Overheating Dodge

[RiverDog]

I bought a 95 Intrepid that has an overheating problem. On a highway drive it might go 70-80 miles with no problem. On slower roads it tends to heat up in a few miles. I am looking for some good guesses as to where to start. If it was a head or gasket I think it would heat up all the time. This has the 3.5 engine BTW. Any ideas?

*UPDATE*

OK I finally got time to look at the car. On the way home it overheated and then wouldn't start. After getting it towed, I checked the thermostat and it was good, and the fans will run. When I finally got it started (lots of cranking) I had a lot of steam coming out the exhaust. I think it had a small head gasket leak that got worse. Now the big question. Part of the deal when I bought this car is a second Intrepid that was hit on the rear but otherwise complete. Same engine, etc. I don't know how much trouble it is to pull a head on these engines so would I be farther ahead just to change the engine? And if I do that, should I change the computers as well (the parts car is a 97 with the OBDII connector)?

I am leaning on the engine change since it looks rough to get at things.

What does everybody think?

 

[iamwiz82]

If it's staying at a reasonable temperature while at speed I would imagine it's an airflow issue. How many fans does it have? Are they kicking on? How is the coolant level? Has it been bled?

 

[Gibson486]

My dad used to have a Caravan with that issue. It needed a new fan.

 

[drnickriviera]

Geez, i'd start first by checking the fans. I guess that's a FWD car so you only have electrics. Second i'd drain and flush the rad, while you're at it change the thermostat.

 

[nweaver]

1. Check coolant level and top off (while the car is running). Possibly flush, if it's pretty nasty
2. Check that the fans run when it gets hot
3. feel the hoses going to/from the rad. Are they hot to the touch when it's hot? If the top hose isn't getting very hot, and 1 and 2 are taken care of, then it's tstat
4. replace the tstat.

 

[BUTCH1]

Check the radiator for internal signs of "plaque" I had a car with a similar problem
changing out the rad. solved it. Try the other folks suggestions first though and see
if the fan is working properly.

 

[zoiks]

I'm having the same exact problem with my old 240sx. Its fine on the freeway but the temp needle starts going up when driving slowly.
In my situation, I've changed the radiator and thermostat but the problem remains. The fan seems fine as well and gets pretty fast when I rev up the car.
Is there a way to check whether the water pump is circulating the water properly?

 

[drnickriviera]

Originally posted by: zoiks
I'm having the same exact problem with my old 240sx. Its fine on the freeway but the temp needle starts going up when driving slowly.
In my situation, I've changed the radiator and thermostat but the problem remains. The fan seems fine as well and gets pretty fast when I rev up the car.
Is there a way to check whether the water pump is circulating the water properly?

What kind of fan is that? If it's a viscous clutch, it could still be bad. Had one on my old yota truck that went bad, it looked like it was working fine.

 

[illusion88]

IF its a head gasket you will probably get steam coming out of the tailpipe in the morning. I bet you are low on fluid, check that.

 

[zoiks]

Originally posted by: drnickriviera

Originally posted by: zoiks
I'm having the same exact problem with my old 240sx. Its fine on the freeway but the temp needle starts going up when driving slowly.
In my situation, I've changed the radiator and thermostat but the problem remains. The fan seems fine as well and gets pretty fast when I rev up the car.
Is there a way to check whether the water pump is circulating the water properly?

What kind of fan is that? If it's a viscous clutch, it could still be bad. Had one on my old yota truck that went bad, it looked like it was working fine.

Thats good to know. It's not the electric fan type. I can see if I can get the clutch replaced on it.
Is there a way to test the fan/clutch however before I start replacing it?

Edit - Sorry to hijack your thread RiverDog. But I think your car might be having problems along the same lines as mine is.

 

[LTC8K6]

I think with the viscous clutch you can tell by how hard it is to turn the fan by hand.

Try it in the morning when the engine is completely cold. It should turn easily/slip a lot.

Try it again with the engine thoroughly warmed up. It should be harder to turn/a lot less slip.

Do this with the engine off, of course.

That test is from memory, and I may be wrong, though.

 

[LTC8K6]

http://www.popularmechanics.co...utomotive/1772922.html

 

[drnickriviera]

Originally posted by: zoiks
Thats good to know. It's not the electric fan type. I can see if I can get the clutch replaced on it.
Is there a way to test the fan/clutch however before I start replacing it?

Edit - Sorry to hijack your thread RiverDog. But I think your car might be having problems along the same lines as mine is.

Well, the way we were told to test it (I don't recommend this) was to wait for the clutch to warm up some and try to stop it with a 2x4. On the side, not through the front. We had 2 identical trucks to try it on. On the bad clutch we were able to stop the fan with little effort. On the good clutch, it threw the 2x4 back at us.

