yep my neons gone retarded to

[slammed4Door]

heres the scope. im gonna try to break this down into words you guys can understand. ok i sent my neon to a shop in erlanger (ky.) to have the transmission put in because i was sick of screwing with it. 95 plymouth neon mtx. new head, timing belt, battery relocated to trunk, atx throttle body, full exhuast, k&n cold air.

so i got the car back from the shop (towed it) and got it home, charged the battery, checked the fluids, tried to fire it. when i tried to fire it it did nothing. i looked over everything checking for spark, fuel, unplugged sensors etc. i discovered my cam position sensor was missing, the whole thing not just unplugged.

so i called the shop and bitched. the guy gives me the run around saying that they have had a problem with people stealing stuff off the cars sitting in the lot. i tell him hes full of sh** and i know it wasnt stolen b/c the four bolts that hold it down were still barely in the head. he tells me he has an extra one there i can have. ( i know he took it out to make sure i didnt pick the car up without paying. so i go pick it up.

after holding myself back from beating him to a pulp i get the part and come home and put it back on plug it in and try to fire again. this time when i proceed to start the car i have my buddy inside turning it over, as soon as i hook the cables up to jump my battery the ecu starts making a wierd noise and starts smoking????

so i pick up a new ecu and try again. this time it still wont start.

is it possible at all that when i tried starting the car with out the cam position sensor that it threw it out of time.

i want to drive my car can someone please help me.

[neonrtdriver]

ouch man this is a weird one. Ive never heard of anyone really starting the car without the position sensor. Did you hear anything UNUSUAL when you tried to turn over without the sensor? It sounds like a possibilty it couldve been thrown out of time. I would replace the ECU and see what happens

[Metal_gear_jon]

Does it crank and no start or no crank at all? No crank means check all connections and make sure everything works. Crank and no start could be several things. The car won't go out of time as long as the timing belt is not broken or skipped a tooth.I know this little tidbit from working at the dealership... If you replace the engine,pcm,cam or crank sensors, you MAY have to relearn the pcm to your engine's timing. It's called the Cam/Crank re-learn procedure. Which means you have to take it to a dealer where they hook up the DRB III (chrysler's scan tool) and reset it.
If the used Pcm's last learned timing is different from what your car's actually is, then it won't start. Base timming is allways off from the factory (mine is 2 degrees retarded) so every car is slightly off. Now is your pcm a new from the parts counter or is it from the boneyard? New ones are not preprogrammed, so you would have to take the car and Pcm to the dealer. Now all this is a pain to do at home so it may be better to take it to a dealer. It might cost a lot
, but your neon will run.

[RopeRat1]

Early-built '95s could start/run without the cam sensor but they threw codes and check engine lamp was on. Later-built (May '95-on) would not start/run w/o the cam sensor signal.

Take the sensor off and look for the magnet in the back of the cam. It very likely fell off in transit from the garage back to your house since it simply slides into position in the back of the cam.

Also. LOOK CAREFULLY at the entire engine bay for disconnected ground cables between the engine and the body before you try to start the car again. The engine controller is grounded behind the left headlamp and a poor ground can fry the controller bacause current is trying to go to ground through different circuits.


Jonathan (RopeRat1)