I am having issues with a 2000 Dodge stratus, 4 cylinder. It's overheating badly. I'm only driving it at low speeds right now, so I don't know if its happening at hiway speeds. I haven't heard the fan come on, but I also havn't spent a whole lot of time driving it. Seems to me it might be the thermostat, so I figured I would change that first before looking at more expensive possibilities. But, finding anything under that hood is a flaming nightmare. Where the heck is the thermostat on this thing? I'm not terribly engine savvy, but I can manage a simple thermostat swap. Done it plenty of times in the past, mostly on my old Buiks. If anyone can point me at the thermostat, I would be tremendously greatful.

 

Should be near where the upper hose attaches to the engine.

 

most all t-stats nowdays fail open, i'm betting on a bad fan/relay. next time you get the time at the house, pop the hood, crank the eng and let it run. watch the temp guage, if it gets hot and the fan don't come on before it hits the red, turn it off.then youjump wires from the batt to the fan to make sure the fan works. if it checks out, it's prob the fan relay, you might have one under the hood that you can swap out to check. hope this helps.

 

If you're talking about the 2.4L engine the themostat is directly under the fill cap. The cap is mounted on the engine instead of the radiator. If you take the cap off and look straighr down you can see the thermostat. Good Luck!