I have a 1996 neon and had it up on ramps, was welding a new muffler bracket on. When I went to start my car it sputtered to life instead of it's usual lively 'roar'. Immediately noticed my gas gauge went from almost full to just above 1/2 tank. After that car has started/ran fine but gas gage won't move. Next day I go to work and notice the temperature gage is stuck at half too. Read that there is issue with solder so pulled cluster out and checked. Only saw 2 slight cracks but did all the pins to be safe and re-installed cluster. Only difference now that annoying "ding ding ding" thing works now. So only made matters worse.

Questions... Would that sputtered start have anything to do with is? Could this be a bad ground or something? Mig welder burned out a ground somehow while replacing rotten muffler bracket??? Speedometer and such work fine, if there was no power wouldn't the gages sit at resting or maybe there is a short in the cluster itself? I already repaired the wire harness after buying the car moths ago. No issues since. It was rubbed through...soldered and heat shrink and zip tied so they were not touching anything. Maybe I missed something? Does anyone know what color wires I should be looking for temp/gas gage if wire harness is the problem?
Read that any cluster from 95-99 will work and can grab one for $20-30 but would like to have one with more than just speed/temp/gas/idiot lights. If I got a cluster with other gages like alternator/oil pressure would it work? (plug and play) Previous owner installed a tac on the dash... eyesore. I removed it and capped the wires, shoved them under dash cover.
Noticed there are connectors on top of dash with nothing connected... 2 on drivers side and 1 on passenger side. What are those for diagnostics or for toys?
Love the little car. Bought it for $350, great on gas, runs great....4,000 miles in the last three moths. With some TLC I'm sure I can get a few years out of her. Last car was a 98 Blazer. Only drawback of the Neon IMHO is it doesn't have a tow package and 4x4.

 

Checked grounds, only wire that was bad/missing was the one going from the engine to the passenger side strut. Replaced that and cleaned and re-seated others. Still no luck with gages.
Broke down and picked up a 'new' gage cluster for $30, installed it in right there at salvage yard. Wasn't sure it would work... guy at first yard I went to said "does it have a tach? if yours doesn't have a tach the new cluster won't work and it's another $10 ($40 total)" Left and went to a guy three miles away... got a cluster out of a 98 with a tach and it works, tach, temp, speed, fuel and all. So happy
Was kinda insulted by the guy at salvage yard. When I pulled up and asked about the cluster he said he thought I was gunna scrap the Neon. The paont job looks terrible... but that's only cus the previose owner sanded it down but never bothered to paint it. I don't really care what a car looks like as long as it runs and the heater works.

Still wondering what the connections under the dash are for.

 

Yay.... more fun with Neon today. Car has been running great... drove 48 miles to work, time to go home so I go out to warm the car up for the drive home; car starts up fine... nothing unusual, 20F here. When I come back out it's sputtering bad. I'm thinking clogged fuel filter or ice/water in fuel system. I let it idle a little longer and it clears up to the point where I can drive and as I drive it spits and sputters a little but after a mile the check engine light pops on and it clears up completly. Cool... the water or whatever cleared out... 12 miles later it bogs down to nothing. Car will barely move... screwed... pull over and do some checks. Pull spark plug wires and there is a nice strong spark coming from the MSI coil. No difference in engine idle no matter which plug I pull, they are all arcing. Look inside and tubes and I can just barely see the electrode on top of the plug. I just changed the plugs when I put the car on thr road and don't recall any oil in there. Pull the plugs, grab a screwdriver and clean rag and clean the tubes out, the spark plugs and wires off. Oil from the tubes went into the cylinder... No shop vag in car today.
Put everything back togeather and she started right up.... big ploom of white smoke, but that cleared right up. Rest of the drive home was completly uneventful. Car ran great and when I get home I checked the tubes and they're clean with no sign of oil.
Previose owner must have played with tubes because they are bent... like he used a pair of vice grips or something to pull/install them. I did tap them down but they did seem in there tight.
Am I looking at a simple/cheap valve gasket job? Plan on overhauling engine this spring. Just need the car to last till it's warmer out. Up until now the main concern has been getting the car inspected/legal/safe for the winter and than going through with major tune ups....then the estetics like radio, paint, door handles and covers...

https://dodgeforum.com/forum/2nd-gen...plug-hole.html

 

You know how many posts I've red through with people with the same issues? It's like reading a story and right when they apear to be getting somewhere it just ends! "I'll get back to you and tell you how it goes." AHHHHHH!

