Where is the water pump located and how do you replace it on a 1995 Dodge Neon and does anything else have to be replaced?

Answer 1

The 95 neon's water pump is behind the timing belt cover on the left-hand side of the motor (if looking at it from the front). You will need a 3-jaw gear puller to remove the bottom main pulley. First thing you will have to do is jack the car up (I recommend putting jack stands underneath, then remove the jack), remove the passenger side front tire and then the splash-guard. Place a wood block on the jack and support the motor with it. Remove the motor mount (there is a small hole in the side of the fender-well through which you can remove the main bolt), After pulling the motor mount, remove the drive belts and the spark plugs so that you can find what is called "Top Dead Center" (or "TDC") in the #1 cylinder (the cylinder closest to you). But before doing that, you should first remove the bolt from the crank pulley (the big pulley you see closest to the bottom of the motor) so that you don't need to find TDC again after heaving on the bolt to loosen it. Use a long screwdriver to hold the pulley in place and loosen the bolt that holds the pulley on. You can remove the bolt, but do not yet remove the pulley since it is needed to find TDC. To find TDC, insert a long wooden rod into the head through the sparkplug hole; you should feel the rod hit the piston. Begin turning the crank pulley and be sure to only turn it clockwise. You should see the wood rod rise or fall (if it is not moving be sure that the rod is down past the threads for the spark plug). Keep turning until the wood rod rises, stops and then begins to fall. You will need to stop turning when the rod stops moving between the rise and fall; this is top-dead-center. Now you can remove the big pulley; you'll need the 3-jaw puller to remove it. There is a metal plate that the motor mount was connected to. Remove that by unscrewing the three 15mm bolts. You will need to raise the motor to pull the top two bolts out and lower the motor to remove the bottom one. Remove the bracket. On the bottom of the timing cover there are two 8mm bolts; remove these and remove the timing cover. Loosen the two 15mm bolts that hold the timing belt tensioner (it is a metal thing with a small spring loaded bar that has a hole in it on the top). You will need to put the tensioner in a vise and line up all 3 holes, then slide a small Allen wrench (or small nail, wire, etc.) through the holes to hold the bar down. Look, take note and remember how the timing belt is placed around the gears and pulleys, and then remove the belt. A good idea is to inspect the belt and the idler pulley (a smooth round pulley right next to the water pump; the water pump is on the left side of the pulley with the gears in it). If your idler pulley is plastic, it is a good idea to get a new one around 90,000; these things tend to just fall apart causing major motor damage. Now you can remove the water pump and install a new one. Once installed, be sure your timing marks are still lined up (small arrows on the crank gear, two lines on the cam gear). Install the timing belt, while making sure that any slack in the belt is on the side where the tensioner pulley is when placing, and meshing, the belt over the teeth of the gears. Place your tensioner, and bolt it on but not completely tight. Now pull the small Allen wrench, nail, wire, or etc. from the holes so as the tensioner can then make the belt taut or tight. Use a torque wrench and place it on the bolt in the smooth pulley, hold this at 250 in. pounds and tighten the tensioner. Replace everything else and you should be good to go.

While you are doing all of this, it is a good idea to go ahead and replace the o-ring on the water inlet tube located on the backside of the water pump housing that does to the bottom of the radiator. The tube is made of a plastic material so be careful with it once you extract the two mounting bolts. Use a good quality sealant when you put it all back together. The only place i could find an o-ring was at a Dodge parts store, the generic stores won't even list it. I fought overheating problems for several months ,replacing everything and then finally replaced the faulty o-ring that cured my problem.

Also replace timing belt idler pulley and water pump at 100,000 miles.

Note: If your timing belt has broken be aware you may have some bent valves and would require a complete rebuilt or junk yard head.

Invest in a "Hanes Manual" for your Neon; My husband (who has no mechanical training) has changed our head gasket, water pump, alternator, starter and timing belts and other minor things using this book. You can get it for around $15 at any local auto parts store.