timing belt tensioner

Paul56 · Post by **Paul56** » Fri Sep 21, 2007 7:15 am

Anyone know for certain which tensioner was on the 2001's... mechanical or the hydraulic?

I'm gathering up the parts to replace the timing belt... and do and cam/crank seals and water pump at the same time.

latief · Post by **latief** » Fri Sep 21, 2007 10:03 am

http://forums.neons.org/viewtopic.php?t ... 023dbeefad

the 2001 was hydraulic i think, but don't bother getting one.....get a 2004 tensioner, way cheaper!

half_twisted · Post by **half_twisted** » Fri Sep 21, 2007 5:48 pm

latief wrote:http://forums.neons.org/viewtopic.php?t ... 023dbeefad

the 2001 was hydraulic i think, but don't bother getting one.....get a 2004 tensioner, way cheaper!

yeah but he would have to buy the entire asembly for the tensioner. I had the mech tensioner and when it went bad the dealer told me they only sell an upgrade kit/ asembly to the hydraulic. cost me about $350 in ca. usd. so even if it is bad your going to have to upgrade since its all sold as a kit not by part.

latief · Post by **latief** » Fri Sep 21, 2007 9:26 pm

half_twisted wrote:
latief wrote:http://forums.neons.org/viewtopic.php?t ... 023dbeefad

the 2001 was hydraulic i think, but don't bother getting one.....get a 2004 tensioner, way cheaper!
yeah but he would have to buy the entire asembly for the tensioner. I had the mech tensioner and when it went bad the dealer told me they only sell an upgrade kit/ asembly to the hydraulic. cost me about $350 in ca. usd. so even if it is bad your going to have to upgrade since its all sold as a kit not by part.

Yeah, that is what i meant bro, he has the hydraulic (the one with the piston). if it i good he should keep it, if he has to get a new one, he should go with a 2003+ tensioner, which is not hydraulic. but much cheaper than the hydraulic, and serves the same purpose. i think the hydraulic ones were used in 2001+2002, and as an upgrade to the 2000 tensioner which had a problem (there was a TSB about it). 2003+ they went to an imporved mechanical tensioner which is what he should look for.

Good luck

Paul56 · Post by **Paul56** » Fri Sep 21, 2007 10:34 pm

I have the Haynes "Dodge & Plymouth Neon 2000 thru 2005" manual which suggests the 2001 & 2002 models have the hydraulic tensioners. But, while suggesting that it also suggests the 2002 model could have a mechanical tensioner.

It does seem fairly clear, at least in Haynes, that the 2001 has the hydraulic tensioner... but I'm still not 100% certain.

I'm going to the parts counter at a coupla dealers tomorrow... will find out from them.

My plan was to replace the timing belt, belt tensioner, water pump, upper cam oil seal and lower crank oil seal.

Now I'm wondering if I should change the oil pump as well... since it mentions in Haynes the timing belt and crankshaft sprocket need to be removed when replacing the oil pump.

ewetho · Post by **ewetho** » Sat Sep 22, 2007 12:44 am

Saw that Goodyear had Timing belt kits with idlers pulleys but not sure if that had a tensioner too. about 100 bucks.

Paul56 · Post by **Paul56** » Sat Sep 22, 2007 2:12 pm

Went to a couple of dealers this morning. One was pretty much useless and only had the cam & crank oil seals in stock. The other was extremely helpful and had the timing belt & water pump in stock.

We discussed the tensioner... my question to both dealers was how I can tell which tensioner I have.

First dealer said to take it apart... then I'll know... duh!

Second dealer asked for the VIN number, did a lookup and confirmed that my vehicle has the hydraulic tensioner.

half_twisted · Post by **half_twisted** » Mon Sep 24, 2007 2:13 pm

probleme with the hydraulic tensioner is that it tends to stay stuck and not tension, not sure if i said that right. thats how mine went bad.. think it was caused by water damage from antifreeze..

Post by **occasional demons** » Tue Sep 25, 2007 8:53 pm

Here's another link courtesy of tooslow in the how to section.
http://chronoscender.freeservers.com/ne ... gbelt.html
Basically the only thing extra that you have to do is cut a hole in the back of the cover as shown in the link. Autozone puller ftw. Just need to pick up some 5/16 round stock and make a longer push rod for the puller.

BlackRoseRacing · Post by **BlackRoseRacing** » Wed Sep 26, 2007 6:38 pm

00-02 models, you have to get into it to find out what tensioner setup you have. I thought I had a hydraulic setup until I got into it and found my car was a mechanical setup.....

King Crab · Post by **King Crab** » Thu Sep 27, 2007 11:32 am

When would be a good time to change out the timing belt?
I always heard it should be done around 60 - 70K, but my owners manual says something like 105k ( but I'm not 100% sure though ).

kc2005ptgt · Post by **kc2005ptgt** » Thu Sep 27, 2007 2:08 pm

I think the fsm says 80k miles.

King Crab · Post by **King Crab** » Thu Sep 27, 2007 2:17 pm

^ Thanks kc2002acr, good to know, as I'm at 55k miles now.