To follow up my earlier post on coolant flush/change:

Called shop that stated they had a vacuum/closed loop machine, told them what I wanted, went there. No vacuum system, but some form of "closed loop" force new in, flush old out. I let them hook it up. Wanted 70% water/30% coolant. I get 70% coolant/30% water. I have them do it again, get somewhere around a 50/50 mix. Whole process takes about two hours. Pay, leave, car overheats on way home. First time overheating ever. Apparently, they failed to pressurize the system. Limp home. Then the fun begins. After many attempts to bleed the system at the two bleeder points, the car will run, then, on the first attempts to drive after bleeding the system, simply overheat after approximately 20 minutes of driving. Now, after about the same amount of driving after several bleedings, the temp gauge "spikes" then drops down to normal operating temps, car does not kick fan on when stopping and shutting down, but the lovely smell of burning coolant from under the bonnet.

No sign of damage to head or gasket, no coolant in the oil. What gives!?!

Any suggestions for how to fix this problem will be greatly appreciated.

As a side note, I spoke to the manager and will be getting a refund and made it clear that they will pay for any other damage to the car (but I d/n think there is anything more serious than the issue with the cooling system). Lessons I will share: be careful who you let work on your car - even if it seems like such a simple task for a professional garage. I thought that surely, this job which is apparently close to impossible to do a full coolant flush/change for a diy on our cars b/c of the system's design, could be done by anyone with the right equipment. Secondly, and more generally in all aspects of life - do not ignore your intuition, that gut feeling that something isn't right. I did when I arrived at this shop - their failure to have the equipment that they stated they had among other things. I just wanted to get the job done, and am now paying for ignoring my initial instincts to just leave.

I know the last few lines are a bit preachy, but I can't help it. I am a prosecutor and see and talk with victims of crimes of all sorts who ignored their intuition/instincts. Be careful out there.

Thanks for reading and thanks in advance for any advice on a fix.

Len

 

Sounds like a Thermostat to me.

 

A sticky thermostat was my guess too, considering the sudden spike in temp and problems bleeding the system out. The garage should have been keeping track of how much coolant they were using up though.

 

I'm assuming these fellas weren't. Just go to the nearest auto zone, and get a thermostat for the 2002 Dodge Neon. YOu can even get a 180. it's a quick cheap fix. Better than waiting for one via mail.