Ok, so my friend came in to work today and told me that the engine started to overheat on her when she got in the parking lot. I checked it out and it had a crack in the plastic at the top of the radiator and coolant was leaking out. I used some putty stuff that I got at the local parts store to patch the crack and it appears to be holding, but something else caught my attention while filling the radiator. When I had someone press the gas pedal, the coolant geysered out of the radiator. I have heard of this happening with a blown head gasket, but I am hoping, for her sake, that it isn't. By the way, the car is an '01 Dodge Stratus R/T with a 3.0 V6.
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Check the oil when my headgasket went last oct the oil was a little milky from the antifreeze mixing in..
as well I had a huge amount of greyish white smoke just pouring out the exaust...
hopefully its just a cracked radiator
Slight smoke in the exhaust, not a lot. I was chalking it up to a cold engine because I had only seen it run at night and it was about 40 degrees out.
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Yes, noob, the search button is for you...
Really just check th oil, and rad..oil wil bmilky if there is coolant in it..and oil will show up in the coolant possibly. the white smoke will be very noticible..
The_TwStD_1 wrote:Ok, so my friend came in to work today and told me that the engine started to overheat on her when she got in the parking lot. I checked it out and it had a crack in the plastic at the top of the radiator and coolant was leaking out. I used some putty stuff that I got at the local parts store to patch the crack and it appears to be holding, but something else caught my attention while filling the radiator. When I had someone press the gas pedal, the coolant geysered out of the radiator. I have heard of this happening with a blown head gasket, but I am hoping, for her sake, that it isn't. By the way, the car is an '01 Dodge Stratus R/T with a 3.0 V6.
I didn't know this car was a j-body.....should be in Other Cars forum
Ryan1
Water usually will spray out of the radiator if there's a hole in it and the engine is running. Even more so if you race the engine. The car overheats because there was no pressure in the cooling system. Coolant has a higher boiling point when under pressure in a sealed system, which that was not. Hence the water boils which does not cool effectively and the problem escalates.She could have warped the head if she pegged the temp gauge. That would suck.
Actually turned out to be a thermostat that was frozen shut. Replaced the radiator and put a lower temp 'stat in it and it seems to be doing good now. 3 out of 4 of the O2 sensors were bad, 1 has been replaced, still waiting for the money to replace the other 2. Valve cover gasket leaks, and there might be a rear main seal leak too... still looking into that one. Anyone know what brownish ATF means?
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Yes, noob, the search button is for you...
overheated trans. brown ATF is burnt fluid. should have little to no brown, and a bright red color. i would recommend a flush.
Did I mention I drive a 2000 Lumina now?-----wigm-tuners.org member
ps that brown ATF is prob from the trans overheating because of the coolant leak and no coolant in the trans cooler lines. if a trans flush is done should be no more worries. if not done trans could go to hell a few thousand miles down the road.
Did I mention I drive a 2000 Lumina now?-----wigm-tuners.org member
