Question-------------------------
Thanks for the quick response Roland,
The 96 Neon is a 3 speed auto and the engine is a 2.0L. I see from some paperwork that was in the car the previous owner had the speed sensor replaced about 9 months ago but did not correct the problem. The cost of doing that was over $150.
Once again thanks for helping.
Followup To
Question -
Roland, My daughter just bought a 96 Neon and the speedo works then stops. Most of the time it's not working. Do you know what this could be. I was told it could be in the IP harness but what connection? Was also told that this was a common problem for 96 neons.
Also the air won't work and the compressor won't even come on when you put the switch on. Could that just be low on fluid or was there a problem with that also in 96.
Thanks for your time in helping, my daughter is on a really tight budget and she used all the money she saved just to buy the car.
Answer -
Hi Bob,
Can you tell me which transmission (if automatic is it electronic or conventional automatic, i.e. 4 speed or 3 speed) and which engine she has in her car? That will give me a better idea about the way the speedo is getting its data.
On the AC, the first possibility is of course that the refrigerant is low in the system. It is protected against operating without refrigerant so as to not damage the compressor. So a visit to an independent AC shop would be the best way to find out if that is the case, unless you want to do some electical testing to see if the sensor for the refrigerant is saying that there is no problem with that part of the system
Roland
AnswerHi Bob,
I am not quite certain about that transmission but my suspicion is that it is non-electronic and that therefor the distance/speed sensor is only used for the speedo/engine control systems and not for the transmission control system. If that is indeed the case, and you could check that at a Chrysler dealer parts department, then the distance sensor is located on the transaxle extension housing (top side; that housing is the part of the trans into which the half-shafts are inserted). If you look behind the engine and down to the level of the halfshafts you should see the housing and the sensor with a 3 wire disconnect plug nearby. Check the wires and disconnect plug by opening the plug and cleaning the internal contacts.
The three wires all go to the multi-pin plug on the powertain control module. The ground wire is black/light blue, the 8 volt supply line is orange, and the distance signal wire is orange/white. The first two are shared with other sensors and are probably o.k. The orange/white is unique for that particular sensor and I believe it is supposed to be on pin 66 of the 80-pin plug of the engine control unit. So you could trace that wire by measuring for continuity between the pin at the disconnect and the pin at the 80-way. If that connection proves out, then you have two possibilities: The distance sensor pinion gear is loose or damaged (remove the sensor by releasing its single bolt and pulling straight up out of the housing), or that the digitized speed signal that is created in the body control module (that it receives fron the engine controller) and sent to the instrument panel on a data bus that carries many coded signals simultaneously is not being read properly by the cluster speedometer electronics. One way to know that would be if the car has a cruise control is it working o.k. or is it flakey too? If it works o.k. then the problem is in the instrument cluster speedo unit proper, if it is flakey then the problem is in the sensor or its wire(s) to the engine controller. If you don't have cruise then the best thing to do is verify the sensor gear looks o.k. and then monitor the orange/white wire to verify that it is getting a speed signal at all times or not when the vehicle is in motion.
I am sorry to say this sounds complicated but such is modern auto electronics. Let me know how this gets resolved so I will learn too.
Roland
P.S. You might look at that repair receipt to see what was covered in the repair. The distance sensor gear can be replaced without replacing the sensor itself, or if no parts were involved in that failed repair, then I would suspect that the labor was spent foolishly and should have instead been spent on correcting a damaged sensor gear. That gear gets damaged when an incompetent mechanic who needs to service the right side half shaft pulls it forcefully out of the extension housing without first removing the sensor...a classic goof.
