Long story, but I'm trying to resurrect this 96 Neon for someone who's lost their car.

Got this back from my daughter a year or so ago. Runs for about 1/2 hour or so, then shuts off. Don't have an adequate battery in it to see if it restarts, but prior to this it would after a few minutes. I seem to recall but not certain that the tach would drop off when it quit, which I'd guess is electrical. Most everyone said to replace cam/crank sensors. So my daughter bought them but never installed, and quit driving it, then I got it.

Does this sound correct? Fuel pump was replaced a couple years prior, but it has sat 2 or so years since.

Thoughts?

Any codes?

Put a good battery in the car. Be sure battery connections and ground points are clean and tight. Make sure the charging system is functioning properly. If still having problems then troubleshoot car and check for codes.

Check engine light has always been on (funny how those never burn out?). EGR has always been the code varmint.

Battery has been good, just recently did it get to where it won't keep a charge, keep it unhooked too.

Check the wiring going to the crank sensor. Those are prone to the wiring getting burnt upon the back side of the motor.

The wiring by the cam sensors gets brittle too.

http://forums.neons.org/index.php

the cam sensors will crack on the inside where it rides against the cam then engine oil will get pumped into the wiring harness causing a short, the same thing happens on 4.7s only with the p/s swicth pumping p/s fluid into the engine wiring harness

1st and formost get a good battery in it( you would be suprised what that can cause)
Unless it's sitting codes, anything is a guess.

Like mentioned above all are known issues. I have run into a couple over the years where the engine harness rubbed thru and was shorting out against the edge of master cylinder casting.

lower wire harness to the crank sensor( down low and on the back side of the engine on the old ones) Especially if the head gasket is or has been leaking oil.