Hello,
I am having trouble with a 97 dodge neon and am hoping there's a guru on here that can help. -the car was perfectly fine and it died once, then died again for good with a buzzing relay.


-The vehicle exterior lights don't work, but no blown fuses.
-Horn doesn't work.
-Cluster idication doesn't work.
-starter will crank but doesn't fire.
-OBD 2 scanner will not even come on unless I jiggle ignition keys, but only flashes a blue screen

Replaced brand new battery
Going to replace ign cylinder lock
Ordering new battery cables
Pulled the ECM, but dealers want to run a scan...which I've tried.

I see there is alot of electrical problems with these models, but is there any frequently known problems I can check? I assume since so many different systems are bad that the ECM has failed?

Please help!

-Steve-

 

The first thing I would check here would be your two primary grounding straps. One is by the transmission under the battery box and goes from the tranny to the tranny mount.

The other is on the passenger side firewall running down to the frame. If you live in a place where rusting is a problem, it may have rusted out and creating bad contacts.

BTW, there is no way of testing a PCM without it being in the car and connected to the systems, so taking it out buys you nothing. I got that information directly from a dealership. The manufacturer may have a way to test it out before they ship them, but it is not something that is available to anyone else.

 

would these straps cause a car to run then shut off? but it wont restart until the car is dead cold.

 

Sounds like what was happening to the one I was working on. It started, died in the middle of running, eventually started again...then was dead.

I FINALLY got around to it again past weekend, and FIXED IT! It sure as hell was the ground!

I bought a $7 dollar thick grounding wire/battery cable, with loops (flat ones) on both ends for bolts to go through. I put one end on the NEG(-) battery, ran it across and in front of the radiator (it was 3 ft long) and hooked it up to a bolt that held black plastic around the Passenger Headlight. I filed and sanded the paint away until it was shiny chrome, and had the other end of the cable touch there, and put whatever else on top(black plastic for me). Bolted it down firm, and zip tied the cable for support. Fired right the f$%k up!

SHOUT OUT TO BG1995REDNEON FOR THE HELP!!

 

What you describe is exactly what happened to my '98 and it was the crankshaft position sensor. She died and would not start until cold. No codes on cold engine even with a scanner. I finally let her cool down ,started her up (stood by with OBD-II scannner) and when she died immediatley scanned her and it was the CPS. replaced and she has been fine for ove five years.