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I have an 02 Neon that has been sitting for a while (a year or more) I threw a battery in it and started up and runs and drives perfect. My daughter used this car while she was in high school and my son is now about to start driving it. I took it and got it inspected and it passed and got the tags. I have been driving it around town instead of taking my van just to “work the bugs out.”
While driving it the other night it started getting cold so flipped heat on and noticed there was no heat, it blows luke warm. I happened to look at the temp gauge and noticed it gets a little above quarter instead of half way on the gauge which is where I figure it should be. So I bought a new thermostat from Advance and still nothing. So I got a different thermostat from O’Reilly’s to rule out a bad new thermostat. I have have checked all antifreeze and added it as needed and ran it with the cap off and squeezed the upper hose to try to get any air out of the system. I still have no heat. I have been under the car while running and turned off and see no signs of coolant leaks anywhere.
I have a laser temp gauge and let it idle in the driveway for about 20 minutes and measured the temp on the thermostat housing and it was around 130. I measured the temp on the heater hoses going in and out of the heater core and both are about 130 as well. The upper radiator hose topped out at about 90 degrees. While standing there I noticed the fans kicked on. I turned the heat on high with the fan all the way on and the heat coming out of the vents was only 72 degrees.
Now personally I haven’t driven this car in a while other than the last week so I am not 100% the heat was functioning before or not. I have ran through everything I can think of and short of flushing the radiator or replacing it. I am not fully ruling out the heater core being stopped up, but if it were the heater core I wouldn’t think that would keep the car from getting up to temperature.
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Yes that is what is driving me crazy. Both hoses going to the heater core and the thermostat housing measure 130F max. At idle tonight after idling for 20 minutes I was measuring the temps with the laser temp gauge the fans kicked on. When they did I measured it again and still right at 130F. I do not see any leaks even placed a piece of cardboard under the engine to try to pinpoint leaks and a few drops of Transmission fluid were on the cardboard under the transmission pan. Which I am swapping the filter and fluids on that this weekend. And it’s like 2 drops of transmission fluid after being under there 20 minutes.
The temperature gauge is not reading above about 25% on the dash. The thermostat is 195F.
There is no coolant coming out of the radiator cap.
The thermostat has been installed with the spring in the engine and the jiggler valve is in the up position. I have bled the system by leaving the cap off and letting the car idle while squeezing the upper hose. The reservoir is full to a little above the full cold line. I have checked the reservoir hose for obstructions.
So with all of this happening it has me off on what I think it is. That is why I am at a loss and came here to ask for assistance. I have pretty much ran through everything I know.
[quote=”parkwoodtech” post=159418]Yes that is what is driving me crazy. Both hoses going to the heater core and the thermostat housing measure 130F max. At idle tonight after idling for 20 minutes I was measuring the temps with the laser temp gauge the fans kicked on. When they did I measured it again and still right at 130F. I do not see any leaks even placed a piece of cardboard under the engine to try to pinpoint leaks and a few drops of Transmission fluid were on the cardboard under the transmission pan. Which I am swapping the filter and fluids on that this weekend. And it’s like 2 drops of transmission fluid after being under there 20 minutes.
The temperature gauge is not reading above about 25% on the dash. The thermostat is 195F.
There is no coolant coming out of the radiator cap.
The thermostat has been installed with the spring in the engine and the jiggler valve is in the up position. I have bled the system by leaving the cap off and letting the car idle while squeezing the upper hose. The reservoir is full to a little above the full cold line. I have checked the reservoir hose for obstructions.
So with all of this happening it has me off on what I think it is. That is why I am at a loss and came here to ask for assistance. I have pretty much ran through everything I know.[/quote]
You don’t really need to squeeze that hose, but it shouldn’t matter in this case. The ONLY thing I can think of is air in the cooling system.
The coolant will not come out of the radiator cap, but out and into the overflow reservoir. If that overflows it will pour down the firewall. (per design)If you have access to an OBDII scanner read the temp values off of the computer during running.
