2000 Dodge Neon Overheated and Made Loud Clanging Noise

Just a guess, based on the fact that it overheated so fast. Possible that squealing sound was bearings in water pump. If water pump went out, sometimes, but not always it will drip from underneath. The ac compressor pulley will always spin freely until ac is turned on. Good luck.

Not that I have the answer to your question, but having replaced a neon water pump before, I can tell you it runs off the timing belt. This is not the belt you are likely messing with.

The serpentine belt you are turning goes to the alternator and ac compressor. When off the ac compressor and the alternator pulleys should turn freely without the belt on. The pulley on the engine and because of that the belt should not turn freely. To tension this belt you turn some bolts on the alternator that are somewhat hard to get to.

None of this should have much to do with overheating unless the alternator isn't work and the battery is so low the electric fan isn't turning on in which case I doubt the car would run. If the fan goes on when the car is hot then its likely the water pump or thermostat. If the fan doesn't go on, then thats your problem which could be the fan motor or a relay or a fuse. Provided of course you checked that the coolant in radiator is full (not just the overflow tank)

I once drove a neon with a frozen alternator for half an hour on battery power without the serpentine belt on, and had no problems with overheating.

A clanging noise is not a good sign, but you don't need me to tell you that, but it could be so many things I am not going to speculate.

Not the best designed car if you ask me, im glad we don't own that neon anymore.

It is just plain silly to run the water pump off the timing belt. If it is run off the back of the belt at least you get some warning (squealing) when the pump seizes, but in my case in a borrowed car (Ford Escort) the noise that first announces a problem is the valves hitting the pistons.

I'd never buy a car with this configuration.

The owner was happy paying for all the damage as he said that at least he was not inconvenienced and it would have happened to him at some time. Choice bloke.

does the water pump have a fan on it and if so and you hold fan can you move fan backwards and forwards ie towards radiator and then towards engine ?

is there oil in the engine ?

does it still run and if yes does it make the clanging noise all the time or just when you rev it ?

There is a fan clutch on the waterpump. I'll have to check that. I'm assuming there is oil in the car, but it is my husbands car and I will have to verify that. If it turns out to be the water pump should I also change the timing belt(that is if there isn't too much damage). The neon should be put on the worst cars of all time list. It truly is a pain.

Unless this car is different than the one I worked on I don't know about any fan clutch on the water pump. As to if you should change the timing belt, it depends on how many miles it has on it. Most likely the answer is yes unless the number of miles is low or the timing belt was just changed. Since you need to take the timing belt off to do the water pump its quite easy to do and only adds the cost of the belt to the job.

To change the timing belt while you can do it with the engine in the car, you do need to take off one of the engine mount brackets.

Yes I agree its not a very good car in my opinion.

I forgot to relog. The guest post is my own. I have something else to add. I didn't actually hear the clang it is the description I was given. I am the "repair person" in the family so I wanted an idea of what kind of mess I was dealing with. Now that I have thought about it a little more and had my memory jarred with the help of all of you, it more than likely is the water pump. I have never changed a timing belt or a water pump. Is it possible to do without any special tools? I have changed freeze plugs and radiators.

You of course will need all the ratchets and jacks and what not that are the correct size. The only semi special tool you should need is a pulley puller. I can tell you that that pulley can be on quite tight. I have a hydraulic pulley puller and it came right off with that, with a screw type one and an impact gun its doable just a bit difficult.

Its been a while but I recall having to buy a metric bolt that was longer than the one that holds the pulley on but screwed into it, so it had something to push against. I slide hammer might work for the last bit if you have one.

As much of a pain as it was, I remember I did it after work, in one evening as the car was needed the next day. While we no longer own the car, I saw it this past weekend and its still running fine.

BTW invest in the Bosh brand water pump, the cheap ones will go through a bearing in short order.

While your at it replace the serpentine belt also, its cheap and you have to take it off to do the work.

This is of course as long as the car still runs and the timing belt didn't slip.

if your car is the same as this one

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4Pd76QUSF4

i think i know whats happend

the water pump bearing has seized solid and stopped the timing belt, the pistons would have then hit the valves as the are driven by the timing belt

that was the loud clanging noise.

i would say the design using a timing belt to drive a water pump is beyond belief that any designer would be so stupid as to do this.

sorry to be the bringer of bad news

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIwF8Sv5E_k&NR=1

http://www.scottykilmer.com/

i like the above site it has a video of how to change you timing belt.

Thanks for the link. Very helpful.

Hey mate

I am not familiar with this vehicle but I believe it is an American front wheel drive model? The air conditioner drive pulley should not turn freely and it has nothing to do with why the car overheated. If the belt has insufficient tension on it the auxiliary components will not be driven by the engine. I suspect your alternator light came on around the same time you heard the loud clang and then shortly after that the engine overheated? Chances are the slight squealing noise was a belt idler bearing on its way out and the clang you heard would have most likely the bearing collapsing and very possibly the idler vacating your engine compartment. Don't panic as the idler is worth no more than 50 bucks and would take a competent mechanic no more than 15 mins to replace.Could you possibly post a detailed image of your engine bay ie were the belt runs? The reason your car overheated is that the water pump was not being driven and therefore was not circulating the coolant through your radiator and cooling it down. Hope this helps.

