2004 Dodge Neon SXT 2.0, Intermittent Stall

This Neon came into the shop with a customer concern of an intermittent stalling issue.  The customer said it had happened 3-4 times and all at low speeds/Rpms; for instance, twice in a drive-thru line.  The customer stated the CEL (Check Engine Light) was not on.

I confirmed the CEL was not on.  There were no codes stored.  Next place to look was under the hood.  I found a tech tip saying techs in the field had experienced similar issues as a result of faulty battery cables, especially the positive cable, on this particular model.

I decided it was time to do a voltage drop test on both cables, paying special attention to the positive cable.  As soon as I looked at the battery I knew we had a problem.  In the pictures below, notice the amount of acid build up around the positive cable terminal.

 

 

 

I performed the voltage drop test on both cables.  Obviously, I knew the problem was with the positive cable as evidenced by the above photos.  But, to be thorough, I checked them both.  The rule of thumb on a voltage drop test for a battery cable is no more than .20 volts, that is, 200 mv.  Anything above .20 volts (200 mv) is considered excessive. 

 

The negative cable, as I suspected, checked to be well within range at only 6 mv.

 



 

 

The positive cable was a different story.  In order to check for this being the cause of the intermittent stall issue, I stressed the circuit.  I did this by turning on the radio, AC on high, rear defrost, any plug-ins . . . etc.  Actually, the photo below is without the rear defrost on.  I didn't take a pic of the reading with the rear defrost on.  When it was on, along with everything else, the reading was well above 300 mv!  Even still, without the rear defrost, as you can see based on the photo below, the reading is still excessive.

 

Here the reading is showing 260 mv.  Far too much.

 

 

 

Next, it was time to clean the terminal.  I connected a battery saver to the DCL under the dash.  I then disconnected the positive battery cable and started the cleaning process.

 

 





Once I had cleaned the terminal, I reconnected the cable, started the vehicle with all the accessories running and now the reading was well within specs.

I did a quick test on the battery and charging system.  Everything tested fine.