nate-00neon wrote:as far as the water pump i would think that is something somewhat easy that i could do right?
the engine can stay in for that or is that hard too?
The timing belt runs the water pump, and chances are it's leaking, not enough to notice, but some slight seepage if it has 123K. If the belt hasn't been changed you're running on borrowed time. I hope your tick isn't a piece of the belt slapping the cover.

For what you will pay to have the belt done you could buy the tools/parts to do it yorself for alot less. There are how to's on doing the timing belt on here and the other org. for the cam seal, the pulley needs removed. This can be the hardest part, as the bolt is very tight. If you want to be safe, like not tweaking a valve while breaking it loose, pull the valve cover, you will prolly need upper spark plug tube seals anyway, and loosen the rocker shafts evenly so all the valves close. Then you can spin the cam all day and you wont hurt a thing. To hold the cam sprocket, I used some chain style Vise Grips, and let them rest against an immovable object and put the breaker bar on the bolt.Remove the spocket and cam seal press in the new seal. (they are easily done by hand). install sprocket, Retorque with tq wrench, set the crank/cam pulleys to the right positions install the belt/set tensioner and rotate engine a couple of times recheck the timing marks, if correct, tighten down the rocker shafts evenly torque to spec, and reinstall valve cover with new tube seals.
Bill
Probably shouldn't listen to anything your penis says, that guy's a dick.
Patience, of course, is a very powerful weapon, but sometimes I start to regret that it is not a firearm.
Too much time spent here is a sign of a bad case of Ownaneonvirus.
2000 Neon MTX swap with '02 R/T PCM
1999 neon coupe 2.4 swap