95 Neon ignition issues, Please help!!!

[Diseman]

My 95 Neon SOHC ATX is causing me nightmares. It stalls frequently but not predictably. It behaves like there is a gremlin under the hood shutting off the ignition at random. Sometimes I'll be idling at a stop light, other times I'll be going down the road at 55 mph. I finally got a friend of mine to hook up a Snap-On scan tool to it and it says that there is no cam signal being detected at all and the the crank/cam is out of sync. Over the past few months I have changed the cam sensor, crank sensor, MAP sensor, plugs, wires, coolant temperature sensor, and the PCM. I have a Haynes manual and it says something about a "camshaft target magnet" that is located behind the cam sensor. I have been unable to find any information about this item or where to purchase it anywhere else on the net. I'm thinking that either that target magnet is damaged somehow or I have a loose connection in the wiring related to the cam sensor. Does any of this sound familiar to anyone? Please help me. Thanks for your time.

[Fractured1]

I'm relying on memory here so this could be 100% wrong but I believe there was a service bulletin dealing with relocating the wire harness that goes across the engine, when the engine shifts on it mounts could be stretching the connetors and causing your "gremlin". The relocation is just a matter of moving the wires around some to get a little more slack in the wiring. No need to cut!!good luck

[1thunder]

wire harness rerouting is for 1996 neons you diseman need to check your wiring harness under the big connector just ahead of the master cylinder and check under your fuse box under hood for rubbing through insulation

[pjirsa]

This is the exact issue I am having with my 95 Neon SOHC. When I did a self diagnostic check by turning the ingition switch from off-on-off-on-off-on it signals 11 which indicates that either the timing belt has skipped a cog or more, the cam or crankshaft sensor is malfunctioning. I don't know what to check next, but I think I'll try to test the sensors first since it's quite a job to get to the timing belt. Let me know if anyone has additional ideas or suggestions. Thanks.

[Diseman]

Well, good news and bad news. I replaced the camshaft target magnet, about $12 from Dodge dealer. That didn't help. A friend of mine referred me to a local "Neon Expert" and the first thing he checked was the large plug behind the PDC and and the PDC itself and there was no significant corrosion or broken wires. So we decided to try disconnecting the remote car start unit. The car had this unit when I bought it used and it always seemed to work fine provided the car was otherwise running OK. Since I had tried everything else I decided to try taking that out, and you know what? My car seems to run 95% better. The car still stalls but it's gone from several times in one day depending on how far I drive, to now only once or twice in a week. I still have a check engine light with code 11 and 25 I think. I assume the thing I must check next is the timing belt which may make sense because if I try to do a WOT acceleration, when the engine gets, let's say over 5000 rpm (I don't have a tach, I'm guessing) there is a high speed miss that used to almost always cause a stall when I let off the gas....but now that the remote car start is off it doesn't seem prone to stalling. Any ideas anyone? Thanks....

[ArmyRecon]

Originally Posted by Diseman

Well, good news and bad news. I replaced the camshaft target magnet, about $12 from Dodge dealer. That didn't help. A friend of mine referred me to a local "Neon Expert" and the first thing he checked was the large plug behind the PDC and and the PDC itself and there was no significant corrosion or broken wires. So we decided to try disconnecting the remote car start unit. The car had this unit when I bought it used and it always seemed to work fine provided the car was otherwise running OK. Since I had tried everything else I decided to try taking that out, and you know what? My car seems to run 95% better. The car still stalls but it's gone from several times in one day depending on how far I drive, to now only once or twice in a week. I still have a check engine light with code 11 and 25 I think. I assume the thing I must check next is the timing belt which may make sense because if I try to do a WOT acceleration, when the engine gets, let's say over 5000 rpm (I don't have a tach, I'm guessing) there is a high speed miss that used to almost always cause a stall when I let off the gas....but now that the remote car start is off it doesn't seem prone to stalling. Any ideas anyone? Thanks....

check ur wiring harness if its loose or dry rotted it can cause those sytoms as well..