More issues...
Car was acting up even after the spark tubes were fixed. All the bucking and stuff from the engin missfire at 70 must have cracked the aged/brittle wireing going to the crankshaft position sensor. Combined with a missing little locking tab on the crankshaft position sensor... Banked on it just beeing the harness and went down to Autozone and picked up a 22$ pigtail.
Made me think of superconductors. When the corroded contacts (and they were dirty) got warm they were not able to conduct electricty as efficently. This would send erratic signals to the computer stalling the car. I'd pull over... sob. That little time and 30F temps allowed the engine and such to cool enough for the rest of the trip, sometimes. Thinking about it I was able to go much further on days I remember freezing.
Okay, all seems fixed. Car is running but now I'm getting a code 11, 43 and while the car is running good it's not running as good. The check engin light is OFF but the key dance is throwing those codes.
So, did the car jumped timing too??? MIL light turned off after replacing the CPS pigtail and driving. I added seafoam to gas and oil... hoping. Getting about 20MPG, much better than the 10 MPG I was getting but still not the same as before the spark plug tube thing where I was getting an average of 30MPG city/highway.
Today was first time in 2-3 weeks that I havn't had to pull over for anything other than coffee.
Where do I go from here people? Please help. I feel I'm making progress and thus far have managed tostay away from the temptation to play musical parts. Test, test and test again... I ripped entire wire harness off the car last weekend and went through it to check for ANY little defects. The code 11,43 did bot show on MIL until AFTER I repaired the pigtail on the CPS so did I reverse the wire by accident? The 8v and 5v wire. Honestly... I dropped the pigtail... and wasn't sure and the replacment had differnt colored wires. I was in tears... But figured if it was backwards the worse that would happen would be the car wouldn't start and I'd have to climb back under, cut and re-solder the connections. The car started right up though so. I wish I drank, this would be more fun. May aswell do the overhaul now but it's more fun to do it in my boxers rather than in a carheart snowpants/jacket.

Anyone want a spoiler?

 

Drove car for a day and no stalling. Let Seafoam stuff work in gas/oil and changed oil a little while ago with high mileage castrol 5w30 synthetic. My favorite... always use it and tell people to buy it when I change their oil for them.
Car is running a little better. I live at the bottom of a mountain and in 2 miles the elevation goes from 800 feet above sea level to 1350 feet. Pretty good grade.... I use it as a gage of performance improvement. Yesterday I tested car right after putting in Sea Foam and I couldn't keep speed above 50 without downshifting to 4th gear. Today I was able to keep speed at 55 MPH in 5th for the duration. No signs of misfire/hesitation. The car does shake a little more when idling so I checked the motor mounts. Front mount is shot... another $30-40. Got about 120 miles off 6 gallons of gas (back down to 1/4 tank). Not happy with that. Maybe the sea Foam will help with that in next fill up cycle. Next week I'll try it in power brake line like I read and replace the front mount.

The 1996 is an interference engine so if it jumped timing does that mean my rods are shot? Or 1-2 teeth off or it stretched; will just effect performance? Dear god I don't want to get into a timing belt replacement but 'only' $25-30 for new belt. Did not see any missing teeth and past owner said that he replaced the belt at around 160,000 miles.... the smashed timing belt cover and missing splash guard confirms this.

Getting there.... Am I that much of a putz? No feedback at all. Just want some input from other car owners. Know it's an order car but hoping once all the maintenance is caught up on the car will last years. Much more cost effective than making payments. The real downside is when my old lady is using my backup vehicle. Can replace just about anything... it's diagnosing the root of the problem. Try VERY hard not to do part swapping unless I'm absolutely sure there is failure.

 

Rented thingie from Autozone and did compression test cylinder #1~150 #2~160 #3~180 #4~170 Timing must be ok but the piston rings/valves need to be inspected. Car has to live another 2-3 months to warrant that investment
Repaired harness and stuff last Sunday night... finished up around 9pm and car was running great till this morning, even better on gas... up to about 25mpg. Drop son off at school, start car back up and when I'm driving out of parking lot.... just before stop sign car sputters and just dies. Nothing.... won't start at all same codes with key dance but CEL not on. Had to tow her this time.
Should I even bother? I love the car OMFG it's so unreliable now and I can't afford the time/money and lost work. I'll try pulling/testing/cleaning CPS... can't return new one ($80+) if I install it. Testing old and new CPS and comparing would give me a benchmark and tell me if the old CPS is shot.
I'll take wire harness out again and see if there is anything I missed... just got a foot of snow and I have no garage to work in so not looking forward to this.
Getting no feedback... just sucks. Spend an hour or two a day reading and searching trying to just to get her running right again. Every time I think I'm closer to a resolution something happens. If the head gasket blew or timing belt broke... at least then I would have a clear objective. Rather frustrating

 

Replaced crankshaft position sensor and car is running... for now.
Has a little more pep than before an noticed that car doesn't "sputter" when driving down down hills and when I'm driving along at the top of 4th gear (30-35 mph) it's a smoother drive...doesn't feel like I just downshifted when I let off the gas. Maybe that was pre ignition or even detonation because the timing was slightly off due to the faulty sensor.
Gas just hit $4 a gallon here so the $80 part will pay for itself by the end of the week just so long as I can make it to work... Can only imagine what is going to break next

