I'm not a car expert but I've been asking around and I've come to the conclusion I broke the thermometer in my car engine. Long story short, I wasn't able to remove the lid for the engine coolant/radiator on my car engine and I believe I ended up damaging the thermometer. Don't ask me why I was trying to remove it. I can't remember since it's been a while. Now the car overheats and I need to replace the thermometer. If you want to know how I know that, go ahead and ask, but for simplicity, I'd rather not make this a longer post than needed.

By the way, the thermometer on the dash inside of the car behind the steering wheel is broken. The hand won't move at all regardless of how cold or hot the engine is.

I searched for thermometer replacements on the Auto Zone site and found this page:
http://www.autozone.com/autozone/cat...&parentId=52-0


Is replacing a thermometer something that me, someone with no experience with car engines, should do or should I ask look for assistance from a trained technician? I can't exactly find anything on how to replace this on the internet. Besides that, I don't even know which of those three parts I need in the above link.

Might I need a new thermostat gasket as well? (http://www.autozone.com/autozone/cat...&parentId=52-0)

 

bro, that is not to much necesary, u can remove it from ur car if its that what is broken, other thing, without that the car will not overheat or sumthing like that, if u want remove it and use some sealer to evoid water leak... about the thermometer on the dash, what is broken, the stick (pointer) on it??

 

I think I understand, but I want to be sure.

You were trying to remove the radiator cap on the water inlet and you think you broke the thermostat (not thermometer)?

Did you break the plastic housing that holds the thermostat, or did you physically reach in and break something on the actual thermostat? Or both?

If you broke/cracked/etc. the plastic housing, you will need to not only get a new or used one, but yes, you need to replace the thermostat and the round silicon gasket that usually comes with it, but if it does not, then get one - about .70 cents.

As for the temperature guage not functioning on the dashboard, it could be the that water coolant sensor located on the back side of the cylinder head is non-functioning, is disconnected, has a break in the wire, etc. If the sensor is bad, you should be getting error codes on your PCM. You can do the on-off 3 times key dance and read the CEL blink codes. Details for how to do that are all over this forum.

It could also be a bad guage on your dash, but unless someone has been monkeying with it, they are not usually the problem. Get a Haynes manual and it will help you diagnose the sensor and/or guage in the dash.

 

Well I'm not really sure what I broke. I just know that my car over heats. I know that because the last time I drove my Dodge Neon, it was steaming from the engine just as I turned onto the street where I live. It was making a screeching sound. This is how I know it was overheating, besides the steam: When I turned off the car, it was still screeching and I heard something in my engine still running. The screeching stopped about a minute later after I turned off the car at my house. People told me it was my radiator since that was the only thing that would still be running to cool down my engine AFTER I turned off my car.

I wasn't able to open that lid in the end. I was tugging at the little red piece of plastic trying to open the lid but it never budged. It was probably because I had no idea how to open it in the first place. I read the writing on the lid on how to open the lid but it wouldn't open so I tugged harder but it never opened and I was hurting my fingers xD. The lid is still there and unharmed looking at it from the outside. So in the end I wasn't able to reach in and physically break anything inside that tube.

I see. Would it help if I took pictures of my car engine, specifically the radiator section, so that it'd be easier for you to see?

PCM? What does PCM mean? And I haven't gotten any warning signs on the dashboard inside of my car yet the thermometer gauge still does not display the accurate temperature (it doesn't move at all even after I start the car).

I want to clarify something. Until now (after I read the first sentence of your post) I've been under the assumption that a thermostat and a thermometer were the same thing. I looked it up though and I'll use the words correctly now =P. It would seem that my thermostat is broken since my engine is NOT getting cooled sufficiently and my thermometer is not functioning inside of my car because it does not move ONE bit regardless if I turn my car on.

Mmm, this car is old and I got it as a gift from a cousin. I'm not sure if she's capable of messing with the dashboard so I'll have to assume she didn't do anything to it. It's probably just a bad gauge that needs to be replace or fixed.

