OK so I have a 2004 Dodge Neon SXT 2.0L. My car has 122,000 miles on it. I recently broke the timing belt on my way to visit family. My uncle is a mechanic and was only 30 miles away from where I broke down, so he towed my car to his shop and has been trying to fix my car but I live 200 miles away and need my car back asap. We've been talking as he's fixed but may have come to a dead end. He replaced the timing belt and the head seeing as 10 of the 16 valves were bent. I was supposed to get my car today but he's informed me that not all is well. Apparently the car starts and runs fine on idle and all the way up to 2000 rpms but after that misses really bad and runs like crap and the engine light comes on as soon as its started. He said its running on 2 cylinders and not sure why. He tested it and the code came up that it was a bad Cam sensor so he said hes gonna replace it and see it that fixes it but he says if it doesn't fix it he has no clue what could be wrong. Are there any ideas what else it could be if its not the Cam sensor? My fiance says the timing belt is off by 180 degrees and thats why but my uncle said he double checked and the belt is dead on? I'm so lost and I need my car back please if anyone knows anything let me know

 

I was thinking something along the lines of the timing being off too, but if he's sure...
I've yet to hear of a bad cam sensor cause an engine to only run on 1/2 the cylinders. What are the two "bad" cylinders lacking? Spark or fuel? A bad cam or crank sensor will cause either just a horribly running engine or a no-start condition. Being that it only runs poorly after 2000RPM, makes me lean towards something being wrong with fuel. Has he hooked up a fuel pressure gauge and checked pressure across the RPM range?

 

I mentioned again that the timing belt may be off and he said he'd check again and that it could be off by one tooth and that would cause it but he was pretty sure it wasn't. The cam sensor replacement didn't work. It didn't even help. I don't think he said it was running on only 2 cylinders I think he said it sounds like its only running on 2 cylinders after 2000 rpm. Upon startup the engine light comes on but on idle and up to 2000rpm he said it runs fine. He's replaced all the sparkplugs and the serpentine belts as well. He said he has no clue what it could be now and I don't know what to do. I have no money to take it to a regular mechanic cause my uncle was doing it for free til I can afford to pay him. I'm wondering if I should call the local dodge manufacturer and see if they would know?

 

An engine needs three things to run: air, fuel and spark. It's getting air fine I'm assuming. That leaves fuel and spark. Is the fuel pressure good across the power band? Do all four cylinders have spark? One of those two things (fuel or spark) is not sufficiently getting to the engine, and need to be checked.

Does he know what the CEL is for...what the code is?

 

Ok so he tells me that he moved the timing belt and it sounded worse so he moved it back and said the belt is where it needs to be. The he said the fuel, air and spark are not the issue and that those are all fine and were even before my car broke he says its the computer telling the engine somethings wrong. Hes just not sure what. He said it had a code but wouldn't tell me what it was. He said hes gonna try calling chrysler if he can't figure it out. I just hope if its a computer issue thats its easily fixed. thanks for the info though!

 

Well, best of luck with the repair! Not much more I can guess over the internet if he doesn't want to give more information other than "it's not that because it worked before."

 

Ok I'm no mechanic but I've had three people who know alot about cars tell me this is the issue. My uncle replaced the head with a used one and he said they were identical except on the cam my original head has a few more magnetic bumps on the end of it then the one he replaced it with does. He mentioned this to the shop he has since taken my car too and neither of them saw it as an issue. Why I'm asking is they keep getting code p0344 I think is what my uncle said which is an intermittent cam sensor error code. They have replaced the cam sensor 3 times and the last one was an O/E cam sensor straight from dodge. Same issue. Is it possible that the cam thats in my car now needs to be replaced with the one my car had before (the one that had more bumps) and is that why the cam sensor is not sending all the info the ECM wants? (thus the code the computer keeps throwing) The shop where my car is now wants to do a pin-out tes on the cam sensor and then do a test on the ECM but I don't want to pay for unecessary tests that will not fix the issue. I feel like because they are going at this for almost 3 weeks now that maybe their getting too close to this and overlooking the obvious?

 

Is the cam magnet on the new head cracked or anything?

 

I don't believe it is, in fact my uncle said the 2 heads were identical except for the cam lobes (which I found out is what their called). The new head has less lobes than my original head, thats the only difference. The shop is arguing with me saying that there is no way thats the reason why but dodge techs from dodge say it is possible. He said they crossmatched the head and the shop tells me that a head from a 1996-2005 neon will be compatible with my engine. All that happened was the belt broke and 10 of the 16 valves were bent so he just replaced the head with a used head instead of replacing each valve. New timing belt and it has been aligned and the cam sensor has been tried with both my original one, the one from the used head, a new aftermarket one and now a new O/E one. I'm wondering also if it could be crankshaft sensor? I just want my car back , I'm going broke renting a car to get myself and my fiance to work/back. At this rate I won't be able to pay the dang mechanic!!

 

We encountered a similar problem at work a customer brought in their 02 SXT, cyl 1 was dead ran OK til the idle was brought up and a load was put on it. Was a compression test done? you may have a weak valve spring on the "new" head, that was the problem on the one we had.