Okay Rob.  First you have to understand that "cold -- won't start" is
one of the commonest and vaguest possible complaints.  The chance of me
or anyone else making the right guess from 1000 miles away is slim.
Worse, I don't know what kind of carb is on a Neon so my advice will be
generic.  Now that we have that understanding, it's good that you added
that it cranked over and sounds close to starting.

Any retries would best be done on a warmer day.

1.  Flooded.  Happens with both fuel ignition and carb engines, and cold
makes it worse.  Pull the cover off the air cleaner or throttle intake,
hold the choke or throttle plate wide open, and have a helper crank for
10-20 seconds.  Keep face away in case of backfire.  If the engine
starts then you have a winner; let go of the throttle before it revs too
fast.

If you can actually see fuel pooled down in the throttle body or base of
the carb when you pull the cover, then this supports a flooding
diagnosis.  If EFI, then increase your chance of starting by unplugging
the power connector for the fuel injector before cranking the engine.

2.  Ice blocking the fuel line.  Diagnose by looking or smelling for
evidence of gasoline in the throttle or carb after cranking.  No gas =
no start.  Tow into heated garage or wait for a day above freezing (ha).

They sell bottles of gas line de-icer, but I have not used it and don't
know how well it works.  I think you need to have it in the tank
*before* your gas line freezes.

3.  Just a diagnosis, but check for good spark on several of the spark
plug wires.  Also inspect inside of distributor cap for evidence of
condensation or other problems.  If you find consendation, polish it
very dry with paper towels before trying to start.

4.  Starter fluid.  A brute force method.  As in (1), open up the carb
or throttle cover, and hold open the choke or throttle.  Spray this
stuff in for a few seconds, then have your helper crank it.  This stuff
can really back flash, so keep your face away.  "Follow directions on
can," I suppose.

5.  Crap, I almost forgot this.  Make sure you are not out of gas!
Don't laugh, this gets overlooked more often than you would believe.

A lot more can be tried or examined for "no start", but the above are
some of my likely suspects or snake oil for cold weather problems.

If you are out of patience, maybe you could call a roadside assist
service and pay them to help.  I am sure they have their own bag of
tricks including the above.  Their chance of getting your "so close" to
start without a tow will be better than my ramblings!  Good luck.

--Dave

How much exposed flesh is on your Neon? Wind chill is a measure of the
effects of the weather on exposed flesh.

On Feb 2, 5:00 pm, rob_b...@hotmail.com wrote:

Did you recharge the battery when it would not start the first time?
If you did not, it may merely be that you used enough battery charge
that there is not enough left to start it.

Cars with computerized fuel and spark management need enough  voltage
to run the computer, which is generally higher than that needed for
the starter to turn the engine.

So batteries need to have a higher state of charge in days of
carburetor and Kettering ignition.