2004 Dodge Neon Shuts down

GOTROCKS069

MEMBER
2004 DODGE NEON
4 CYL
FWD
MANUAL
87,000 MILES

The car shuts down momentarily then comes back on while driving or in idle. All gauges shut down and lights go off. It is just like turning the ignition switch off and on. No codes are being generated or sent to the computer. Tallahassee Dodge has not been able to diagnose the problem. The car's altenator was replaced 3 months ago along with the battery. Ran great until now.

Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009 AT 11:12 AM

1 Reply

CARADIODOC

MECHANIC
34,330 POSTS

In the 1990s, there was a lot of trouble with ignition switches. If they were still using the same design in '04, you might indeed have an intermittent switch. The clue is the radio and heater fan will also go off when the problem occurs.

If you wiggle the switch a little when the problem occurs, and things come back to life, suspect burned contacts inside the switch. Replacement will be the fix. If wiggling the switch has no effect, suspect overheated terminals in the switch connector. The terminal(s) can be cut out of the connector body, and the wire must be cut back about 4 inches. The overheated part of the wire will be stiff and very hard to solder to. The new terminal should be soldered to the new wire, not just crimped.

This problem is much more prevalent in cars where drivers use the heater fan on high quite often. The very high current stresses the switch contacts.

Caradiodoc

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Friday, April 16th, 2021 AT 1:00 PM