having a look at a 2000 neon 5sp and have no clue as to what has been going wrong with them... so as the subject line says... what should I look for?

 

well how many miles does it have?

If its 100,000 or above ask if the water pump and timing belt has been changed.
Check if it has cels.

 

How hard is it to inspect the belt? It's at a low end dealer so I doubt they'll know much about it. Does the key-on-off trick work on the neons?

 

There really isnt any way to "inspect" the belt, but there is a small whole in the timing belt cover that you can see/touch the belt through, but i doubt you would be able to tell much from it. If it has a CEL, then just do the key ON-OFF-ON-OFF-ON trick and it will display whatever CEL's on the odomometer. Some other main differences between the 2000 and the 2001-2005 Neons are: the 2000 has a cable clutch setup like the 1st Gens as opposed to the hydraulic clutch setup on later 2nd Gens, on early 2000's the exhaust is only 2.0" in diameter, while the 2001+ have 2.25". Mechanically, the 2000 will have a few more problems like any first run model, but nothing major. Like stated before, the timing belt, water pump, and head gasket should be changed at 100,000, so if they havent then thats something you should consider before the purchase.

 

i have a 2000 Neon w/ all sorts of problems. not really, like two. TCC valve is not functioning, although the car runs fine. the driver-side rear door auto lock isn't working, but only when unlocking. who knows why. i have to manually unlock it when i wanna open it.
it's also for sale, for $1100. Des Moines area, Iowa.

 

I have a 2000 ATX and it just rolled to 137000. Im having one probelm as of now, that I have to check out. As of parts replaced in the engine, I've only replaced the powersteering sensor.

Mat