Jacob Cordie

you need to look at some of the other postings,

the drive belt on this car for some weird reason is the timing belt, the timing belt drive the water pump and the cam shaft, when the water pump seizes which is common it stops the timing belt and the valves hit the pistons.

it is the most stupid design i have ever seen

Yeah my bad, i posted from my inbox and didnt see the rest of the posts. That sucks if the pistons have mashed the valves. Were did dodge go wrong?

But why would the auxiliary belt be loose?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIwF8Sv5E_k&NR=1

you will see the timing belt going over the water pump

towards the end of your description you wrote "can the pulley breaking be caused by a bad motor mount?" so a pulley has broken has it.

because if a pulley has broken that would explain why the belt is loose.

but thats almost certainly not your problem.

you have assumed like the rest of us that the belt drives the water pump.

when it doent its the timing belt that drives the water pump.

and looking at all the sites what appears to happen is the water pump seizes up and strips the teeth off the belt then when the belt gets to the crank shaft gear or the camshaft gear the timing jumps because theres no teeth on the belt, Then if your lucky the engine just stops but if your unlucky the valve are in the open position when the piston comes up and hits them.

It is just the silly design of the engine.

It was designed by over confident engineers.

Much like the challenger disaster that was design by clever people as well, Who in there right mind would use rubber seals on a ROCKET.

The titanic was also state of the art at the time, and it to was design by clever people.

I am glad i am not clever.

take a look at this link. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khyZI3RK2lE

A nuclear gun that fires a missile 3 miles but 3 miles is inside the blast area.

so you all die

this was designed by clever engineers

Look I know nothing about this particular car but I have read through all the posts and at no point has the person who owns the car made any sort of comment about its condition that would indicate that the pistons have connected with the valves. Firstly if the water pump failed in such a way that it seized and the timing belt that drives it snapped how could the car possibly have time to overheat? I think everyone needs to stop jumping to conclusions and ask the bloke some very simple questions

1. Dose the engine have sufficient oil? Is the oil a creamy color? Is the coolant system full? Dose the engine turn over?
2. If so is the engine heard to make any noise that would indicate that there are moving parts coming in contact with each other.
3. If the engine will turn over and no such noises are heard dose the engine start?
4. If the engine starts dose the Auxiliary belt turn and drive the alternator/ a/c compressor?
5. If the engine starts and the belt turns and drives the auxiliary components how long dose the engine take to warm up/overheat?

Until these questions have been answered the suggestion that the engine is rooted is not only a wild guess but very upsetting for the poor prick who owns it.

Hello all. Yesterday when I posted my question I said the car overheated. Last night when I got home from work I asked my husband about it and he corrected me and said the temp guage rose slightly and there was a small puddle of coolant on the ground under the car. He didn't think it was enough coolant to worry about and thought he would make it back home. While he was driving the belt squealed made the horrible clang and stalled. He didn't try to restart the car, he just had it towed to our house.I only got as far as getting the car ready for the job. Car is on jack stands, tire removed, the jack is ready to support the engine, but I ran out of light and didn't get to remove the valve cover. I am anxiously waiting to get back to it. It does sound like the pump seized and the belt stopped and the rest. There was oil in the car. I do have some interesting information on the engine. It is a mitsubishi reject engine sold to chrysler for the neon and I believe it is also in the pt cruiser. It is no wonder chrysler claimed bankruptsy. They are the worst car mfg, well maybe hugo was worst but chrysler is a close runner up. No worries about me being offended, I'm quite used to that type of reaction. I have an Associates Degree in Automotive Technology, I am just leary of working on this nightmare of a car. It is such a pain, as they designed it to be dealership dependent but I refuse to give in to that.

Did we miss something here? The person stated that the pulley was able to be turned but the belt didn't move. That sounds like just a loose belt. Could that be because the tensioner is defective?

The loose belt is on the other belt circuit (Alternator, air cond comp, power steering) That will get fixed when I change the timing belt because I have to remove the belts to get to the timing belt. I will take off the valve cover to check the valve positions and update with what I have found in approx. 5 hrs. I will also have the new timing belt and other belts ready to go. However, if the the valves have collided with anything I will have to attend to that first. Lets hope that isn't the case. I don't know if the car is worth the work if it is.

Your 2000 Neon has an engine that is an interference design. If the timing belt jumps, or stops turning, the pistons can hit valves. Before you start dismantling the car, inspect the timing marks. If you need to see what they should look like. go to www.napaprolink.com, and select e-catalogs. Then select the timing components catalog. Go to Dodge Neon and look at 2000. It will show what parts are required, as well as how to set the timing marks. If the belt has slipped, broken, or come off, replace it and do a compression test before reassembling it again. You may need to remove the head for valve replacement. Good luck