Speedometer with a mind of its own

My neon had over 110K miles on it. We've had every issue with the neon that it is notoriously known for, from oil leaks, to water leaks, to paint problems...you name it, we've had it. The latest problem is that the speedometer sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. There doesn't seem to be a reason and we just had the sensor replaced. The mechanic is telling us to get a new/used instrument cluster and that should fix the problem. Any suggestions? This car is costing us a fortune to maintain (over $1500 in about 2 years).

Thanks!

Thats another well known Neon illness. A new instrument cluster would very likely fix the problem, but a used instrument cluster could easily have the same kind of forgetful-gauge - though it might affect the fuel gauge instead.
Here is a link about how it can be fixed: http://www.myneonspeed.com/howto/howto_1stgen_clusterfix.htm
I did this to our family Neon, and to a friends Neon. In both cases it made all the gauges in the cluster work exactly as they should, and even though I wasnt hurrying, it took me no more than an hour to do each one. Im retired, so I dont hurry much. Im not a mechanic, just a hobbyist.
Its a very remote possibility you have a fault in the wiring harness behind the engine - but its a good likeliehood you have the problem with the connector pins on the back of the instrument cluster.
Im looking to buy a 2nd 97 Neon, for my other daughter to use - they arent hard to for a home-mechanic to work on: But you do have to work on them some.

This is very easy to do. I did it a little while ago for the same reason. The fuel gauge is still not working but everything else works all the time now not when it wants to. I'm not to worryied about it as I can keep track of the kms driven.

^^^Fuel sending unit may be bad on you.