Getting to the thermosthat

Which engine do you have? There was never a four cylinder engine used in the Concorde, and neither V-6 requires removal of the alternator. What symptom or problem are you trying to solve?

You still didn't tell me which engine you have so I'm going to guess it's the 2.7L. It's thermostat is on the bottom by the lower radiator hose. You need to remove the alternator strut, but not the entire alternator. For the 3.5L, replacing the thermostat is a 15 minute job up on top.

I suspect you're wasting your time anyway. No engine will overheat in five minutes. Your clues are it's boiling in five minutes and the temperature gauge doesn't read hot. You will find there is no steam associated with that "boiling". In fact, the bubbles you see in the reservoir are most likely due to a leaking head gasket. The best way to prove that is to have a mechanic perform what I call the "sniffer" test. That involves drawing air from the radiator or reservoir through a glass cylinder with two chambers partially filled with a special dark blue liquid. If combustion gases are leaking into the cooling system, the liquid will turn bright yellow.

Change of diagnosis. If you do have steam, then it really is getting too hot but the thermostat would have to be sticking closed, not open. I hope a new thermostat solves that.

I have newer cars but my daily driver is an extremely reliable '88 Grand Caravan. For basic transportation and very good reliability, and especially if you want to survive a crash, look at a Dodge Shadow / Plymouth Sundance with the 2.5L four cylinder engine. For comfort I have a '93 Dynasty but it only has 4,200 miles as I don't drive it much.

For bigger or newer cars, Chrysler's 3.3L is tops, I have two minivans with the 3.0L. They aren't too bad either but stay away from the '96 and newer Caravans. On those, everything is hard to work on. By the time you get to '96 models, everything has way too many unreliable computers to do simple things.

I won't go into all the details here, but definitely stay away from anything to do with General Motors. I've written five-page articles on why they are the worst company to get involved with. I'm not a fan of Ford either but at least their business practices aren't quite as customer-unfriendly as GM's.

As for the imports, there is nothing worse than a Volkswagen or BMW. Toyotas are pretty reliable, and Hyundai, as a company, is very customer-friendly. Don't know about the reliability or serviceability of their cars. My preference is for Chrysler's Shadow / Sundance, Acclaim / Spirit, Dynasty / New Yorker, but I look at it from a mechanic's point of view as well as a consumer's. I too have to work on the ground.

Sorry to say Chrysler has built a whole pile of really good engines over the years, but the notable exception is the 2.7L. The Intrepid / Concorde is one of their hardest body styles to work on. Only the Stratus / Cirrus / Breeze is much worse. I haven't worked on many 2000 and newer models. I left the dealership after 1999 and went into teaching for nine years so I just watched my kids work on them.

As a general rule, the older the car, especially if you can find an early '90s or older, the easier they are to work on, the easier they are to diagnose, and the less problems they have. Once you hit the mid '90s they added way too many unreliable computers and electrical problems became real common and expensive.