Clean the Intake Air Temp and Mass Air Flow sensors (on the Manifold) using a can of MAF cleaner.
7) You can do a quick compression check using a loaner tool from your local parts store. If all 4 of the cylinders are within 10% of each other in reading, and the readings are between 170 - 190, you are fine.
8) I don't know how many miles you have on the car, or what kind of maintenance it has had in the past, but it is possible that the catalytic converter has reached the end of its service life and is clogged up and causing the problem, but at $200+ to replace one, that is the last thing I would do.
Autozone can indeed put the ODB-II reader on the port and check any "non-critical" codes that do not light up the CEL, but usually won't unless you ask them too. Also, you yourself can do the Dodge "key dance" and check the two digits codes yourself. Read the sticky thread at the top of the 1st gen neon post and it will tell you how to do it and what the codes mean. Ignore 12 and 55.
Try the following:
1) If you don't know when/if it has ever been done, replace the external fuel filter. Costs about $25 bucks.
2) The upstream O2 sensor may be getting old and weak. You can try to take it off and clean it. That may help, but you may also want to replace it. They are really only good for 60K to 80K miles anyway. You may go further then that before replacing one, but not always. Don't spend a lot of time worrying about the downstream sensor, it doesn't do a lot anyway. but you could clean it if you want.
3) You may want to clean both the intake manifold and throttle body. The intake manifold really gets carbon'd up from the EGR, and the throttle body IAC also gets gummed up the same way. That only takes a couple of hours and a few cans of cleaning fluid. Get some good long handled wire bottle brushes to really scrub out the intake. It can be extremely nasty inside.
4) Check the PCV valve and the oil separator (black plastic box behind the Intake manifold) hoses to make sure they are still intact. They have a bad tendency to dry and crack and lose the ability to pull engine gases properly. Replace the PCV if it seems clogged and the hoses are just radiator/heater hose pieces you can get by the foot cheap.
5) Check all the hoses into the charcoal canister. Sometimes they have pinhole leaks that create a vacuum loss that can affect performance. Really check the ones going from the canister to the rear of the engine compartment going around the passenger wheel well. That is where I found my hole that was rubbed into it by the holding chip.
6) Clean the Intake Air Temp and Mass Air Flow sensors (on the Manifold) using a can of MAF cleaner.
7) You can do a quick compression check using a loaner tool from your local parts store. If all 4 of the cylinders are within 10% of each other in reading, and the readings are between 170 - 190, you are fine.
8) I don't know how many miles you have on the car, or what kind of maintenance it has had in the past, but it is possible that the catalytic converter has reached the end of its service life and is clogged up and causing the problem, but at $200+ to replace one, that is the last thing I would do.
Autozone can indeed put the ODB-II reader on the port and check any "non-critical" codes that do not light up the CEL, but usually won't unless you ask them too. Also, you yourself can do the Dodge "key dance" and check the two digits codes yourself. Read the sticky thread at the top of the 1st gen neon post and it will tell you how to do it and what the codes mean. Ignore 12 and 55.
Last edited by bg1995redneon; Jun 25, 2010 at 02:35 PM.
