My daughter has a 96 Neon that has been overheating and a mechanic said it was the water pump, he has had the car for two days now, should it take this long to install a water pump? Does anyone know what the norm would be, he said it was a difficult job, I'm beginning to wonder whats going on.

The water pump is a big job. Not 2 day big but big.
You should call him and have the timingbelt done at the same time. The waterpump run off the timingbelt so while its off may aswell replace it.

Thanks for the info, maybe the mechanic hasn't had much experience in the water pump changing and is taking longer (bad thought).

Appreciate it!

hey, buddy if you have neot got our neon back you might want to check your water pump to make sure it is alright. Because I had the same problem with my neon over heating, and all it turn out to be was the radiator cap. Just letting you know. It's best to go with the cheap stuff then work your way up to the expensive stuff.

Check the radiator cap first!

Check the radiator cap first!
We got the car back and it is still overheating, we have replaced the radiator cap too, we plan on taking it to another mechanic tomorrow. We did what they call a "spin test", to check for a blown head gasket, but it was fine. We'll find something out tomorrow, hopefully, not as expensive as the water pump.

Thanks for the advice!

Hello,
I had the same problem with my 1996 2.0L Neon. I found the engine
thermostat was stuck open and off of it's guide. Also, the coolant
MUST be a 50-50 mixture of anti freeze and water. For the summer
time ONLY, you can use just plain water. I found that using water
only in the summer, cooled the engine much better. No fluctuations
in coolant temperature especially at 4000RPM.
NOTE: I had to go through 3 thermostats in order to find one that
worked correctly.

My daughter has a 96 Neon that has been overheating and a mechanic said it was the water pump, he has had the car for two days now, should it take this long to install a water pump? Does anyone know what the norm would be, he said it was a difficult job, I'm beginning to wonder whats going on.


Do the fans come on at all? I had the same problem driving across white sands desert. I found it had something to do with the fan controler.

thanks for the replies. we figured out what the problem was... we bought the car from a mechanic and he apperently lost one of his wrenches... in the fan. it was actually stopping the fan from turning. removed the wrench, stopped the overheating :grinno:

oh, now thats fawked up! how much did the other mechanic charge (still not finding the problem)?

he charged $170 to change the water pump, expensive for it not being the problem