I just bought my first Neon yesterday, and even though I had my boyfriend, who's a mechanic, look it over before I bought it and we found some problems, I bought it anyway just cause it was $75. Whenever I turn the car on, the windshield wipers, turn signals, heat, and radio don't work. There doesn't seem to be anything working except for the horn. But if I turn the car off, and turn it back on, sometimes the stuff will start working again. At first we thought it might be a loose or blown fuse, but all of the fuses were fine and when the fuse box was put back in, everything started working again. has anyone had any similar problems? My dad seems to think that it might be the ignition switch, does that sound like something it could be or has someone else had a problem just like it and it turned out to be something else? The inspection is up next month and I want to get all of this stuff fixed beforehand so I can get some insurance on it and start driving it. Any help!?

 

Well when it comes to cars you get what you pay for lol, and it looks like you got a $75 dollar car. The ignition might be a problem but Im leaning more towards your wiring is messed up somewhere. It could be anything. There could be a good chance that your connections from the steering colum are bad or the wires are ruined somewhere. As far as heat goes you could have a bad thermostat. These are all just thrown out ideas and no one can definantly say whats wrong without looking at the car. If the check engine light is on have your BF run codes on the car just to get a general idea of whats wrong. I dont think that the CE light will come on due to electrial problems but anything is possible. This does definantly sound like theres something wrong with your electrical system.

 

After my dad looked at it further tonight, being a guy and knowing way more about cars than I will ever know, he says that it's definitely the ignition. See, when you turn the car on and just leave the key where it stays, nothing works. I guess the spring in the ignition doesn't snap the key back to where it's supposed to go? I don't know. But when you move the key back to where it's supposed to go without turning the car off, the windshield wipers, the turn signals, radio, and heat all start working again. It seems like a simple enough problem to fix. I've already called parts stores and I can get a new ignition for the car for like $25 and my dad said that he can put it in no problem. Not only do the accessories not work, but they key is harder than heck to turn in the first place. You've gotta wiggle the crap out of it to get it to turn. Let's just hope that that's the problem and will fix all of that permantly. Other than that, the passenger door squeaks when you open it, but I found on a forum that that's common and some white grease in the hinge will fix that and the driver's side mirror fell off track. But the woman I bought it off of had already bought the replacement track since the old one was bent, so it just needs put back together.

 

Sorry Ignition, im a tard.

 

Ah, don't tell me that! I was hoping that it was going to be something simple to fix. Is that something simple to fix? lol I'm still going to go ahead and replace the ignition. That key is harder than heck to turn. You would think that putting it in would be good enough. But you've gotta take it out and put it back in like twice and wiggle it to get it to sit in there right so that it'll let you turn it. Unfortunately, that's the only key that came with the car. So if it's not the ignition, I'm only out 20 bucks and i'll get a new key out of it. Is there any other tell-tale signs that it's the starter? Or would you happen to know what is inolved in changing the ignition? What about the starter? any help at all would be great. This is only the third dodge my family's had. My dad had a dakota and my mom had a stratus (that blew up after 60,000 miles), so they were both newer cars and any problems they had thye took to the dealer. So we don't know anything about fixing them.

 

Its the ignition sorry, and dodges are fairly easy cars to work on.

 

Ignition switchs have a tendancy to wear especialy if people leave alot of keys on the ring. The extra weight causes premature wear of all the tumblers and the switch itself so yes replace it and keap just the car key on the ring.

 

Sounds like a plan. Although, since I'm not all that important, I only have three keys to begin with! Not much weight. Thanks for the tips. I appreciate it :-)

 

Update: It indeed was the ignition itself. I got it replaced and now it works perfectly fine, only problem is when my dad put my steering wheel back on, it's a little lopsided. That can be fixed when I get the front end aligned.

 

to change the ignition you didnt need to remove the wheel. just had to turn the key on and on the bottom of the plastic trim that the ignition goes through there is a hole. stick a screwdriver in the hole and push. it pushes a button that releases the ignition. then just pull it out. for future referene.