Back up lights ,instrument panel

My reverse lights went out as well on my 98. There is a sensor that engages the backup lights when the car is put in reverse. It is located under the battery and it is a pain to get to, but we were able to locate it and correct the sensor where it would engage the reverse lights. This is likely the cause of your problem as well. You will probably need a dodge neon repair manual if you don't have one, if you want to locate the sensor yourself, or better yet, just let a mechanic pull the battery and do all the boring stuff for you. I would suspect the charges would be nominal. As far as your instrument panel, that happened to me as well. I pulled the dash off and removed the entire instrument panel and cleaned all the connections with electrical contact cleaner, available at auto parts store. This corrected my problems with the instrument panel. I can also highly recommend not whacking your dashboard when your instrument panel doesn't work, as it can cause your car to completely shut off! Learned that one the hard way! Hope this helps.