Hey gang,
Less than smart person here, trying to help get an old neon running for a family that needs it. This is a 2003 Neon, 2.0 SOHC model. Had some trouble with the battery, so we replaced it. Battery still kept dying so we took it to the shop where they found that the windshield wiper motor was bad causing a short in the electrical and draining the battery. Got that replaced and all was good until it wouldn't start one day. Starter was original to the car, so figured we should "start" there. (I'm not proud of that...) Replaced it, and still nothing. Finally broke out my digital multimeter to see what's what (like I said, I'm not smart, should've started there probably) and now I'm finding that when I meter the Negative terminal to the new starter housing, I'm seeing 6.2V. My peanut brain tells me this is wrong in a not good way, but I don't fully understand what it could mean, or better yet, how best to resolve this? I've swapped the starter relay with one of the other matching relays in the box, and the problem seems to persist. Any non-smooth brain people out there able to help me diagnose this one? Very much appreciate any assistance you all could offer me.

 

What voltage are you getting at the battery?

 

I'm seeing the full 12V at the battery (well, 11.8v but close enough). When I check negative terminal of the battery to anywhere else on the frame/chassis I see zero volts, but as soon as I go to the housing of the starter, 6.2v for some reason?

 

Check and clean all the connections. Especially the grounds.

 

Thanks for the tip. I'll give that a shot and report back. Appreciate it!

 

Apologies for my long delayed response. Life got in the way for a minute but I'm all good now. Pulled the battery, cleaned all terminals and connectors, finding lots of corrosion in the process. Once I removed and cleaned all that, and reconnected everything, it started! Checking voltage to the housing of the starter now shows a nice clean zero.
New problem has popped up apparently with the transmission (manual in the hands of a young driver, I can only imagine what horrors wait for me there) so I'll start a new thread and implore more help from you guys there. Thanks again!

 

Oh joy. I was talking to one of my nieces the other day and she asked me if I remembered teaching her to drive a clutch. That poor Mustang took a beating but she's a better than average driver now. Plus, the kid can brag he/she can drive a stick. Very rare now a days.