I bought my 05 Neon in August of 2006 from a Honda dealership in San Leandro, CA.It was previously a rental car in Arizona. End of January, I took it to a family recommended place for an oil change. Shortly thereafter, I began to have trouble starting my car. I turn the key, and the starter turns, but the engine never engages. At first, it only took 2 or 3 tries and eventually the car would start. I took it to Santa Barbara Chrysler at the end of February, which is the nearest dealership to UCSB where I attend school. They replaced the fuel pump, saying it was sticking. About a week later, I had the same trouble when starting it. At this point I began keeping a record of when the problem occurs. I took it back to SB Chrysler in early March, who kept it for a day and they were "unable to verify the problem". No codes stored, fuel pump working properly, crank sensor getting proper voltage.
At the end of March, I experienced the same starting problems 3 times in one week (at this point it takes 4-6 tries turning the key before it starts, but always eventually starts), and I was spending my spring break in San Leandro, so I took it to a Dodge dealer up there. They kept it for 3 days and did not find a problem. They "inspected and performed diagnostics and found starting fine in morning and throughout the day, checked sensor readings: ok, no faults in PCM, checked for TSB's none found, ran it off and on, not able to duplicate problem".
On my way back to Santa Barbara, I stopped to get lunch, get back in the car and it won't start. Took 6 tries before it finally worked. Next day I took it back to SB Chrysler. The service manager suggested I leave my car with his mechanic to drive at will until he experiences the problem.
I do not step on the pedals before or during starting my car.
The car has never died on me, the problem only occurs when starting.
The problem sometimes occurs on a cold start after sitting for a day or so,
but sometimes occurs after starting and driving several times in the day.
I get gas from different stations.
The check engine light has never come on.
I currently have just over 30,400 miles, problem began with 29,000 miles.

I AM AT MY WITS END!!! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE HELP!!

 

Sounds like the solenoid is not engaging properly with the flywheel. I would reccomend cleaning the connections in the starter system also check the relay. If that doesnt pan out then replace starter and all the wires in the system. But definately check your wires for corrosin and bulges in the wiring (shows intenal corrosion of wiring)

 

i asked the dealers to replace my starter and both places said the exact same thing: they can't "throw parts at me" because it's under warranty. unless they can verify the problem, the factory won't cover the cost of the parts, and the dealer won't pay for it. i'm sure as hell not paying for it, the car is pretty new and under warranty.
the mechanic has had my car going on 4 days now and i have not heard back from him. [sigh]

 

Thats a rock and a hard place. Tell them to check for damaged or missing teeth on the pinion gear and flywheel.

 

ive had the same problem with my 00 i replaced the starter solenoid and its still doin it my car has also blown three starter relays ... have you checked your relays to see if its just a bad starter relay?

 

ok at this point i'm ready to cry.
when i talked to the service manager on friday, 4/13, he said the car had worked perfectly for the mechanic driving it and they were going to run a serious diagnostic on the starter.i didn't hear back from him, so on monday, 4/16, i went down there to talk to him. he said only once out of numerous repeated starts did it not engage, and the very next time it started right up.
this is when i started to cry. they won't give me a rental, and my car works perfectly while i let this mechanic guy drive it as his commuter car to work and back. the manager said if nothing happened that night they would give it back to me today.
i go down there, and those ******** charged me $20 for gas. i gave it to them with 3/4 of a tank and they gave it back to me with half, AND charged me!! talk about a slap in the face.
they kept my car for 9 days, put 200+ miles on it, may or may not have fixed it, and then charged me for gas.
they claim that the gas was a necessary charge in order to test the car, which is not covered by the warranty. but they can't even verify that they fixed my car. they replaced a cam sensor because they couldn't find anything else wrong with it.

this is the closest dealership within 50 miles, so i don't know what else to do.

please help.

 

I know that your car is under warranty and everything. Start by moving the key into the run position( the spot where just before it starts.) While doing this have someone listen to the under the hood for a click from the Starter. Do this numerous times If it clicks then the Starting Solenoid is fine if it ,misses every now and then... Then replace the starter on your own money I know it sux but sometimes you have to do it yourself..

 

Laura419

What is the name of the dealership? If I may ask?
Also Neons have a bad bad tendancy for faulty positive cables.
If they done fix it then call DCX corp. they usually take dealer complaints very seriously.

 

As for my last post, i spoke with the dealership owner, Mr. James Crook (ohh the irony), and he gave me a $25 gift card, after charging me for gas,good at Santa Barbara Chrysler, which was just upgraded to 5-star in the last month or so.

i made a list of my troubles so far:

Jan 28: first sign of problem. Car didn’t start on first try, started on second try.
Month of Feb: 2 or 3 experiences of car not starting on first try. More tries necessary each time. (didn't have a log then)
Feb 23: SB CHRYSLER: fuel pump sticking, replaced fuel pump
Mar 2: started on second try. (cold start, sitting overnight)
Mar 8: started on third try. (cold start, sitting overnight)
Mar 9: SB CHRYSLER: Unable to verify, no codes.
Mar 19: running errands: started fine 3 times in the past hour. filled up with gas, 4 tries to start.
Mar 20: sitting for 3 hours or less, 2 times to start.
Mar 23: 6 tries to start (cold start, sitting overnight)
Mar 27: Hayward Dodge: tested for 3 days, unable to verify.
Apr 1: 6 tries to start after driving 2.5 hours straight (about 175 miles) inKing City.
Apr 9: SB CHRYSLER: Kept car, drove for week+ (charged me for gas). Unable to verify. Replaced cam sensor.
May 4: sitting 5-6 hours. started on 5th try.
May 7: planned to drive car to dealership for repair, won't start. Tried 5 times, called tow truck. tow guy walks up and starts the car on his first try. (laura cries).
May 8: SB CHRYSLER: unable to verify. plan to replace wiring harness. Scheduled for next week.
May 18: sitting maybe 5-6 hours. tried 5 or 6 times, won't start. towed from work to dealership.
May 21: SB CHRYSLER: Reproduced problem! car wouldn't start at dealership. determined to be a bad fuel pump: replaced fuel pump, instead of replacing wiring harness.
Jun 4: drove 300+ miles. Stopped at least 2 times. Running errands later: started 3 times in 1 hour. Unable to start car after 1 hour of attempts. towed from Kmart to dealership.


it's back at SB Chrysler now and they are going to replace the wiring harness this time. in my experiences with them, they do seem to be trying diligently to fix my car. i just have to keep them on their toes when they try to charge me for it, considering i'm currently at 32,000 miles and it's still under warranty. honestly, i just want my car fixed, i dont want to go to battle over it.

in the meantime, i'm going to write an angry letter to the dealership i bought it from, and see if at the very least, they won't spot me a rental car (since i've been screwed every time i take my car in) and if they have any ideas about fixing my car.

i'm in the middle of finals week of my senior year in college. the last thing i want to worry about right now is suing a car dealership over a lemon. however, the stress of this is beginning to give me headaches and stomach aches.

i'm at a loss. does anyone else have this problem or have any idea how to fix it?

 

Im having the same problem with my 00' and im trying to figure the problem out now... anyone ever figure out a final solution?

-Andrew