Check for air, and bleed the system until the upper rad hose is hot to the touch. Then cap it and shut it off.I have a 3160d. I will get some reading tomorrow and see where it’s at temp wise. The overflow has not overflowed and ran out yet.
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[quote=”creativepotato” post=159412]Are they kicking on normally at idle without driving the car or are they turning on when you’re driving on the street when it’s 0ºF out? In my experience in the northeast during winter, my fans never came on unless I was idle in line at mcdonalds for 5 minutes, and that’s pushing it. It almost sounds like your fans are kicking on prematurely, bringing in cold air then cooling your system before they should. If that’s the case however, it’s extending the longevity of your transmission and engine as long your oils are fresh and the correct viscosity. There’s an underlying issue here (as Eric would say – I think that’s what he says, ha). Let’s see how the cap does. Why did you go to the dealership for that anyway? Third-party OEM radiator caps are perfectly fine.[/quote]
I have had good luck with the ones from the dealer. The ones at Advance are like $9 or ao. The one at the dealer is $14. So the cost is neglible.[quote=”parkwoodtech” post=159421]I have a 3160d. I will get some reading tomorrow and see where it’s at temp wise. The overflow has not overflowed and ran out yet.
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One final thing, did you run the car until the upper rad hose was hot? If not there is air behind the thermostat
Negligible except most people aren’t driving to a dealership when AZ or AA is a few blocks away. Stant has been fine for me for 30k and it doesn’t even have a release pinhole.
[quote=”creativepotato” post=159428]Negligible except most people aren’t driving to a dealership when AZ or AA is a few blocks away. Stant has been fine for me for 30k and it doesn’t even have a release pinhole.[/quote]
What? What is this referring to?
I still haven’t figured out how to quote someone’s post on here like you have. I’ve hit “quote” and it didn’t embed the post into my reply like I expected. I’ll try again soon, or maybe it’s my browser. Hoping for some heat!
[quote=”creativepotato” post=159428]Negligible except most people aren’t driving to a dealership when AZ or AA is a few blocks away. Stant has been fine for me for 30k and it doesn’t even have a release pinhole.[/quote]
Our dealer is actually a block closer than all 3. Actually they are relocating Napa across the street from AA. So we will have 4 parts stores on 1 block and all our factory dealers a block from that.Sent from my SM-G928V using Tapatalk
[quote=”DaCoder” post=159423][quote=”parkwoodtech” post=159421]I have a 3160d. I will get some reading tomorrow and see where it’s at temp wise. The overflow has not overflowed and ran out yet.
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One final thing, did you run the car until the upper rad hose was hot? If not there is air behind the thermostat[/quote]
It ran for 20 minutes idling in a level driveway. The upper radiator hose got up to about 80F while the thermostat housing and the 2 heater hoses going into the heater core were at 130F and the fans kicked in.Sent from my SM-G928V using Tapatalk
Alright last week I topped of the coolant and installed a new radiator cap. I let the car idle and I noticed some bubbles in the overflow and found a small crack near the hose going in to the overflow. So I ran to the local scrap yard and got a new over flow and installed that. I let the car run for about 20 minutes while I had my code scanner connected and monitoring the temp. It got up to about 175F. With the laser thermometer all the hoses we getting up to temp as well. I started to idle the car at about 2100 RPM and held it there for a few minutes I got the car up to 212F per the code scanner. I got out and touched the upper radiator hose and it was very hot to the touch so it appears all is working great now, except for the heat in the car. So I guess in the next few days I will be trying to flush the heater core and if nothing else not worry about it until it warms up. The temperature gauge still happily sits low, but talking to a friend of mine who has a 2000 Neon he said that is where his sits all the time.
This car is for my step son who doesn’t have his license yet. But should in the next month or so. By then it’s supposed to be in the 60’s around here and I can work on the heat this summer when I have some time.
The big projects left are front wheel bearings, transmission filter and fluids and an oil change. There are still plenty of small bugs to work out.
Interesting that your friend’s Neon needle sits that low. Maybe Dodge had something in mind when they designed this car, but truly, the only way to test the heat is to drive it. Sounds like you’ve done everything right as long as the car runs straight.
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