2002 Dodge Neon Problem HELP :)

[cincy05]

So I have a 2002 Dodge Neon and here are the facts:

• coolant reservoir is full
• radiator cap is smoking
• not running hot
• when heat is turned on, you can smell the radiator

Any ideas on what is wrong?!?!

Thank you so much,

Cindy

 

[NutBucket]

My first instinct is that you have a busted radiator.

By heat, do you mean the heater or just the fan? Also, when does the smoking start?

 

[cincy05]

The heater (heat in the car).

It smokes a little after it's been on for a little bit.

 

[Bignate603]

Could also be a bad radiator cap. I'd start there just because they're really cheap and easy to replace.

 

[ballmode]

My advice is sell the car and get something other than a neon

 

[exdeath]

Reservoir is not supposed to be full, you're only supposed to fill it to the MAX line. Coolant needs room for expansion.

If you can smell coolant coming out of the HVAC vents, your heater core has a leak. Check for green/yellow coolant leak from from behind the engine near the passenger compartment from the AC condensation drain.

 

[Bignate603]

This is all making me think about the two neons that we had in my family.

My brother overheated his because of a radiator leak but it kept limping along. One day it started making terrible noises and was running really rough so he pulled into a gas station. When he opened the hood he saw that one of the spark plugs was missing. It was literally gone, there was a hole where it should have been and it had a little flame coming out the spark plug hole. He dumped a bottle of water onto the flame to put it out. Luckily it did this at a gas station that was literally across the street from the local junkyard. He just put the car in neutral and rolled into their parking lot.

My grandmother had one that she was using on a 3 hour trip. She had been driving on the highway for a while and decided to stop at a rest area. As she pulled in to the rest area parking lot there was a bit of a bump where the parking lot and the offramp connected. When the car hit that bump the front suspension on that side completely collapsed. Looking underneath the car you could the suspension had tore off its mounts because it had rusted badly in that area. If it had happened while she was on the highway it could have killed her, she was lucky that it happened in a parking lot at low speeds.