Help Troubleshooting 2005 Dodge Neon rough idle/ acceleration

Asked by Cartermx750 Aug 17, 2019 at 05:29 PM about the 2005 Dodge Neon SXT Sedan FWD

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

Good afternoon,

Today I purchased a 2005 Dodge Neon SXT from
an auction. I got a good deal on it but it’s got a few
issues and wanted to post up my symptoms here
for the subject matter experts to lend me a hand.
I don’t know much about the car or any repairs
previously done. What I do know is it’s a 2005 SXT
manual with 42,000 miles on it, 1 owner car, no
check engine lights or anything of the sort.

Symptoms - somewhat hard to start - if you bump
the key 2 times to initiate the fuel pump it seems to
start right up. ( engine idles around 900 RPM’s, not
sure what the norm is on this car but doesn’t seem
out of the ordinary)

Upon driving - If I accelerate faster than 1/4
throttle the car begins to hop or stutter . Once your
at highway speed it seems fine unless you were to
try and pass someone and mash the pedal it
would be the same thing.

Also took it to the local auto parts store to have
them hookup a scanner just to see if there was any
stored codes that could potentially point me in the
right direction but he said the vehicle had no
stored codes either.

Another thing worth mentioning is, if you place the
car in neutral and rev the motor it doesn’t have any
hesitation or lag or cutting out, but when under a
load it does what was mentioned above.

Hopefully I’ve been descriptive enough that I will
achieve some pointers on what to tackle first.

Thanks Jacob

1 Answer

730

I'd suggest start with a fresh start tune up. change cabin filters and ensure a good cleaning of the throttle body with seafoam. When you take it down near empty add fuel injection cleaner to the bottom of the tank an fill'er up. Lucas has a decent brand.

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