My car has an oil leak so eventually I'll just get the gauge fixed when I can pay for an oil leak fix. I'm sure it's oil, as I've gone over this with my brother who works on Toyota cars for a living, and NOT radiator fluid. I check the oil everyday when I drove my car.

 

ok I'm sorry. PCM is the Power-train Control Module. its the computer (located ontop of the driver side fender well.)

The thermostat is behind the black filler neck that the radiator cap connects to. In order to get to it. Just take off the upper radiator hose, take some pliers and move the clamp down and then pull and twist to get the hose off. It will most likely be a pain to get off but just keep at it. You can use a small flat head screw driver to try and break the seal just be careful. Then there's a small hose that goes from the coolant reservoir, just pull that off. Once you get the hose off, there's two 10mm bolts (might be 8 but I think they are 10, its been a while since I've done one). You will need at least a 3 inch extension to get to them. But just take them off and then pull the neck off. Then the thermostat is right in there.

The Coolant Temp Sensor is located on the driver side of the head near the front. In order to get to it though, you have to take off the air intake and then move the heater lines out of the way. From there you can disconnect the sensor and remove it and then replace it.

Oil leaks, where does it leak from? The oil pressure sensor is known to leak, as well as the cam sensor and the most common being the rear main seal. Other common area's are the spark plug tubes and the valve cover gasket.

Oh also, your cluster, does everything else work fine except for the coolant temp gauge?

 

Actually Witch, the radiator fan motor can run for several minutes AFTER you turn off the car if the sensor thinks it should, so the screeching you heard may have been the fan motor not operating as it should. Instead of screeching, you should have been hearing a very loud fan running wide open when you opened the hood. However, if it is screeching, then you may need to replace it as it will kick on/off as needed, and if it is not running properly when it is supposed to kick on, then your car can overheat, and that may be your main problem. You still may need to replace the thermostat, but having a bad fan is not good. There is an easy test to see if you fan is bad. Just use a jumper wire from the battery to the fan motor to bypass the switch and if it kicks on and runs fast and loud then that is not the problem. If the fan does not run that way, it is bad.




The little red "tab" on the radiator cap is there to relieve pressure. It is not like a beer can where the top pops when you pull it. Once pressure is relieved, then you put the tab back down, press down and turn the cap to the left to remove it. Better to let the car cool down before you do anything as you can be seriously burned if you are not careful.



Not really, it sounds to me like you never even got the radiator cap off, so you most likely did not break anything.

The temp guage so rarely goes bad/is bad that it most likely is either a bad coolant temp sensor or a bad/broken wire somewhere between the sensor and the guage - assuming of course that all the other guages in your car seem to function properly.



Oil leaks can wait if it is not pouring out and you have to put a quart in everytime you drive it 20 miles and as long you keep enough oil in it to operate, it will be OK - costly, but OK. Overheating problems can warp heads and wreak engines and must be fixed immediately. The guage is not important if the car is not overheating, so it too can wait. No offense, but after reading your posts, I don't think you have the skills to diagnose and fix it yourself. If your brother is available, get him to help you, because you can break things or put things back together wrong and make it worse.

 

BTW, you need to check to see if you have any error codes stored in your PCM (computer).

https://dodgeforum.com/forum/1st-gen...ter-codes.html

That link shows how to do the ON-OFF "key dance" to read the basic two digit codes and what those two digit codes mean. Especially watch for these two codes:

22 - Engine coolant temp sensor out of range
35 - Rad Fan control relay circuit

Go to Autozone, Advance, O'Reillys and borrow (pay a deposit, but get it back when you return it) an ODB-II code reader to get the detailed codes. If you could drive it, they would do it for you at the store, but you do not need to drive that car anywhere.

 

Yeah, I know it can run after I turn off the car. That's why I came here in the first place to seek more expertise on my Dodge Neon. Is there like a negative and a positive to attach a battery to to see if it's my radiator fan (it mostly should be my radiator fan)? I haven't looked at my car engine enough to tell if there are a negative and positive where I can attach jumper cables to to test this theory. Also, this is something I'm probably going to have to take into the shop.