LTC's way sounds as good as any other.

 

[RiverDog]

Originally posted by: zoiks

Originally posted by: drnickriviera

Originally posted by: zoiks
I'm having the same exact problem with my old 240sx. Its fine on the freeway but the temp needle starts going up when driving slowly.
In my situation, I've changed the radiator and thermostat but the problem remains. The fan seems fine as well and gets pretty fast when I rev up the car.
Is there a way to check whether the water pump is circulating the water properly?

What kind of fan is that? If it's a viscous clutch, it could still be bad. Had one on my old yota truck that went bad, it looked like it was working fine.

Thats good to know. It's not the electric fan type. I can see if I can get the clutch replaced on it.
Is there a way to test the fan/clutch however before I start replacing it?

Edit - Sorry to hijack your thread RiverDog. But I think your car might be having problems along the same lines as mine is.

No Problem, I looked at all overheating questions cause ya never know where an answer is coming from.

 

[alpineranger]

Fans go bad on these vehicles after a while. This is consistent with your observations as well. Head gasket should be fine. Do a compression or leakdown test if you want to be sure.

 

[CrackRabbit]

The 97 is going to have a few sensors that the 95 didn't.
Most likely the easiest thing to do would be to mate the 97's engine to the 95's exhaust manifolds and transmission. You may want to check the throttle body and intake manifold for changes as well.

 

[imported_Truenofan]

well since its probly a v6, one of the heads is facing towards the firewall and one way from you, depending on how far away it is from the firewall it might be a rpita or it might be not so hard if you dont know what the heads are it would be the place where you put the spark plugs into(basic explanation) that connects to the top of the block. you could go to the nearest automotive shop, take a look at a haynes manual(something like them if anything) that details how to replace the head gasket, see how hard it is, if it does require you to remove the engine or not.

swapping the engine would require a massive amount of more work, replacing the engine would be a last ditch effort, only if you had bad valves, bad crank, blown engine, something along those lines would you replace the engine, you would have to look into what years the engine was used in to get a replacement.

 

[thedarkwolf]

The engines in intripeds unlike most fwd cars isn't mounted transversely, its longitudinally mounted like a RWD car. If you are paying for the work and the other engine is in good working order it might actually be cheaper just to have them swap the engine. Even if you are doing it yourself I'd still probably swap engines. If you drove it around for awhile with a blown head gasket you could have done more damage to the internals. I wouldn't bother with the computer swap. Thats a huge PITA and I don't see what it would gain you.

 

[BUTCH1]

This is a tough call but I would lean toward replacing the head gaskets on the existing
engine. Take the heads to a machine shop and have them done over, they can check
and repair any cracks, throughly clean it and lap the valves to spec. You will have a
close to new valvetrain and would last quite a while. If your ambitious you could pop
out the pistons while the heads are being done and re-ring or replace pistons/rings.
Through new rod and crank bearings in while reassembling and you've got close to
a brand new motor..Like others have said, buy a Haynes or Chiltons for this level of
repair, you will need to know torque sequences for the head bolts. Good luck and let
us know how you make out..

 

[Eli]

lol, you killed it. Why didn't you shut it off before the temp got into the red?

 

[RiverDog]

Originally posted by: Eli
lol, you killed it. Why didn't you shut it off before the temp got into the red?

No it never got into the "red". I shut it down when it hit 3/4 on the gauge. I think the easist fix is to replace the engine and then I can rebuild the present one. Yes I have the knowledge to rebuild it myself. I'v been doing all my own work since the mid 60's. I have only had a vehicle to a garage three times in over 40 years. I don't think I will run into a computer problem by just using the 97 engine, but wasn't 100% on that. Except for that, the engines are the same. Wil proably change them this coming weekend unless something else comes up.

 

[alpineranger]

Go to www.dodgeintrepid.net/forums I'm over there too as I have an intrepid myself. I've found the community to be very helpful and knowledgeable. You won't be disappointed. I was even able to get an electronic copy of the factory service manual there (I've got a 2nd generation intrepid, so I'm not sure about your car, but it's worth checking out).

 

[RiverDog]

Originally posted by: alpineranger
Go to www.dodgeintrepid.net/forums I'm over there too as I have an intrepid myself. I've found the community to be very helpful and knowledgeable. You won't be disappointed. I was even able to get an electronic copy of the factory service manual there (I've got a 2nd generation intrepid, so I'm not sure about your car, but it's worth checking out).

Thank you, I didn't know they existed. I'll definately check them out. :beer: