Daughter’s 2000 Neon, both dash and tail lights are out but all other lights working. Checked fuses and all are OK. Someone mentioned tailight assembly could be damaged but have not had any accidents. Mechanic wants $50 hr to research the problem which is OK if it doesn’t take long. Anyone experienced similar problems and have advice? thanks
Wait a minute,the mechanicis saying “I will charge you $50.00 an hour, as long as it takes,do you agree”?
Now you must decide if this mechanic has the skills to do this job without overcharging you.
If this was a warranty job (with Dodge paying the bill) they probably would not pay over 1 hour,thats right 1 hour for diagnosis,unless a really good story acompanied the warranty claim.
no I don’t agree that I would pay him $50/hr for as long as it takes. He said he thought it would be relatively simple and he pretty much specializes in auto electrical work so I believe him. Don’t think car is under warranty…over 100k and I’m third owner. I just wonder if anyone out there is familiar with this and has had repair done before.
Sometimes these lamps are controlled by providing a constant hot wire and switching the ground. If that is so, check the electrical connectors starting from where the leads split to power both assemblies. You may have a hot wire problem
Thats good you feel comfortable with the mechanic and his speciality is electrical.
I understood perfectly that the car was not under warranty,I was trying to give you a baseline in regards to how difficult Dodge feels finding the cause of these types of concerns. If your mechanic charges more than 1 hour,you have the wrong man,at least according to Dodge,I am a little more realistic so I would go for 2hrs but thats it.
In many cars the tail lights and the dashlights are on the same circuit. There should be a fuse for this circuit. If you have the owner’s manual, it should tell you where this fuse is located. I would start by pulling this fuse out and replacing it on the chance that this may be the problem. If not, then check to see if power is getting to this fuse. If so, the problem is further downstream from this point. A good autombile electric shop should be able to run this down quickly.
Thanks for the responses; I’m taking the car in today and hopefully he will be able to locate and fix the problem and it won’t be an arm & a leg. We did check the fuses and they look good but I understand that could still be the root of the problem. I feel like the reverse of a vampire…can’t go out at night- can only drive in the daytime!
Hey I am wondering what had happened with this car? I have a 2004 neon and have the exact same problem trying to not pay an arm and leg for the fix?
Follow the same advice given the OP – and when you check the fuse, preferably do it with a multimeter because it can occasionally happen that a fuse passes visual inspection but still won’t pass current.