(157 000kms) My car has an overheating.

ANONYMOUS

MEMBER
1997 CHRYSLER NEON
157,000 MILES

(157 000kms)
My car has an overheating problem, but only when coming off the highway once I reduce speed for a traffic light, or roundabout or the like.

It seems as though I can drive it around the city for hours, and I can drive it on the highway for hours, but the second I slow down after the highway the red needle soars to overheating.

I have taken it to two mechanics and an auto electrician and a mechanic even pulled over once when he saw me on the side of the road.

I replaced the thermostat about a month ago, the fans are still on when it is overheating, and I have degreased the vents.

No mechanic has been able to pick up the problem.

Any help or ideas would be sincerely appreciated.

1 Reply

CARADIODOC

MECHANIC
33,873 POSTS

The first thing to do is determine if it is really overheating. Your mechanic can connect a scanner to view live data during a test drive. One thing that will really help with these frustrating intermittent problems is when you know exactly how to make it act up. The scanner will show the engine coolant temperature which we would expect to be at least 210 degrees if the fan turns on. At that temperature the dash gauge will still be reading in the middle which is normal. If the reading on the scanner doesn't go very much higher when the dash gauge does, I'd suspect a problem with the sending unit for the gauge or its wiring. If the temperature really does go up a lot and agrees with the gauge, have the mechanic test for a leaking cylinder head gasket. That involves drawing air from the radiator through a glass cylinder with two chambers partially-filled with a special dark blue liquid. If the gasket is leaking the liquid will turn bright yellow.