 

More fun
Car has been running great!
Yesterday I was heading to work after taking my son to school and managed to avoid one pot hole only to hit another... Car bottomed out.
Right after I noticed a loud rattling coming from the passenger side of engine by the timing belt. Almost sounds like the last two chevy cavaliers I looked at with failed timing chain tentioner but the noise is not constant (chain hitting engine housing). It sounds just like the timing chain hitting the engine housing but this car has a belt... no chain. That and the noise is constant and changes little depending on engine RPM and load. At idle it is roughly the same as when I'm driving though the city or going down the highway. Said screw it and drove 160 miles to work and back... still no change in the noise and the car runs great. So I'm guessing it's not the engine.

It's coming from the front passenger side... I'd say near the bottom so could it be the water pump bearings? Not loosing any coolant. Antifreeze in the reservoir is about where it was when I did a flush and fill last fall. It's been raining out... weep hole I don't know if it's weeping. Car is not overheating. I'm thinking dying water pump. That bump knocked away deposits or shocked the bearings... or both
Spring is about here. Maybe this weekend I can rip the engine apart if this rain stops and I don't get any service calls... Noticed oil is leaking from passenger side rear; little oil spots when I park since I did the seafoam. Guess the seafoam and Coastal high mileage engine oil cleaned it a little too well.
Head gasket definitely has to be replaced so may as well do the water pump, timing belt, tensioner and all that fun stuff.

 

Today was waiting for a guy to drop off sheet metal so I could patch the frame on a nissan sentra and I got board waiting so I went and played with the neon. Took front/rear rocker bars off arms apart off to inspect and stuff.... Got them all apart and all in great condition, barely any where and considering the car has over 175,000 miles. I look over and notice the time belt has moved. Jackass before me removed the outer cover and the inner cover is smashed. When I touch the timing belt it just slid over!.... and I reach down to feel for tention on the rest of the timing belt and it's flopping around like a donkey dick OMG!!!
So... I'm guessing the belt tensioner is what broke when I hit that pot hole. Was actually praying for a bad lifter, spring, valve in the camshaft.
Can't tell if it's a hydraulic tensioner of not but the amount of extra oil leaking on the ground it's hydraulic which is an extra $100 Kit at NAPA for belt, tensioner, water pump. Hydraulic tensioner runs off the oil pump I'm guessing? Hence the extra oil. Guess I'm lucky though... 200+ miles with the loose timing belt and she didn't jump timing and destroy the engine.

Is it possible to install the spring tensioner instead of hydraulic? $100 can go towards other parts and would really help. Planning on just taking the engine out of the car. Way easier to work on it and inspect the clutch/tranny.... sand/paint/patch engine compartment. Clutch seems fine but if it's apart... may as well replace it if it's worn.

Another thing... all the rocker arms are squirting oil but the ones closest to the timing belt are the weakest. Seeing 3-4" spray but only 1-2" from the front intake by timing belt.
Please.... some help here I'm trying to keep this car going. You want pictures or video, naked pictures and video of the neighbor...just ask. Sadly I'm the one everyone else comes to when they need help with cars. I'm not trying to soup the car up or anything. I just want it to run so I can commute to work.

Oh god....

 

More fun. Stripped engine down to bare bones. Timing belt tensioner was shot. Found two of the bearings from the pulley sitting on an outcropping on the engine. The pulley itself was SHOT, the rattling was the outer race spinning on the hub or whatever you call it. Timing belt had about 2" of play on front of engine... nice and tight on back half so the car definitely jumped timing. When I pulled he head I can see slight indentations on #1 and #4 piston but they're "old" looking so I guess it is from when he replaced the timing belt before.

Car is 96 neon with hydraulic tensioner. From what I read I can use the mechanical tensioner in it's place. Napa apparently has a kit... tensioner, water pump, timing belt for about $150 if I replace the hydrolic tensioner, pully, water pump I'm looking at around $250. This does not include the $170 for gasket kit plus $35-40 for the head bolt set...
Another issue.... when I pulled the head I took apart the lifters for inspection of the cam/lifters/arms. Not good. The camshafts look great but the lash adjusters are all stuck... no play at all which may explain ticking, maybe some of the ticking was from the pulley. Is there a simple way to pull the lash adjusters out or free them up? There is a really brittle plastic cover/keeper on them so I'm a little iffy on trying to disassemble them. Napa, autozone, advanced auto say I'm SOL on ordering just the lash adjusters

So, I'm wondering if I'd be further ahead to go to the salvage yard and pick up a cylinder head for for $50 rather than replacing the rockers for $30 each. Than I have an extra head and components in case something happens.