I am in need of help.
I have a 96 Neon that was originally o SOHC but swapped the heads w/ a 2.4L DOHC.
The car ran great for a while. Just recently i've started to have overheating problems. It was overheating all the time for a week until i got time to take a look at it. i recently changed the water pump and the thermostat. It was fine for a few days but then it overheated once. i pulled over let it cool. started it up and its been fine for almost a week. today it overheated on me again. i pulled over for about 20 minutes. started it up and it was fine for about 5 mins and started overheating again. pulled over for another 20 mins. pulled out and again after bout 5 mins. overheating!! I took notice that it wasnt blowing heat when i turned it on. i got a bit mad and stomped on it and after a minute or so the temp dropped to normal n there was heat. continued driving... was fine for a while bout 45 mins and out of nowhere it started overheating again. so i came home and now the car sits while im confused.
I was thinking maybe the radiator is blocked or something?
Any help will be appreciated!!
donald7150
10-27-2007, 09:51 PM
my car does the exact same thing when its low on coolant
brad9887
10-27-2007, 11:53 PM
sorry i forgot to mention the coolant level is fool.
alaskaneon
10-28-2007, 12:44 AM
full? LoL
brad9887
10-28-2007, 12:45 AM
lol yea that's what i meant haha
do you have any ideas?
rice_eater
10-28-2007, 01:06 AM
lol yea that's what i meant haha
do you have any ideas?
Yeah, my idea is that beating the car is not a good way to remedy a problem.
Sounds like you have a blown headgasket, likely because you either did not torque it down properly when you installed the head, or used the old studs, or both. You've also probably warped the head pretty good by driving it like this, having it overheat, letting it cool, driving it, having it overheat, letting it cool, etc.. What happens when you heat and cool something over and over? The fact that the block is cast iron and the head is aluminum won't help matters either, since they have different thermal properties.
Anyway, check your oil for coolant, and coolant for oil. Do a compression test. If you think its the radiator and not the headgastket, the easy check is to simply flush the radiator. Undo upper & lower hoses, spray water from a garden hose where the upper radiator hose was, watch the water flow out where the lower radiator hose was. Note the color, and the rate at which its flowing. The water should become clear quickly, once all the antifreeze is flushed. If less water is coming out than you're putting in (i.e. the radiator is being filled) then your radiator is blocked.
95moparracer
10-29-2007, 01:41 AM
ive heard of this but wat the problem was a mouse goin into a radiator while the car sat in the garage when they were doing a swap and kept doin that till adventually the radiator top blew up/off and shot mouse everywhere. happend on a old supra.
HoodooGuru
10-29-2007, 06:12 PM
Danger Mouse? lol
brad9887
10-29-2007, 11:09 PM
oil and atifreeze are both good. antifreeze does not leak anywhere and it dont burn it.
i flushed the entire cooling system today also. water came out fine. so i dont think anything was blocked
i also found out that when i sold the car about 2 months after i did the head swap(from 2.0 SOHC to a 2.4 DOHC) that the person who bought the car for some reason changed the head gasket and put a 2.4 DOHC head gasket on it rather than the 2.0 DOHC head gasket that i originally put on it when i did the swap. would this cause the random overheating problem? not sure how much of a difference between the 2.4 DOHC and the 2.0 DOHC head gasket considering the heads are identical.
rice_eater
10-30-2007, 12:19 AM
2.4L DOHC and 2.0L DOHC share the same head, there is no difference. I would do a compression test. With the head being swapped so many times, I wonder if anyone's ever bothered to replace the studs. Other than that you could try flushing the block. Take the radiator hoses off again, but this time use a hose to flush water into the coolant port on the intake manifold and watch it drain out the water pump.
Are the fans operating properly? Coolant temp sensor working? Theres really nothing else to the coolant system...
brad9887
10-30-2007, 11:06 PM
i changed the studs when i swapped the head. when i do something to a vehicle i make sure i do it right the first time. i'm just now trying to figure out this overheating problem that got me puzzled.
compression is good.
when i flushed the rad. i flushed the block too.
i just noticed the rad. cap is only a 7lb cap. they call for a 16 lb cap is what the parts store told me. i guess the kid i sold it to b4 i got the car back changed caps n didnt put the rite one on?? would that cause overheating?
HoodooGuru
10-30-2007, 11:26 PM
I would think it would be the opposite then. A 7lb cap will let off pressure at a lower rate than a 16lb cap keeping the motor cooler. But I may be totally wrong! Change it and find out!
rice_eater
10-31-2007, 02:18 PM
Change the radiator cap. If it's not sealing properly the system will not pressurize, causing overheating. Only other thing I can think of.
95moparracer
10-31-2007, 03:46 PM
that sounds like it to me rice, ive heard that before actually.. i think on a neon too.. the cap had a crack in it.
brad9887
10-31-2007, 10:41 PM
well i changed the cap today and it still overheated!?!?!? :(
i noticed its fine until i go up a long hill which is on my way to work and the heater dont blow hot air when its overheating(may haves stated this before). i could probably drive around all day and it would be fine. but it seems like just about everytime i go up that hill it starts to overheat. dont know why i didnt realize that before.
so anyway heres a list of everything i did: new water pump, new thermostat, new rad. cap, flushed motor and rad., compression is good, fan is working, no oil in antifreeze or vise versa, coolant don't leak. what else is there???? this thing got me majorly confused!!!! HELP... LOL!!
scottrachel01
11-01-2007, 07:15 AM
If the heater doesn't blow hot air either the hoses are switch or it's not getting fluid. I hooked the hoses up once on an older car and you get the fluid after its been cooled through the radiator(not very warm). thermostat? or fluid level which you already checked would be my guess. some reason the antifreeze isn't flowing.....
95moparracer
11-01-2007, 03:11 PM
id make absolutly sure its got enough coolant thats gotta be the case.
rice_eater
11-02-2007, 02:17 AM
some reason the antifreeze isn't flowing.....the heater dont blow hot air when its overheating
Clogged heater core?
scottrachel01
11-02-2007, 07:32 AM
Hey here's another thought.....I don't know how the swap goes but could there be a prob with the head gasket maybe the wrong one blocking some of the water jackets or something clogged from gasket pieces getting into the system. Just some more questions to consider. Did it start overheating as soon as the swap was made? If so then something went wrong there. Keep troubleshooting you'll figure it out.
