Sunday, November 21, 2010

2005 Dodge Neon keeps overheating even after changing thermostat?

One day my car started overheating and the heat stopped working. Did a check online and figured it was my thermostat. Changed thermostat but its still doing the exact same thing.



Did a thermostat check in boiling water and it works



Water pump does not appear to be leaking or making any unusual noises



Car runs fine, other than overheating and no heat



Drained radiator for the first time in 4 years today. Color was orangish red (not sure what the original antifreeze color was). Very small amount came out, just drops in fact. I've never noticed any external coolant leaks.



Refilled it with water, ran for a few minutes, saw no leaks, drained again and it all came out. Top and bottom radiator hoses are both hot when engine is hot.



After refilling radiator with water, did a bleeding technique by running car on moderate incline with radiator cap off, saw lots of air bubbles for several minutes (looking into thermostat housing where radiator cap leads to). Not sure how long I should have let it run but I did it for about 4 or 5 minutes, then got impatient waiting for the bubbles to cease (seemed like it should have been done bubbling but Ive never done this before)



Water comes out of exhaust pipes but only occassionally, chalking it up to condensation. Did notice a VERY VERY TINY amount of white smoke today, but it went away and I chalked it up to it being about 40 or so degrees out today. Hopefully just steam.



Oil looks fine, no milky white or bubbly look to it at all.



Coolant resovoir does not smell like exhaust, nor does it bubble to my knowledge.



I noticed when I popped radiator cap off I had some reddish orange grime built up on it and a little on the inside of the thermostat housing.



I've done all of these checks and spent the last week trying to figure it out on my own. I am now resorting to help from others ;-) It's still doing the exact same thing. It doesn't really get too hot if I'm just idling, its when I start driving that it shoots up. It takes about 5-8 minutes for it to get close enough to the red to make me shut it off. The temp has been between 20 and 40 degrees here since this has happened.

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I would really appreciate any help. I am at my wits end trying to figure this out. I go from thinking its compression problems, to the thermostat, to the water pump, to a hose leak, to a head gasket....I can't figure it out. I don't have a lot of money. I do have a 7 year powertrain warranty but have no idea if this kind of stuff is covered in it, and I'm nervous to take it to the dealer because I don't have insurance and I have had some late payments in the recent past.2005 Dodge Neon keeps overheating even after changing thermostat?
Get as much resource as you can maybe is one option,however it could be quite time consuming,here



http://www.AutoInsuranceFree.info



is one resource i have had good experience.2005 Dodge Neon keeps overheating even after changing thermostat?
LOL, this is the best answer?



Sorry, but this seems like spam, but I appreciate your input.



It turned out to be just air pockets in my cooling system. After doing a proper bleeding technique I was able to fix the problem. Car runs great now! Thanks to all who replied!

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Call up the dealership and have the vehicle towed and fixed under the warranty that you payed for.
i think when you was installing the thermostat in it you might have cracked the housing or the intake on it,you need to check this because that will make it run hot on you and also make it loose coolant,you wont hear a head gasket making any noise on it,you,ll only notice a slight amount of smoke or steam from it ,you could have got a bad thermostat or that one is gone bad ,run a compression check on the engine and that will tell you if its got a blown head gasket or not on it without tearing the engine apart,the thermostat doesn't have anything to do with the compression on it,since its covered just take it on and let the warranty cover it,you could have also bought a bad thermostat to put in it also,it happens a lot these days,good luck.
I agree with the other poster, I think the head gasket is leaking. Have it towed to a Chrysler dealer. It's still under warranty, so they will fix it. The fact that you are late on some payments is irrelevent to the service department. Headgaskets are covered, and the tow is covered as well. It won't cost you a dime.



Good luck.
If you had a bad head gasket, you would definetly get the milky color in you oil.



You have to finish bleeding out the air in the cooling system.

You said that you ';ran out of patience, waiting for the bubbles- I never done this before';. THAT was your mistake.



In order to bleed out all of the air....

Fill up the radiator with antifreeze, if not full already.

Leave off the cap and start the engine.

Wait for the coolant to rise up and out of the radiator (with engine running)

When the thermostat opens up - the coolant level in the radiator will drop suddenly. (this takes 10-15 min, depending on how cold it is outside and whether the engine is a little warm or completely cold)

**At this point (level drops suddenly) the remaining air that's trapped will release into the radiator and you can see the coolant circulate inside the radiator-when you refill**

That's when you refill the radiator with more antifreeze. leave some for the reserve tank, because of the air trapped in the heater core.

replace the radiator cap and turn off the motor. Done.......



I've talked to others that use the ';bubble method'; for bleeding out air, but I prefer the method that I just gave you, because it always works.

Sure it's a little messy, it wastes a little antifreeze and it's not for wimps.

But it ALWAYS WORKS.
You really did a good check, however im sorry to say that your problem is either a blown head gasket or a cracked head, the combustion gases in the water jacket are creating a vapor lock type of condition stopping the flow of coolant (that's why the heat quite working) those neon's are known for head gasket problems. it's a pretty major task to replace the head and or gasket, I've done a bunch of them and there always a pain in the azz, but yea, that's what the problem is.

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