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I bought a used 02 SXT, Auto, stock

After the first week the car overheated, took it to a dodge dealer, they replaced the thermostat. Still wants to overheat.

Scenario: First thing in AM runs fine, but after warming up it starts to overheat (3/4 mark on gauge) when I turn it off and let cool, statrt it back up, the gauge shoots into the red, but reving engine, it drops back to middle - for a while. Occasionally while cooling I get boil-off/overflow from coolant resivoir. No oil in coolant/vice-versa. It also seems to loose power during the overheating (or running warm)

I've since done a system flush, replaced the dealers 195 deg thermo with a 180 deg one. No leaks, but problem is same. I did buy a coolant temp sensor, but haven't installed it yet.

Could the sensor be the culprit, or am I looking at someting else?
Please help!

There could be a couple of issues.

You could have some sort of air leak in one or more of your hoses creating air bubbles in your cooling system. You can get a flush, you can check everywhere, but the bubbles will come back. I've seen that happen before. You basically need to replace all your hoses.

Also, one of my neons was overheating and I couldn't see any leaks from anywhere. When I revved it up the temp would go down. It turned out to be just one leaky hose but it was leaking a very small ammount.

Try replacing all your hoses.

How many miles? and are you sure you don't have a bad head gasket? when you open up the hood, do you smell any anti-freeze? it has a distinguished smell....

do the fans kick in or not? the thing that is weird to me is that it cools when you rev-it-up, maybe a stuck-damaged water pump?

just throwing out ideas....

I assume your are talking about the upper and lower radiator hose, any others that should be replaced?

Ritch M wrote:I assume your are talking about the upper and lower radiator hose, any others that should be replaced?

I'm pretty sure that should cover it. Not positive though.

I only snell the antifreez when it boils over from the coolant tank.

Mileage is about 80K

Fans are working as far as I can tell.

How many hoses besides the upper and lower are you referring too?

Ritch M wrote:How many hoses besides the upper and lower are you referring too?

I don't think that there are any other hoses than the upper and lower. Right?

wouldn't be the head gasket if I dont see coolant in the oil right? just had the oil changed other day before I did the thermo replace and flush.

also replaced the stock radiator cap with a new one with the lever.

my friend had a issue after issue with this exact same problem, he got in an accident a while back, and the shop replaced the rad, but used the original cap, which was no good, and his car would overheat all the time, just out of nowhere.. so after warping the head, and replacing the entire engine, he finds out it was just the rad cap being the wrong one for our cars...

rad cap first then radiator second. or completely clean and flush the system.

You've replaced the rad cap and flushed, If you're replacing hoses, pull the radiator and run a garden hose to the inlet and see if the radiator flows good if the water is backing up out the inlet, then probably clogged. while it is out there are also some heater tubes under the intake manifold. These have rubber hoses connecting them. Replace as needed. I don't know of any good way to check water pump flow...

are the radiators from a 98 neon and 02 neon interchangebale?

Radiator caps are cheap insurance. i almost lost the srt-4 due to bad cap. what shape was the coolant in that was drained from the car? If it was rusty i would be suspicious of clogged radiator. flushing system only removes loose contaminates. not sure anyone does it anymore, but roding out the tubes in the rad. you could always do a flow test, but its not always 100% truthful. change clamps from constant tension clamps to worm drives.

Check cooling fans and Water Pump as well.

ewetho wrote:Check cooling fans and Water Pump as well.

yeah check the water pump, mine had a small leak that could be seen under the intake many. after i replaced it the car stoped over heating.

on a side note. I wouldnt drive the car anymore until you have the over heating under control. driving the car while over heating is bad for a good number of things. the head gasket, O rings and it cuts the transmissions life in half on all ATX trannys.

Update - my brother, the mechanic, finally decided that it is probably the head gasket. Went to local parts store ordered the head gasket kit and make an appt to drop off the head for milling/inspection for cracks. While i was talking to shop owners they stated since it has 80K+ and since we were taking the head off to go ahead and replace the timing belt and the water pump as well. Ii's Saturday and I left the car at my bros overnight. I am on my way to his place to begin this task (my role will be shop lacky and gofer). Keeping my fingers crossed that this will stop this nonsense and my car will run correctly........

