95 Neon Has Everyone Stumped!

[DISSAPOINTED]

My mother has a 1995 Neon she purchaced @ birth. The car has been pretty good to her until resently.
Apx. 3 weeks ago she was driving away from my home when the car stalled in traffic and she could not get it to start again. We pushed it back in my driveway, tried again & again, it turned strong but would not start. She has less than 1/2 tank of gas, more than a 1/4. We waited for my boyfriend to get home from work, about an hour- He tried it, it started!
Next day she drove to my house-apx 5 miles from hers- parked-stayed a few minutes, back to the car, it would not start. called AAA, waits less than one hour, driver tries it, it starts.
She drove it to the mall two days later, parked, shopped, got back in-no go. I picked her up, tried it again, no. Called AAA, waits 1 hour +, driver tries to start it, no go. Tows it to mechanic, won't start. He does diag. all good. Checks it out the next day, starts!
A week later takes it to dealer because mechanic can't find anything wrong, dealer finds nothing wrong. Full tank of gas. Drives well for a week.
Takes it a few days ago to get smogged- Passes with flying colors!
Next day, she could not make it accross the street, it dies, won't start for 45 min. 1/4 tank of gas.
We figure it can't be too bad or it would not have passed smog. All diag's come up clean and trouble free. But she is not in the finest of health and being stranded is most troublesum.
We appreciate any help anyone can give and we are waiting anxiously for your responces.

Thank You

[pegasus757]

i had the same problem with my sisters car... it may act like fuel but could be something else... a bad crank shaft sensor will give a code 12 "no input (crank) from sensor"..the problem is this normal during code retrival...if the sensor gets hot the coil opens (flip side of a short),the computor thinks the engine is not runing, and it shuts down the car. sensor cools then the car starts. the camshaft sensor will also do the same thing. one more trick swap the horn relay with auto shut down relay

[DISSAPOINTED]

tHANX-
On a whim & not knowing too much about cars but something about electrictronics I tried that little trick w/the relays a few days before your post. Seemed logical and was grasping @ straws. So far, so good. Now the trick is to get mom to drive the car enough to see. Your feedback has now allowed her to do this. I think she thought she was going crazy!
Thanx again

[flyingsquirrel]

I'm having the same sort pf problem. My 95 Neon will occasionally not start (cranks like mad) or die after a block and not start right back up. The last three days it has worked fine in the morning but would not start after work. I changed the cam sensor, guess I will try the crank sensor next. Thanks.

[DISSAPOINTED]

Well i am sorry to say that we got that car to finally stall at a shop that specialized in electrical. Seems that the computer went bad/was going bad. Upon request they said they checked and rechecked the cam & crank shaft sensors. At least they were cheaper than Dodge, they wanted $900.00 to fix that, the shop we took it to only wanted $600.00! Seems that this is a common reaction to many problems. I also noted that during hotter weather it was more likely to happen. Drives all nite no problem, mornings ok too, but when that afternoon heat comes or if we would idle for a long time too, that is when it happens.
Good luck!