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Soooo... I'm pretty sure my headgasket is shot, first nice day in months and the ol lady wants to overheat... she has a new water pump, thermostat is good (checked b4 replacing the water pump), fans work fine... Upon stopping at a stoplight while limping home with the heater full blast I detect the sweet and sultry smell of some burning anitfreeze...

I'm more than likely just going to replace the head gasket myself... way cheaper than dropping 1k at the shop. As far as the head goes... 175 for a valve job/head inspection compared to buying a rebuilt one for 275, i'll probably just buy a rebuilt one... So my question is... All SOHC heads are interchangeable? or not? I'm pretty sure I remember reading they are, although i cannot find it...

Any input/suggestions/complaints/slaps up side the head are welcome!

Edit 03/13/2011

So apparently it was the coolant temp sensor... My needle now sits just below the lower 1/3 mark like it did when i bought the car. However i've noticed when driving in town it will creep up just slightly above the 1/3 mark. I know highway driving the fans shut down above 60-65 and the needle is below the line during this time.

I noticed when installing the new radiator that there was significant play in the passenger side fan (dual fan shroud), i could spin it pretty freely with my finger as opposed to the driver side one. So i'm guessing the fan clutch in the other fan is getting weak and not letting it pull enough air through..

What's a good site or brand to get a new shroud? Should i just replace the fan/fan motor? Or will just any old OEM replacement shroud work?

Are you sure the antifreeze smell is coming from the engine compartment? Remove the oil cap and see if there is a yellow/gray coating on the inside, if so, yes head gasket or cracked head. if not it most likely is the heatercore. The overheating does point to the gasket. IDK if all the SOHC gaskets are the same, but i am sure someone with more expertise will chime in.

Are you sure the antifreeze smell is coming from the engine compartment? Remove the oil cap and see if there is a yellow/gray coating on the inside, if so, yes head gasket or cracked head. if not it most likely is the heatercore. The overheating does point to the gasket. IDK if all the SOHC gaskets are the same, but i am sure someone with more expertise will chime in.

Yeah it was coming from the engine compartment I'm certain of it, I had the heater blowing full blast and almost BBQ'd my feet driving home, the smell didn't arrive til I stopped at a light and caught a whiff from outside.[/quote]

This just came to mind... since you mentioned the heater core... While inspecting a squeak in the passenger wheel well today, i noticed some liquid coming from the AC condensation drain... however when i gave it a sniff, it had no odor and was completely clear... is this normal even though i'm NOT running the AC? It wasn't antifreeze... *shrug*

garfield3887 wrote: So my question is... All SOHC heads are interchangeable? or not? I'm pretty sure I remember reading they are, although i cannot find it...

Short answer is Yes.

If you end up using a '95-2000 cylinder head, remember that those have the port for the EGR, which you won't need, so you'll need to block it off.
( 2000 model year cylinder heads, and possibly some 2001's, have a "block off" plate, from the factory !

1995's have some minor differences to the bolt holes for the valve cover, due to that 'tripod' stand that the coil was mounted on.

Otherwise, the cylinder heads are the same.


Just be sure your head gasket really needs changing, before you go through all the work.


As long as you are in there, do the Whole Nine Yards:
Timing Belt, Tensioner, and Water Pump.
(so you don't end up doing the whole job again in a few months)

http://chronoscender.freeservers.com/ne ... gbelt.html

http://forums.neons.org/viewtopic.php?f=40&t=185472




Also, in response to your last question:

garfield3887 wrote:This just came to mind... since you mentioned the heater core... While inspecting a squeak in the passenger wheel well today, i noticed some liquid coming from the AC condensation drain... however when i gave it a sniff, it had no odor and was completely clear... is this normal even though i'm NOT running the AC? It wasn't antifreeze... *shrug*

Yes, it is.
That's condensation from your AC system, which also kicks on if you turn on the defroster.



- Nick

Well I just replaced the timing belt and water pump less 10k ago because it WAS leaking from the water pump...

And i guess it does make sense about the water coming from the AC condenser drain, i usually keep my heat on the floor/defrost...

I checked the upper and lower Rad hose's before i changed the water pump... Maybe the thermostat is finally going bad... I'll re-check the hoses and heater hoses first though... i definately am not looking forward to changing the HG if that's what it is... the water pump was a big enough PITA!

It only overheats when going long distances on the highway at 70+mph... when i slow down in town or on 55-65mph roads it doesn't overheat at all...

garfield3887 wrote:It only overheats when going long distances on the highway at 70+mph... when i slow down in town or on 55-65mph roads it doesn't overheat at all...

I'm wondering if your radiator is half-plugged.
I bet it is.

If so, replacement is in order.



- Nick

just a heads up if u do the head gasket take head to shop to be decked and have them port the intake side more then the exhaust side since our heads r pretty restrictive

The exhaust side is the side that is most restrictive. It is horrible under the valve. Even the magnum exhaust ports are bit crappy from the factory. The intake ports are virtually the same for Magnum and standard heads. My SE head was actually better gasket matched than the Magnum head I have. It mostly depends on how well they set up the casting.

I had been thinking about that! If I do end up doing the HG I will def be doing a little opening up of the head!

For now I'm going to go with the radiator idea, after doing some more reading on various sites that sounds like what it may be... Just spent 140 on a new rad, upper/lower hose, thermostat/gasket, pretty good deal really...

Hope that's it! If not, i'm gonna have a completely new car one of these days after replacing everything! lol

garfield3887 wrote:
It only overheats when going long distances on the highway at 70+mph... when i slow down in town or on 55-65mph roads it doesn't overheat at all...

My head gasket symptoms, about 8 months ago now, was a small puddle under the car in the morning.

As long as the system had antifreeze there was no overheating.

Check your engine oil and transmission oil to make sure they appear
normal... the worst scenario here is coolant mixing with the engine oil or transmission.

Well before you go too far do grab a block test kit from napa and check it.

Make sure there are no air bubbles in the cooling system, that can cause it to overheat as well. My friends evo had that happen after replacing the head gasket and head studs. Had a shop check to coolant system and there was air in there causing it to overheat.

Might not be your problem, but it's cheap and worth trying before a head gasket replacement.

If there is no coolant in your oil, or oil in your coolant, then I doubt it's the head gasket.

The only time my '01 neon ever hinted at overheating was when the factory radiator cap finally gave out around 130k mi. When the cap spring can't hold cooling system pressure a the specified 16psi the engine will overheat and bubble coolant back into the reservoir.

New cap fixed the problem.

Have you checked or replaced your radiator cap?

Well i put a new radiator in, hoses, thermostat, new cap, and new fan relay, Of course it's been fairly chilly out so no idea if it fixed the issue...

Today i decided to check the coolant temp sensor, when I touched the wire harness, it spun around slightly and i know that's not supposed to happen... SOO... I'm thinking that was the problem the whole time... Oh well... least if it was, i won't have to worry about hoses or the radiator plugging up anytime soon! lol