Questions and Answers

Dodge Neon Starts Hard, Runs Rough Q. Hello, I bought this car about three months now from the Dodge Dealer used and about two days ago I have been having this nasty problem. When I start the car in starts a little rough, after it starts rough it runs good; then while driving and you press the throttle a little harder (from a stop especially) the car will hesitate and act like it doesn’t know what to do.

Then it will try to smooth out a little then hesitate again then finally the engine light will come on and will blink until you back off on the throttle, then today when I was driving home it started hesitating then I heard something make a click sound so I let off the throttle and drove around 5 mph. Right now I am not sure if I should even be driving it in fear I might damage something, do you know what could be causing this awful problem.

• 2000 Dodge Neon
• 2.0 liter SOHC
• Automatic transmission
• 35,000 miles
• Fuel injection
• ABS brakes
• Cruise control, A/C
• Rack and pinion steering

Thanks a lot buddy!!
Matt

A. There are a lot of things that can cause this to happen. Too many for me to even hazard a guess. But the fact the Check Engine Light (CEL) came on indicates a DTC was stored. This DTC will be a big help in locating the problem with no guess work.

You may have some factory warranty left so I would suggest taking it to the Dodge Dealer and letting them look at it.