I have a 01 Neon with the 2.0L sohc.. it is having a hard time starting, especialy in the cold wheather, I have to hold the gas petal to the floor to start it. It has 108000, but just had an overhaul with plugs and head job. Once it is started it runs ok, rough idle, but has always had that. Please Help..

 

It might be the fuel system....bad fuel filter....Do you have a battery light come on??? It might be the battery, alternator,coil pack.

 

I just replaced the starter on mine....only 40,000 miles no less. It was a bitch to start until I got it replaced.

 

Hey thanks for replying! I have just replaced the battery and it didn't make a difference.. I want to take the starter off to have it tested, it could be dragging and not turning fast enough to start. But this starter is buried under the intake and looks hard to pull out, did you change yours yourself? is there a trick to getting it out? thought i'd ask before i start dismantling this thing..

 

I would think its a fuel problem. By the way flooring the pedal does nothing until the car starts, you have fuel injection, it puts no more fuel into the motor when you do. If the car runs good when its started I would try some injector cleaner, and check all the normal stuff, plugs, wires, fuel pressure and go from there. I don't think it would be the starter, you should be able to hear if its not spinning fast enough.

 

Well, I thought it was a fuel issue also, it does have a rough idle when warm and stopped in gear, I was going to spray throttle body cleaner in the thorttle body but there is a sticker on the side that sais not to use cleaners due to a special coating on the throttle body.. is that a concern? It starts ok while here at home, not great but does start, but when I go skiing it barely starts and has to be jumped most of the time. But starts as soon as cables are applied.. I put the new battery in and same issue, I will trickle charge the bat. to see if it helps. it looks to have original starter also...

 

I wouldnt go with the TB cleaner....but, try getting some fuel injector cleaner, its cheap and it seems like it has never been used on your car. Your battery and/or starter I doubt are the issue!

 

I had a similar problem with my 1995 neon. Intermittent hard starting (crank but wouldn’t fire) and rough idle, generally holding the throttle part way down would allow it to fire and after stumbling would smooth out and run. The problem turned out to be a sticky EGR valve, verified by using a hand vacuum pump connected to the EGR valve to hold it open. This verified the same hard start condition. As the EGR valve and EGR transducer were both in poor condition I opted to replace them rather than to try to clean them. I actually purchased a used EGR set from a low mileage car at a wrecker for $5.00.
This fix the problem, I’ve driven it about 10,000km with no further problems.

 

Thanks for the info.!! the egr sounds logical!! I will go test it, Those are the exact symptoms i am having..... just got 8 inches of snow last night so i hope it will start to get into the garage...

 

Well, I have a 2001 neon, maybe i am not looking in the right area, but i even checked the parts stores and they do not have a replacement "egr valve" is it possible that this engine doesn't have a egr valve? 2.0 l fuel injected...