96 neon speedo

Probably your Vehicle Speed and Distance Sensor. They can go intermittent like this.

DS

I agree with Dan and have seen this before on two other Chrysler vehicles. The OP does not indicate if this is a manual transmission or automatic. If automatic, if the speed sensor goes out, then the transmission should go to

2nd gear/limp mode. Since this is not mentioned, then I presume the vehicle is a manual trans or possibly the bad connection is in the instrument cluster as another poster suggested.

Bob

The 96 Neon has a three speed hydraulic automatic transmission. Doesn't need the speed sensor.

Nope, the '96 Neon has a 3-speed hydromechanical transmission that has no "limp mode" and will continue to operate normally even if the speed/distance sensor is flaky.

DS

That explains it then. Thanks.

Thanks to all who responded to my post. The neon is a AT with only 48,000 miles. My mechanic went so far as to order the speed sensor even though it was working when he checked it out. He wasn't 100% sure that that is what will fix it but was 90% sure. I decided not to install it until the speedo broke again. After reading through these posts, I will wait until it happens again and them rap the dash and see if it comes back. I seem to remeber when it did break, I was driving over a bump and it stoped working. This could more likely be the insturment cluster then the speed sensor.

Would my mechanic know how to change this cicuit board or would I be better off going to the dealer for this repair? Is this an expensive repair?

Thanks to all who responded to my post. I did exactly what you told me to do. The speedo needle just died on me today, and I "slapped" the top of the dash board and low and behold, the needle started to work. A few seconds latter, it stopped working again so I slapped the dash and it now works fine. Your advice saved me from changing the speed sensor. I also told my mechanic who said he doesn't feel comfortable with troubleshooting the insturment cluster, so I guess I will continue to slapp the damn thing, or get a price quote from the rip-off dealer.

I had a similar problem on my Voyager. Driving along, look down at the speedo and both it and the tachometer are at zero. Stop and re-start and both return to normal operation.

Some time later, the battery died and the speedo/tacho problem went away after I fitted a new battery.