Why is my car overheating?

Question

I have a 1999 plymouth neon 5 speed. the car has been overheating for a week or so. sooo I drained the coolant and replaced it. then I bought a new radiator cap and a new thermostat. it then took a little longer to overheat but did. the gauge kept creeping up to H and going back down a little and then would shoot back up to H and stay there. today I put in a new radiator and took the new thermostat out so that the coolant could flow freely. maybe that was a mistake? I'm going to put the thermostat back in. any help?

Answer 1

Was your car actually overheating? The temperature sensor and/or gauge may have been lying to you.

Quit throwing parts at the car! you are wasting money. You can have a mechanic hook up a scan tool to your car's computer, and see what is going on. It is quite possible that you have a cooling fan going bad, or damaged wiring to the fan. One very possible problem can be the cooling fan relay. It is solid-state and it mounts low on the frame rail directly below the battery. They get water from the road, and whatever corrosive stuff might run down from the battery. Also, once you drained the system, it is important to get all of the air out of the system. Temp sensors don't read air too good.

Stop throwing money at the car and have a mechanic check it out.

Answer 2

If removing the thermostat corrected the problem then you probably had air in the system after all the work you did.

Drive it around awhile with the thermostat out and see what it does as far as water consumption goes. If it does not use water or overheat replace the thermostat.

Are your fans coming on? If the fans are not kicking on at the correct temperature it will definitely cause the problems you are having.

Your radiator was probably due for a change at 9 years old anyway so I would not fret to much if it turns out to be a fan issue, stay after it and you will figure it out!

Good Luck!

Answer 3

i would take your car to a radiator specialist then if he is unsuccessful take your car to a mechanic and get him to prefer a test as your head on your motor may be cracked and very $$$$$