how hard is it to replace the timing belt. I have the Haynes Manuel on how to do it but, it not to clear on a lot of thing’s. the first step is . place the #1 piston at top dead center? How in hell do I do that. And what all do I have to take out, to get to the timing belt, and what tools do I need to replace it. I was calling around and, the local shops wanted about 210.00$ just to replace the belt, and the belt cost 50.00 bucks it self. so on a scale 1-10 how hard would this be, and am I better off just taking it to the shop, I would love to do it my self, if I had a good set of directions to follow, on how to do everything step by step. is their any down side of me doing it by my self …. and i have 2gen "2000"

Pac_Man

You have to turn the crank by hand and make sure the arrow marks on the crank and on the oil pump housing line up. If you have a DOHC motor, there are tick marks on the cam gears and those should line up. The cam(s) should also have a small hole in them, toward the passenger side of the motor. When those are pointing straight up you are at top dead center. Pistons 1 and 4 should be up and 2 and 3 should be down....all these conditions must be met, not just 1 or the other. If a local shop quoted you $210 to do the job, then that is awesome....shops where I am at want $500 and up. If you don't feel confident enough to do it, let a pro do it. Neons have interference motors and if you screw up the timing or don't tighten things down properly, you could be shopping for a new motor.

My advise to you is to take it to a professional. If you'd have a 1st gen Neon I'd say do it yourself because they are very easy to do. But the 2nd gen Neons have a completely different front engine mount and bracket assembly which is not easy to extract to access the timing belt cover. Otherwise it's a very simple job to do!!