I recently purchaced a 1998 Dodge Neon with 135000 miles on it. I was told that it had a fuel issue and that the fuel pump needed to be changed. I drove it about 80 miles before I changed the pump. Before I changed the pump it had issues with dieing at a stop light. It would also surge while driving almost like the engine was shutting off momentarily. This almost felt like a when a person is learning to drive a stick for the first time. It would do this every time I got in the car to drive it (I have only had it for a day and a half).

Well last night I changed the fuel pump and drove it around the neighborhood. When you turn the key you can deffinately here the fuel pump (something I am not sure if I noticed before). It definatly seems to run stronger at idle, however it would still die when I let it idle in my driveway. This morning I took the long way to work and it did pretty good. Although it didn't die on me, it still had the surging issue twice. Both times I was going up hill at about 60mph.

Does the computer need time to reprogram itself (I am assuming this is not the issue although I wish it was), or could there be a sensor that is going bad? It does have a squeeky belt but I realize this is a seperate issue and likely not the cause to the problems I am having. So far the car doesn't have a check engine light on.

If there is any more information that would be pertinant to troubleshooting this just ask. Any help here would be greatly appriciated, thanks!

 

Just a quick update. I stopped and had the codes pulled on the way home from work and it had a p0340 (Camshaft position sensor circuit) and a p0403 (EGR Circuit). I think this gives me a direction to start troubleshooting. Constructive comments and suggestions are welcome!!!

Thanks

 

p0340 is the code I would be most worried about. I have seen EGR's cause issue but not as common as the cam sensor. Since the car doesn't die while driving I would first start by pulling the cam sensor and checking the magnet for cracks. Also inspect the wires to the cam sensor. Cam sensor code can also be triggered by mechanical timing being off. The ECU for the 1st gen neon should never need a re flash at this point in there lives. I would be curious to use a scanner and watch the datalog, see if a sensor is cutting in/out. It wouldn't hurt to inspect the vacuum lines on the EGR. Be sure to check the wiring, the EGR and cam sensor are only itches away so the wiring will most likely be in the same loom.

 

Thanks for the reply I_Ride_Neon! Your post makes me feel a lot better about the direction I was going to head tomorrow. I read up on the P0340 and the symptoms I was reading about sounds pretty much like what is going on with the little neon. I am going to start with troubleshooting the camshaft position sensor circuit. I will inspect the electrical connector as well as the wiring. I am seriously considering just replacing the sensor since it is only twenty bucks and they have it in stock at O"rileys. As far as the EGR valve I am planning on pulling it off and cleaning it hopefully it is just stuck and a good cleaning will free it up. I will post my results.

 

With all the troubles the neons has with the EGR I recommend to use a delete kit and just get rid of it. Unless you need to pass inspections.

 

I actually have to pass a safety emission inspection so I will need to get past the EGR circuit failure. I took the EGR valve off and cleaned it today with brake cleaner. I also ended up replacing the cam position sensor and both of the belts. After a short drive I took it to get inspected so that I can get the thing registered and it failed both safety and emissions. The safety inspection failed for the passenger side tie rod being bad and the check engine light being burnt out. The emissions failed for the P0403 EGR circuit malfunction code. So it looks like I will be replacing a few more items before I can get it registered. At this point it will have to sit for a few days until I can come up with the cash to buy more parts. Hopefully I will have the tie rods and check engine light fixed next week. Once that is done I can at least get a temporary registration that would allow me to drive the car while I figure out the EGR circuit problem.

On a positive note the car no longer squeals like a banshee when I turn it on since changing the belts. It also runs much better now and doesn't surge or die! So it would seem that the cam position sensor was bad on the car. Thank goodness for small victories.

Enough for now. I will work on the Neon more next week after I get more parts. Thanks for the help so far!

 

Okay so I am out trying to ohm out my harness to rule it out before I start throwing more parts at the car for on reason. My question is this, do the two wires that are in the egr connector go to the same connector headed to the computer? I found a disconnect behind the battery that looks like it has the same two wires (one is blue with a white stripe and the other is grey with a yellow stripe) When I ohm them out from the egr connector to the disconnect one of the two has continuity but the other does not. Also the two wires appear to be melted together but they are not shorted. I am in the middle of stripping the wiring harness down so I can do a thorough visual inspection, but it is a very slow process. If they do indeed both go to the disconnect that I am talking about then it is possible that I may have found my problem, or at least part of it.

 

Well as it turns out the wires that I am chasing from the EGR connector don't go to the disconnect I was referring to at all. It looks like they might go straight to the computer.

Back to work....

 

Here is an update for anyone fighting the same issue as me. If you want to check continuity of the wiring running from the EGR transducer to the computer the blue wire with white stripe runs to pin 20 of the ecu connector and the grey wire with a yellow stripe runs to pin 40 of the ecu connector. In my case I have continuity on both and all though the shielding of the wires are stuck together from the heat of the engine bay they are not shorted to each other. So I am going to tape my wiring harness and think about getting a replacement egr valve and transducer.

So to all you experienced people out there would it be worth my time to go poke around my local junk yard and look for a used EGR valve and transducer or would I be better off just getting new parts from eBay or my local auto parts store?

 

Every neon I have owned had a bad EGR. Once I bought a new one, worked well. Came with the EGR valve, and the little diagram with vacuum lines. Got it from the local parts store.