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Explain this one.......


Nitrousbird

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My g/f has a 2000 Neon LX. Auto 4-banger, and after spending the time I have w/ this car, I wouldn't own a Neon if someone gave me the POS.

 

The accessory belt tensioner pulley for the A/C compressor/PS pump was going out (bearings going out). Because of the wonderful design, what would have been a 10 minute change required pulling everything up to the timing belt. Well, we decided to do the timing belt too.

 

After the hell of getting it apart (found the trick, un-do the tranny mount on the driver's side, lower that as far as it goes, and jack the driver's side as high as it goes) we got it apart. The timing belt tensioner is weird, but we got it back together how we thought it went. Put the car back together, try to start it....no go. It was cranking rough too. Checked for spark; no spark at the plug, but voltage to the harness feeding the coil (distributorless system). Tried new coil, no go.

 

Pulled it all back apart; timing belt jumped 5 teeth. Fixed that, I think we got the timing belt tensioner right now. Crank it....cranks smoothly now, but won't start. Check for spark; has spark. :confused: Check fuel pressure at the rail = good. Pulled the plugs; all dry. Okay, WTF. It was late by then, so we put the project down for the night, to start again today (and it seems in the rain).

 

I go out and try to start it today, for shits and giggles. Crank it for about 2 seconds, and fired right up. WTF??? We changed NOTHING since the last time we tried, and I'd figure the plugs would have been wet/fouled if we flooded the car.

 

Stupid Neon.

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Guest jpurdy2003

One thing that I know that has applied to all interference engines that I have owned is that you always replace the tensioner once a timing belt jumps, or if replacing the timing belt as preventative maintenance.

 

That being said, I don't speak Neon.

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Chrysler doesn't reference the timing belt tensioner as a "replaceable" item when doing the timing belt. Probably because it is a $350 dollar, dealer only part. :rolleyes: Some people have suggested other years of the SOHC tensioner will work too, as they made several different kinds, and some are less expensive.

 

Regardless, it runs now. Got it put back together, drove it, and isn't making the horriable screeching noise it used to. smile.gif The damn coolant hose worked itself loose when moving the motor up and down, so it popped loose and I gotta add more coolant one she cools off. But if that's the worst thing that happened, no biggie.

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Guest nevarmore
Could it have been the computer? Trying to crank it when the timing belt jumped would have made a few senors go apeshit then letting it sit overnight let the computer reset itself and do what its supposed to.
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Originally posted by Rotary Convert:

Could it have been the computer? Trying to crank it when the timing belt jumped would have made a few senors go apeshit then letting it sit overnight let the computer reset itself and do what its supposed to.

I had reset the PCM after that by pulling the negative terminal on the battery for a few minutes. This cleared the codes that were set (the ONLY cool thing about the Neon, you can pull the codes by simply turning the key on and off 3 times quickly after putting it on the on position, and displays them in the odometer display).

 

Regardless, it's running fine now. My g/f said it seems to drive smoother and have a bit more power (I drove it and still thought it was dog sh*t slow, but she would know better than me I guess).

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