I wa going to guess water pump, good thing you are doign that as well as timing belt - I think head gasket is over kill, ubt it will not hurt, that is for sure. I would deffinately do a one over on all the hoses and make sure the clamps are tight and no bulges or leaks in any of them, also check the overflow coolant bottle hose.

Having a difficult time removing the camshaft pully (harmonic balancer) to get to the timing belt cover bolts. any suggestions. (please don't say tap the gear puller bolt with a hammer, been there done that)

Are you using the one from autozone? worked well for me. Hope you meant to say "crankshaft pulley" The only thing with the Autozone unit is you have to buy some 5/16" round stock and make a longer "push rod" if I get a chance I'll dig mine out and measure it. As far as the cam pulley I used chain vise grips to hold the sprocket without any issues. If you are removing the cam pulley with the head on the engine to be safe loosen the rocker shaftsso the valves are all the way up, so if the pulley move the valves won't hit the pistons, a bit overkill but cheap insurance.

after 4 days and 2 broken gear pullers (finally modified one from a tractor supply place), got the crankshaft pulley off, took head to machine shop - it was warped by 10000, had it planed and compresion tested out good, installed head gasket kit, put on new water pump and timing belt, everything put back together , refilled fluids and at 3:30 am rolled out of my brothers shop. I started on a route today ( i am a home inspector) and the car overheated. stopped, let it cool, no leaks but after popping the coolant filler cap (rad cap) the chamber was dry. had some coolant /water in the and refilled fluid. overheated, once again no leaks, let it cool and the checked coolant level again. dry. refilled fluid, drove back to my brothers. he is bringing a new radiator home and were going to install that tonight. any other suggestions would be appreciated.

well your cyl. block should be stress relieved by now. lol !
If the new radiator (and hoses) don't do it I'm at a loss.

got the radiator on, it was too late to put pressure hose to the old one to see if it was clogged up. we did take it for a test run, down a steep mountain about 40 deg incline and then i ran it back up at 70+mph with the ac opened full blast (had to roll down the windows because it was freezing our a**ess off). it never got above normal temp (below it actually). tomorrow is the real test, 100+ deg and see how it goes.

so last night we did a new radiator install - worse news - its still friggin overheating......my hopes and dreams are crushed. I now owe payments on a $5000 POS!!!!

Internet diagnosing at it's finest right here. You've damn near rebuilt your entire cooling system and haven't fixed a thing.

Now that you've done all this work, make sure you've got all the air out of the system. Time to start squeezing that upper hose.

fixitmattman wrote:Internet diagnosing at it's finest right here. You've damn near rebuilt your entire cooling system and haven't fixed a thing.

Now that you've done all this work, make sure you've got all the air out of the system. Time to start squeezing that upper hose.

why are you posting in two topics? You've basically gotten the same answer in both from two different ppl. At this point I'd take it to the dealer before you do more damage. If you owe $5000.00 a $200.00 repair bill is better than replacing an engine or worse stuck with a lawn ornament that you're paying on for 4 years. that's what I'd do anyways. I'm not trying to be mean , so please don't take it that way. There just comes a point when you have to cut your losses. The only two things I would do is check your fan speed (A/C) and exhaust components (overheat @2500-3000rpm). If you can't find any thing, go to the dealer and bend over. And let us know what they find!

Sorry, I was just trying to get to the root of the problem. I don't have enough money to take it to the dealer and it is my only means of transpo at the moment - no funds to buy a another and can't really sell this one. Lost alot of income due vehicle down time.

I appreciate everyones help and input - it was very much appreciated!

I just removed the guts from the catalytic converter, put it back on, to include the downtake sensor, took it for a spin, it ran warm - but never got into the hot zone, lost ac cooling. After running it back down in the 2000 rpm range, it came back down to normal and the ac came to back to subzero!

Clogged cat at 80K? I donno man, but if it fixed your problem, I guess awesome?