my 96 auto sohc neon will not warm up the engine. i drive 30 minutes to work and it never gets any warmer. also my heater doesnt work. any ideas? i replaced the thermostat in the summer, could i have done something wrong? i have no idea. thaks!

 

start up your car and let it run for about 20 min to 30 min the top rad hose should be warm. Find the hoses that go into the firewall. put your hands on both of them if one is hot and the other one cold your heater core is plugged.

 

check your coolant, thermostat could be stuck wide open

 

coolant level ok, how would i check if my thermostat is stuck open?

 

You will have to take off the upper coolent hose and unbolt the plastic housing from the head to get to the thermostat. I know nothing about your car or how long you have had it, etc. etc but you may not even HAVE a thermostat in it if somebody removed it at some point to "fix" an overheating problem. Removing the housing will reveal that quickly.

Do the hoses (heater and upper and lower hoses) get hot? Does the head get hot? After driving around for about 15 minutes, everything on the motor should be hot enough that you don't want to keep your hand on them for very long.

If the heater core is plugged, you won't get any heat, but the motor itself may be fine. Does your temp guage work? What does it show? The coolant temp sensor "should" be giving an error if the motor does not warm to a minimum temp after a certain time, so check for an any error codes using the Dodge key dance (check the forum sticky links to get details).

If the heater core is plugged, you can try to back flush it using an ordinary garden hose. Just disconnect the two hoses at the firewall, and try to pump water thru the core from both connectors alternating back and forth to clear out any goop, but if it is too far gone, you may just need to get a "new" one from a junkyard, but they do sell new heater cores too - just more expensive.