Questions and Answers

Plymouth Neon Dumps Coolant, Dies Q. My son drives a 1995 Plymouth Neon Highline 2.0 liter engine. Yesterday, as he was going to a friends, he heard a noise like a belt breaking and then his car dumped all of the water out of it and it shut down???? Trying to figure out if he ruin the engine or not.

We thought it might be the water pump but he said he thinks that the water pump is run with the timing belt on it's pulley so he doesn't know for sure whether this could have ruined the engine or not. Right now we are at a stand still on it. PLEASE HELP!!

Thanks,
Teresa

A. The Chrysler 2.0 liter SOHC and DOHC engines are interference engines. That is to say if the timing belt breaks, it will cause internal engine damage.

The water pump is driven by the timing belt so if the timing belt breaks, the water pump stops. Conversely, if the water pimp should seize up for any reason, it will probably take out the timing belt.

I can't tell you what happened. It's possible that it is just a radiator hose that burst. I have also seen head gaskets blow and put so much pressure in the cooling system that it, literally, blows the hoses right off the engine.

You will need a mechanic to look at it to see what, exactly, happened.