When i first turn the car on it idles bad . also the rpm guage will not work . After five mintues of idleing the rpm gauge kicks in and the car runs fine . I recently replace the valve cover gasket , spark cables , plugs because oil was leaking into the tubes . now there is no oil down there but the car is still missfiring at first . I have my check engine light on . I rented a scanner tool and it will not link to car . I took it to autozone and they also couldnt link to the car . Is there a reason why the car cant be scanned and idles bad at first?

 

Try pulling the codes yourself just turn ignition on-off-on-off-on. But do not start the car, just turn ignition on such as if you wanted to roll your power windows down. On the last "on" leave it on and it will spit out any codes your car is throwing, write them down and post back. It will say "done" when it has cycled through. It could be a coil pack, I have heard of those going out. As for the guages, I'm not sure. Those can go back as well, I had my cluster replaced under warranty after owning my car for a whole whopping month.

 

I tried the key on off on off on nothing happend . I also notice that the speedometer doesn't work along with the rpm gauge . Maybe i have a bad computer

 

It sounds like the computer to me if none of the OBD readers will link to it, also with the rpm and speedometer not working, that would not justify the coil being bad. Plus usually when a coil goes bad, it goes bad, no in between.

 

im an agreement with thomas j. i work at autozone and the only way our scanners wont link is if there is a problem with the computer in the vehicle. i assume you are able to drive it if you took it to the zone. what did you notice while driving. was it a rough drive. how many miles are on it and how long have you been having this problem? as for your gauges not working properly, that may be the reason. im only asking because maybe i could be missing something and another person who reads this post could give a better explanation as to what your problem may be.

 

171,000k miles

Ok now none of the gauges are working . Only the odometer works . The car was driving good if i would let it run for like 15 minutes . Then something would kick in a it would run fine . But that only worked three times . the car is not driveable on "D" . So if i want to drive it i have to put it in 1st or 2nd . I took the car to the mechanic and he said that the sensors on the transmission went bad and that the gauges need to be replaced . now i dont know how much truth there is to that but we will find out

 

hmmm sounds like your solenoid pressure switch is not engaging. did the mechanic run a full diagnostic on the car?

 

the ignition on off 3 times thing only works with the 1st generation neons, sad, cause i miss being able to do this with my 2nd gen... that sounds like your computer is close to frying... my 1st gn, my battery was having problems, and my gauges went crazy...then next thing i knew it wouldnt start... the PCM wouldnt kick on the fuel pump, and wouldnt let the plugs fire....

but the reason why it sounds like the PCM is because your gauge doesnt work and then it starts working and then your car runs fine... and then on top of that, when you try to diagnose, it wont link up... i would go ahead and start looking for PCMS before it goes out completely..

hope this helps bro

 

Ok heres the latest . The cars sensors are good . The mechanic found a set of wires that got burnt close by the manifold . He now suspects that the computer was shorted . So we orderd a new one and it should be in soon . I will keep you guys posted

 

Since when does the build in diagnostics not work in a second gen? You HAVE to do it properly.

I'm pretty sure it's

ON
OFF
ON
OFF
ON

All while holding the trip reset button and within 5 seconds. Let go of the button once you are on the last "on".

I believe on the 1st gens you don't have to hold the button. The second gens actually show you the code, and the first gens just "blink" for the code.

Codes can be found anywhere.