bizee

My daughter (who I am about to kill at this moment, for saying nothing
til now) just got home from errands saying the car is overheating
(arrow goes to H quickly) It is also about 110 out today. Its a 2000
Neon (does have A/C)

I need to take a look and perhaps put some AF and/or water in. Single
mom here, with some mechanical abilities (should be able to handle
this) but I need to know what to do. Buy some AF and put in? Its
Sunday so no where to go today to have it checked. Don't want to drive
it until I do something.

Anyhow I just chewed her out big time for saying nothing til now.

Appreciate it.

maxpower

Kids will be kids....Think back when you first started to drive and what you
did to your mom and dad!!!
NEway, don't just put antifreeze in it if it doesn't need it. When does it
over heat? highway speeds? idling in traffic?
You need to take a look under the hood and see if the radiator fan turns on
when it starts going to high. Is the check engine lite on?

Glenn Beasley
Chrysler Tech

bizee

Started it up, before starting I looked at the temp gauge and it was
still high. The radiator fan came right on. No check engine lite.
Didn't run it for but 20 seconds.

She just mentioned that when she got home or to one of her errands it
was bubbling somewhere (probably boiling water) sigh

maxpower

When it cools down top off the radiator and overflow bottle and see what
happens. Keep in mind if it is that low there must be a leak somewhere.

Glenn Beasley
Chrysler Tech

john

Reminds me of my wife when we first got married 20 years ago.
She came home from shopping and claimed the car "had no power".

Took it for a test drive, and yea, she was right,,it had no power....

Problem was it was stuck in first gear (automatic) and the motor was
revving like crazy.

Fortunately, it was all local streets so she most likely never got about
30mph.

I asked her if she noticed the tach was up in the red and the answer was:

Tach?

Is that the other speedometer?
I always wondered why the car needed 2 speedometers....

Sigh

Go easy on the kid!!
Big people make mistakes too!

BTW the car lasted over 250,000 miles, after Dodge put a new tranny in it
under warranty, before I sold it so at least she didn't kill the engine.

bizee

Let it cool, went down to Walmart (in my car) and got some 50/50 AF.
Since I didn't know what was in the system, went that way. Put in the
coolant bottle (dummy me didn't see the radiator cap, which wasn't on
it, but on the hoses, long time since I've peered into an engine
compartment). Drove around the neighborhood and it still got warm.
Then found the cap and put about the rest of the AF there. let it cool
more. Just got done driving around with the AC on and it never got
above the 1/4 mark.

I have a feeling it was prompted by the record heat here today (I said
in original post 110, and that was exactly what it hit). Not known is
the status before, whether it had enough coolant, enough for the heat
etc.

Going to have her hit the shop tomorrow to double check it all.

I appreciate the posts!!!!!!!!

miles

It should be able to handle 110 without trouble. It has been 115-118
here in Phoenix lately. So far no problems in my vehicles. Sounds like
your Neon was low on coolant for some reason. I'd be watching for
antifreeze puddles!

morgans

Now, you have something else to worry about. If it had the orange permanent
antifreeze in it, and you put the green antifreeze in it (or the other way
around) the mixing of the two different types will cause the stuff in the
radiator to turn into brown goo. Very bad, and will clog you up, bad.

You should plan on going to a lube place, and have your radiator flushed,
and put one or the other in. (whichever is recommended in your owners
manual)
--
Jim in NC