My water pump went and the car over heated so we changed it got it all back together and took it for a test drive and it was barely running had to keep it floored and it was over heating we got it back to the house and the radiator was emptybut the resivor was full. My hubby thinks its the head gasket so we called and it gonna cost us about 1,000$ to get it fixed. plus We have to spend a couple hundred taking it in getting it tested to make sure it is hte head gasket and to make sure its not the head. We do not have this money that is over half our monthly budget for a car that just keeps breaking down. We want to try to do the head gaskt our self and want to know if there is anyone outthere that has done this and how hard it is? If wea re going to change it our self we are going to take it to have it tested and when we are done we will take it in to have the timing set. If we didn't set the timing right whats the chances of bending a vavle? If we can't fix it then it is going to the junk yard this week end and never again will we buy a chrysler. We have owned this car for 8 months and every week we ahve had to work on it and it has a newer motor and rebuilt tranny in it. all these cars need to be destroyed we thought we were buying a good dependable car boy were we fooled for the money we have put into this we could have gotten a brand new car. DODGE really knows how to keep customers. The person we bought it from was the original owner.

 

For starters, all brands of cars (Ford, GM, Dodge, Toyota) can be great dependable cars. It all depends on how the first owner takes care of them, and then the subsequent owner(s) do. If the first owner doesnt keep the maintenance up, doesnt take care of it, it will be a piece of crap. If they do, it could turn out to be a good, reliable car. It could still be a p.o.s. even if you did all those things as well.

If you've recently replaced the water pump, did you remember to fill up the radiator? It's quite possible that it wasnt topped off and had run dry prior to the water pump issue. Also, are you sure that your radiator itself isnt leaking? It's quite possible that your radiator is leaking and that you didnt see it due to the fact that there was so little fluid in the radiator.

I would suggest filling up the radiator with water and running the car in a parked position for a few minutes with the hood up. If you see liquid spraying or leaking....then you can see the problem right away. If not, and the car runs fine after you top it off.....then I'd drive it for a while and see if it starts up again.

When the head gasket goes....you usually can tell because the car wont run worth a crap, if it will even start up. I blew my head gasket on my Lebaron vert and it wouldnt even start up. You'd also notice lots of sludge or oil leaking from the engine possibly.

 

we filled it and checked for leaks but after working on it for 3 days straight ..... and it was barely running but it coiuld be from the timing we are at our wits end we depend on our car and when it goes on ya it just feels so hopeless. We are use to older cars my hubby has been reluctant to buy a newer car due to the fact that when something simple goes you have to replace multiple things. We are going to probably do some more working with it this weekend. I cried when he told me he thought the head gasket went. any ideas would be very much appriciated as we have very limited funds and now I am forced to ride my bike with my 2 year old to go where I need to go and was forced to give up a new job..... uhhhh

 

Let me tell you, I love my 1998 Stratus, but I have had one heck of a time with repairs on it. I think everything has been replaced at one time or another, and I mean EVERYTHING! Notto mention, with this car in particular, they are very labor intensive to have any work done which makes a lot of simple repairs very expensive ones. But I love the car, when it runs good, it really runs good! I know your frustrations about wanting to cry over it too!!! I do feel your pain I found out later after I had bought it that it was originally used as a rental car...so it explains why everything was falling apart....people don't care how they drive rental cars and those companies only do routine maintenance on them.

I had a similar problem with my car overheating really bad about a year ago, and the same symptoms as yours....the radiator was empty but the reserve was full. I kept filling the radiator everyday with water and it still kept over heating bad! What had happened was for one, the thermostat was broke...very easy and very cheap fix. It was still over heating and after more investigation found that the radiator cap had been popped (the seal was broken) so when the car got hot, the water was leaking out of the cap and evaporating from hitting the hot engine and hence no water in the radiator. Then, the reason why the reserve tank was still full was because it had a blocked line and wasn't flowing into the radiator. It was all very easy and inexpensive fixes.

Try checking these things first, I am not sure about the slowing of your car, but maybe it's a simple fix with the overheating.

I hope this might help and good luck with your car!

 

We are going to check it out more thoroughly this weekend, but lets just say the head gasket is toast how hard is it to replace on your own? We don't have the 1000$ to take it in. We want to take it in to have the timing set though. What all goes into doing it on these motors? we ca use all the imput possible thanks

 

Just had my headgasket and the lot changed. Cheapest would probably be $2,000 do the new bolt set, timing belt replacement and shop parts. Timing belt and pully should be changed because this comes off and it only makes sense. The head needs to pressure test to make sure the vavles are still good and the head is not warped. If it is warped Might as well look for rebuilt engine.

 

Well we are finally getting around to working on the stratus today, our other car took a dive last weekend the starter went. Thank god its an older car and it took the like 20 minutes to change it. Anyway we are going to refill the coolant system. My hubby was rechecking the timing on this car(he is use to the older cars) but he found the to dead center and the car was 4 teeth off??? hopefully you car guys know what that means i am just the middle gal here, but we are praying the valves are still in tact. Hopefully we get the car going having one car is driving us nuts.