can the crank sensor drop out at startup? it fires momentarily to 1000 rpm and then stalls. tps checked out good at autozone and have 47 psi of fuel at the rail. does this vehicle have grounding issues that I should be looking at?

 

turned out to be a plugged cat. removed the O2 sensor and it fired right up!!

 

going to gut the cat, anyone have a preferred method? piece of rebar and a large hammer?

 

You'll need to either wire in a resistor or try the anti-fouler trick with the rear O2 sensors to keep your car from having a CEL.

 

whats the anti-fouler trick?

 

Put the O2 sensor into an anti-fouler so it hopefully keeps the CEL from coming on.

 

Exhaust work is rough if you don't have A LOT of experience with it. Nuts and bolts are always rusted out and break.
You might consider calling a Muffler shop and get a quote on a Cat installed. Cats on 2000 Neons are very cheap, so is Muffler shop's labor rate.
Save you from a Check engine light too.