Wierd electrical fault

Hi

I have a Chrysler Neon LX manufactured Jan 2003, I acquired it in
November 05 & it has been running ok, nice little car, just as happy on
the motorway as around town. Since the weekend I have had the
following faults happen 5 times, pretty much once a day.

All of the dashboard lights come on or sometimes only the airbag & ABS
light, the engine either cuts (not stalling, just loss of power) for
about 5 seconds. At the same time if the factory fitter car stereo is
on, the power to that dies & in 3 out of the 5 cases it has required
the security code to be entered. This signifies to me that there has
been a complete power loss to the whole car, because the memory backup
of the stereo would be a permanent live? The power all comes back as
normal after 3 - 5 seconds & if driving the engine restarts, even
though it is an auto & I didn't think a rolling start worked on auto's.
I am just worried that if that happens in the middle of pulling out of
a junction it could cause a bit of a predicament.

I have it booked in to a general mechanic because the main dealers have
extortionate labour rates of £90 per hour, hell they are probably all
driving beemers & mercs. I just wanted to know if I could give the
mechanics some info because they didn't sound too confident in their
ability to find this fault because it is so intermittent. It can also
happen if the engine is cold or hot & it has happened both when the car
is in gear & driving at around 45 mph & at a standstill idling. So I
don't think it is speed or temperature related.

Any info would be appreciated. I saw a topic similar to this in this
group in 1998 about a 95 Neon, but I am not sure if the electrical
system is the same, they said it was the ignition switch. I have tried
wiggling it & the loom but it did not trigger a reaction from the
vehicle at the time, I have also tried moving battery cables & the fuse
box loom around to see if there were any bad connections, but it did
not cause the fault to re-occur.

Thanks in advance for your help

Scott - London - UK

 

Hi

Since the memory backup for the radio probably does not go through
the ignition switch it probably isn't that.

What I would do if it were my car is put a voltage meter on the
output of the alternator, and keep an eye on it. When the car does it's
thing next, see if the meter indicates a power loss. If not, then
reconnect the meter farther along the wiring from the alternator and
repeat the test. It may take a week of moving the meter around.
obviously you want a sensitive analong meter not some digital
display.

If you have a momentary drop at the alternator then it's probably that
part.

Ted

 

I think you may want to look into you alternator or the belts, if this is
not hte case look into your wiring.. you may have a electrical problem or
short that may cause bigger damage in the long run.. get it checked.

 

Hi

I put a voltmeter on the battery terminals & the battery seems fine,
the alternate appears to be charging ok, but I had the engine running
for over 1 hour & it didn't do it once. Last night though the damn
thing wouldn't start at all, it was like the battery was drained, this
morning there still wasn't enough juice to pop the central locking & I
had to open the door manually, then I tried to turn it over & as soon
as I put the key into the ignition the speedo & rev counter needles
went all over the place. They settled down after a few seconds & I
tried to turn the engine & it worked perfectly. Would the ignition
barrel actually cause a complete power failure if it were faulty?