This is where I need some more help on. First thing is first: I know I have no knowledge of how to remove and replace the radiator fan. Second: Obviously I will need to pay a mechanic to fix my car. So the question is: how do I go about this when going to a repair shop?

Do I just tell them what I know and ask only for a radiator replacement so they won't charge me like $1000+ for labor and a full diagnostic (because I don't want a pricey FULL diagnostic)? I'm not sure how much longer I would even like to keep this car too if I can get a more recent car that doesn't have so many problems. No offense to Dodge Neon owners. It's just I'd rather spend the same amount of money, if not a bit higher amount, on a used car from 2008 or around that year because 1.) it'd be more recent, 2.) it'd have AWD for where I live instead of FWD, 3.) I'd learn more about car maintenance and repair (compared to my Dodge Neon which was a hand-me-down without any warranty or repair schedule thing), and 4.) the used car I'm looking to buy would have these repairs done already so I wouldn't have to work until the next scheduled car maintenance.

Yeah, in the end it never came off. All I could do is twist it and pull the red lever but the cap never came off. I'm hoping I didn't break anything that wasn't already broken.

Well the dashboard thermometer is obviously broken as it has not moved since I got the car from my cousins. I may have to have that looked at when I want a full diagnostics repair from a mechanic (once I have the money).





Thank you so much for taking the time to reply to my posts! I am SO sorry I'm so late in replying to you. Don't worry, no offense taken. It's obvious that if I am not confident in my abilities to fix my car, I shouldn't try just so it's cheap but eventually make a larger mess because I didn't know what I was doing in the end; it's common sense to leave it to a professional. xD

 

actually its easy to fix yourself...sounds like a simple over heating problem...step ones taking the cap off and seeing if you even have fluid...press down with your palm and turn it...two how old is the fluid? old fluid can over heat too...three would be changing the thermostat you will have to replace fluid when you do that, just get 50/50 mix antifreeze if the fluids been changed lately...four would be checking the fan, i think it would be easyer just to start the car and see if it works before getting technical...and five would be leting some one else fix it lol but you sound more then capible of doing it...probably take you a couple hours but its fun as hell ...my 5.0 got close to over heating once because of the thermostat and it was 8 times harder then a neons to replace :P...these might not be the problems but it could save you a few dollars

 

Witch,

Not a problem on the timeframe as you will address the issue in your own time when you can.

As for letting a mechanic look at it, if your brother has any tools and the necessary skills to do basic diagnostic tests as you say, then you can quickly find out what you need to know without paying much at all. At most, you will have to buy the Haynes repair manual if you can't find one that someone already has, or even borrow one from your local library.

You need a cylinder compression checker and a leak down tester and you can borrow both from Autozone, Advance, O'Reilly, etc. by paying a deposit and getting it back when you return them. These two tools are easy to use.

The compression checker and leak down tester will tell you if you have any head problems - bad rings, bad or bent valves, etc. If either one indicate a problem (which the manual will specify what is good/bad), then you would have to pull the cylinder head to fix it no matter what else is wrong, so take it to a mechanic at that point and tell them what you found and let them quote a price.

As for the checking to see if you have fluid, why bother? If the overflow tank is empty and you have steam coming out after you drive a short distance, you either have a leak, a bad head, or both.

The leak could be a simple one where you need to replace a hose or clamp, or a bad one where you need to replace a head gasket or bad water pump.

There is a simple way to test to see if you just have a leak. Add some florescent dye to your radiator and fill it back up to the proper level. Be VERY careful you don't spill the dye on anything while putting it in as you want to be able to pinpoint a leak by passing a black light over the entire engine front, bottom, and back to check for any leaks - which will glow when it by the black light. If you don't see any around the hoses or their connections, pay special attention to the bottom of the timing belt housing as any leaks from the water pump should show up around the bottom side of the timing belt cover. A black light bulb can be purchased just about anywhere for about $2, and put in a standard drop light housing.

Good luck and even if you want to get rid of the car, you really need to get it fixed as it will be worth more as parts then as a trade in if you don't.