Constant overheating? We are pretty sure she poured a bunch of stop leak?

ALEXANDRIA MAE

MEMBER
2005 CHRYSLER SEBRING
2.7L
AUTOMATIC
114,200 MILES

I own the car listed above with the DOHC, and I bought it from someone who didn’t take the car into a mechanic for overheating issues. We’re pretty sure she poured a bunch of stop leak in it and the thermostat housing had a huge hole. The heat doesn’t work either, and I’ve replaced the thermostat housing, thermostat and the radiator cap, the head gasket looks fine, and we’ve done a flush but it’s still overheating especially while idling. Today I drove about 10 miles with 15 sitting in between and pulling into my driveway the light came on for the temperature. The whole way there and back it sat at around 1/2 if not a tiny bit higher. I’m sick of this car overheating and I don’t have the money for a huge fix. I was told it might be a water pump but I’m not going to buy another part that I don’t need (I have a new head gasket seal and bolts sitting around because I was told it was the head gasket and it wasn’t).

1 Reply

KEN L

MASTER CERTIFIED MECHANIC
42,895 POSTS

The clue was the heater doesn't work, so what happened was the stop leak clogged up the heater core and radiator because of the small tubes which are common with stop leak. When the car is hot can you hear the radiator cooling fans on? If so, I would replace the radiator and flush the cooling system again.

Here is a generic guide to show you what you are in for doing the job and how to replace the radiator in the images below:

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/how-to-replace-a-car-radiator

This guide can help as well:

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/engine-overheating-or-running-hot

Check out the diagrams (below). Please let us know what happens.

Images (Click to make bigger)