Hi. I have an 02 Intrepid with the 2.7 which I am fixing for my brother. I can't seem to get it to stop overheating. I flushed the radiator(flow seems fine), changed the thermostat, bled the system multiple times, and did a test for exhaust gases(negative). Water pump was changed about a year ago. Radiator and lower hose do not get hot while the upper hose gets burning hot. The fans do come on. Temp jumps all the way up dramatically when driving. It goes up so fast and erratically I was thinking there was air in the system, but when I bleed it I just get a continuous stream of bubbles and steam. While cool I get some coolant/some bubbles like I should. It never stops bubbling and venting steam once the engine is hot though. The only thing I can think of is that maybe I installed the tstat incorrectly.

Before I inherited this headache, he had overheated while on a long drive on the highway. I started by changing the tstat. There was also an oil pressure issue which I fixed. Took down the pan, cleaned it and changed the sump. I then replaced the timing chain tensioner as I had discovered the o-ring had blown off and was in the oil pan (this fixed the issue of the chain being loose and making all kinds of noise slapping around inside the cover).

Any help would be much appreciated. I figured I'd ask before I redo the thermostat, which I'm pretty sure I did correctly. Thanks.

 

It's called a crap engine. Same thing happened to my `98. Took it to several mechanics to run diagnostics on it only to find at 183,000 miles I had to replace the engine.

Sorry, but nothing we did to the coolant system fixed the overheating. Just not a quality product!

 

have you tried bypassing the heater inside the car? you may have some kind of blockage. you can disconnect the 2 hoses going into the firewall and join them together with an adapter they sell at checkers or an auto parts store. that may solve your mystery.
If it does not I would double check the water pump again. you may have got a lemon pump.

 

I have the same car make and year with the same prob. I just took my rad to get it flushed and it helped it from overheating. if your top hose is blazin hot and the lower hose is warm or even cool then the rad is stopped up..when I asked the rad shop the same quest he told me hot top and cool-or-warm bottom it is stopped up and when he flushed it out there was a bunch of crap in it he said. I installed it back in the car and now both hoses are warm to touch like they should be. hope this helps you. it helped mine but still will overheat on the hwy after about an hour drive I stopped and temp shot straight to the top and waited 15 mins to cool down and got back home and it did it again. so I think my head gaskets are bad on mine.at least thats what i'm checkin for now. If you have any input as to my prob it would be grately appreciated

 

I'll give that a try, I haven't yet. Does the antifreeze flow through the heater even if the heat is off?

 

I have flushed it but no luck. It didn't improve whatsoever. The water does seem to flow through the radiator fine though.

 

Did the same to mine but when I took it to the rad shop they got alot more junk out of it and I mean ALOT...now it dosnt overheat after 5 min. They flush it with what they call a Z-ROD with about 250 psi. it defenently made a big difference! strongly recomended,. now i just need to do the block and my overheatin prob will be fixed. shure glad it wasnt the head gaskets.!.!.

 

I've decided to start tearing it apart with the intention of changing the water pump. I took off the top hose and ran the car. There is no flow out of the neck at the top. There is also no heat. I used a pressure tester to pump water through and I then got heat. I'm assuming it is because I pumped hot water into the heater core.

I had replaced the primary timing chain tensioner which had no o-ring on it and was causing slack in the chain and an oil pressure problem. I'm thinking it damaged the impeller.

 

I have same problem overheating 2.7 L 2002 dodge intrepid, lots of air in motor I have opened air outlet valve three times but car still overheating, no white smoke coming out, fans work properly, I changed radiator cap reservoir was overflowing from small hole behind the tank, any sugestions??

Bob

 

I was able to fix the problem by replacing the water pump. Thanks for the help everyone.