1990 Dodge Spirit

It seems there are alot of cars with this problem. I've changed the
thermostat, checked gages, etc, but to no avail. The temp needle goes
eratic, there is tons of antifreeze in the car, but one other thing
about this problem and I know it's all linked in the heater/cooling
system. The engine never heats up enough to get warm. The heater
blows out mediocre warm air if the temp isn't too cold, but if it's
really cold outside the heater doesn't work. Tried getting to the
heater core and replacing that but couldn't get to the damn thing, we
tore that dashboard apart, we finally blew out the core like they would
a radiator, but the heater still doesn't work and as soon as it gets
hot outside the car says it's overheating. Any suggestions?

 

I would suggest filling the system, purging out the air, and then
monitoring it on a daily basis. Watch for the overfill resevoir filling
and possiblity overflowing. With the engine cool, it should be in the
*normal* range, meaning that coolant has been drawn back into the
system.

I too, have a 1990 Dodge Spirit with the 2.5L engine. It started to
overheat, with the coolant coming out into the overflow, without ever
being drawn back in. It turned out to be the headgasket. Exhaust was
getting into the system, and pushing the coolant out. Once this
occured, it would overheat.

I hope that your problem is simpler. A headgasket replacement is
expensive to have done by a shop.

-KM

 

this may not make any sense to you but your heater core is stopped up
causing both problems and to verify this would be to remove the heater hoses
from the heater core and connect them together bypassing the core. If the
core is stopped up it will not allow the coolant to flow correctly thru the
head.
Thus causing the fluctuation with the gauge.

 

Glenn, if this is the case, would moving the tempurature slider all the
way to the *cold* position act the same as bypassing the heater core?
Also, if I remember correctly, isn't there some kind of check valve on
the heater core hoses that prevents the coolant from flowing the wrong
direction? If so, do these sometimes fail, causing the lines to be
obstructed?

-KM

 

--

No the slider will not by pass the heater core and no there is no check
valve. You may be thinking of a water control valve.
As I said, connect the hoses together to see if the problem with the
overheating goes away.

Glenn Beasley
Chrysler Tech