2000 Dodge Neon

Tiny
NAUTICUS28
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  • 2000 DODGE NEON
I have a 2000 Dodge Neon with 105,000 miles on it that I recently bought and it has run fine for me up until now. It had been getting around 28 miles to the gallon but now seems to be getting around 20. Also, the idle speed is really high when the car is in park or neutral. And finally, I have found that when I first start the car it will stall if the outdoor temperature is below freezing and I put the car in reverse. Mostly this happens when I back up and then take my foot off of the gas. Are all of these things part of the same problem or did the dealer pull a fast one on me? So far I have had the car into a shop and have spent a considerable amount of money on trying to troubleshoot the problem. They have also replaced the intake manifold and the idle regulator.
Thursday, January 4th, 2007 AT 2:26 AM

11 Replies

Tiny
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A breakdown of what has been done would be cool. There are sooo many things that it could be. I might try a Coolant Temp Sensor just because the outside temp makes a difference in the way it runs. Get back to me
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Thursday, January 4th, 2007 AT 7:35 AM
Tiny
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So far I have had done on the car is this: the idle speed valve has been replaced, I have had cruise control installed on the vehicle, the Intake manifold has been replaced, and I have installed new spark plugs. When I replaced the spark plugs I found oil in the well around plug number 2 but figured that just means I need to replace the gasket there. That pretty much sums up the maintenance that I have done or had done. I did also notice that the dip stick has a burned on oil residue on it which comes off by scraping it with a thumbnail; I guess that means that the engine has overheated at some point before I owned it. Also, before I owned the car it had a minor front end collision which broke one of the brackets that holds the air filter housing. There is also a crack on what appears to be the distributor that has been sealed with some sort of epoxy. I hope this new information gives some sort of a clue as to what the problem might be with the car.
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Friday, January 5th, 2007 AT 1:25 AM
Tiny
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Since outside temp makes a difference, I would probably try a Coolant Temp Sensor. They are fairly inexpensive and a good place to start
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Friday, January 5th, 2007 AT 9:35 AM
Tiny
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Thanks. I'll try replacing the sensor.
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Saturday, January 6th, 2007 AT 1:50 AM
Tiny
MARINEMAN9123
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W had a 2000 and put in bosch platinums and noticed our mileage go down and the idle was off
check the plugs and put in plain old champions if thats not whats in there. For some reason the dodges don't like the fancy stuff!
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Thursday, January 11th, 2007 AT 11:17 PM
Tiny
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Thanks, I'll check into that.
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Friday, January 12th, 2007 AT 1:45 AM
Tiny
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Good call, seen more driveability problems with Bosch Platinums than any other plug
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Friday, January 12th, 2007 AT 9:30 AM
Tiny
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It's amazing what target marketing can produce. Too bad Bosch does not have the Spark plug to meet the satisfaction.
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Friday, January 12th, 2007 AT 9:56 AM
Tiny
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No doubt bro
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Monday, January 15th, 2007 AT 11:21 AM
Tiny
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I replaced the coolant temp. Sensor and while it did make the gage in the car read a little bit hotter than it did before, it has not fixed either the fuel mileage problem, or the hard starting/stalling in cold weather. I did however find that the bottom half of the air filter housing has been shattered and that the throttle body assembly is only about half attached to the air filter housing due to a gaping crack that travels around three sides of the throttle body. I don't know how much this will affect the operation of the car but I'm guessing that it doesn't help. Any input on this would be most welcome. Also, I had recently installed "Autolite double platinum" plugs in the car. Are these as bad as the Bosch plugs I've been hearing about? I have heard that for some reason neons are particular about the kind of plug you use and ordinary non-platinum plugs are the best. I don't really understand why this would be, except for maybe a small change in the resistive properties of the plug. Anyway, if this is so and someone could explain it to me I would be grateful.
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Sunday, January 28th, 2007 AT 10:00 PM
Tiny
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Autolite double platinum are what I use and like them. I have seen posts that say the neons run better with champions, but I can't say I agree.

Sounds to me that have a have a thermostat not working right. That will affect milage and can contribute to a drivability problem.

Not sure in the air intake snorkel problem you have, I would get one from a junkyard and replace it. I don't recall if there is a mass air flow sensor in that, and if there is, this needs to be be taken care of for sure.
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Monday, January 29th, 2007 AT 5:16 AM

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