I went junkyarding on Tuesday with a friend. We both drive Neons, and both of ours were having similar problems. I've been dilligently cleaning and reinstalling my MAP sensor about once a month to try to help my little bugger out, but I had a feeling something was wrong with it, so I got a new(er) one from a junkyard to swap it out. Finally, the last time I cleaned it, I got it clean enough to notice that one of the sensor wires was broken and bent. My Neon now idles smoothly and runs stronger. The conversation with my husband about it that night went something like this:

Me: I fixed the Neon today. The MAP sensor was bad.
Him: I knew that. I just hadn't gotten around to getting a new one.
Me: ........*facepalm* why didn't you tell me?
Him: *quietly and with a very sheepish look* When it was first having problems, I kinda thought the top part was a chunk of grime and cleaned it out with a screwdriver. I broke a wire.
Me: *facepalm* *headdesk*

Please note, all it usually takes to clean out a Neon'* map sensor is 5 minutes, a hexhead screwdriver, and some BraKleen.

Car'* been running like crap all this time because he didn't tell me it needed a part I got for $15 at the junkyard (costs about $115 new).

Yeesh, men!

I really don't even know what to say :?

Well, at least it is now fixed Good Job

I didn't really either, at the time, I just laughed. Hard. It was worth it just for the smiles. I later had to reassure him that no, I wasn't mad, just...surprised.

He is lucky you took it so well....Iwould have laughed it of as well (but only after a few choice words silently to myself )

Not lucky, just talented. His sheepish look is one of the cutest things I've ever seen, and it renders me completely incapable of getting upset...apparently, I do the same thing. We've only ever had two or three fights, and those lasted less than an hour.

*edit* Oh yeah, and there'* this thing where I really don't care that much about the Neon. Had something like this happened with my Bonnie, I mighta been a little more upset. :P

You know, this isn't the way this kind of conversation usually happens...

He was hoping you'd get tired of the Neon and not want it anymore.

There are tons of Neons in the JY near me, proves their quality.

T'was a gift. We're stuck with it until it dies. 'Sides, we're the v8 people, remember? Our "gas efficient" vehicle used to be the one that gets 13.5 mpg.