HELP!?..........Overheated

[kidturbofan]

I wanted to bounce this problem off of a few folks. I have a GT, but thought this topic would be appropriate here since I don't believe it to be turbo-specific. Plus, I think more people read this part of the forum so I was hoping to "cast a wider net" as it were in terms of responses.

I have the Stage I kit on my car, as well as a cool-air intake and Mopar BOV, but that's it as far as any mods. I put the Stage I kit on a few weeks ago, and since have driven it about one thousand miles with no problems whatsoever.

This morning I had driven for about 20 minutes and noticed a sudden change in the air conditioning output...the air got warm and humid, as if I had shut the air conditioner off and just had the vent fan on. I wondered what was going on for a few minutes, and didn't immediately notice the coolant temperature gauge rising. A minute or two later, the coolant temp warning light came on and the gauge was up at the bottom of the red range.

So I pulled it over and shut it down, allowed it to cool down and started it back up...at which point it ran fine...no more overheating problem. It has run fine ever since.

I initially thought I might have lost the accessory drive belt, and therefore the water pump and AC compressor, but I still had power steering and the alternator.

Since the problem seems to be isolated to the cooling system my theory now is that the thermostat stuck closed for some reason and didn't allow coolant flow between the engine and the radiator. I also think there is a computer safeguard built in to shed some load off the engine by cutting out the AC compressor when the coolant surpasses a certain temp.

Anyone have any thoughts on this? Does the momentary glitching of the thermostat sound like a likely cause for this problem? Any theories on if it's likely to occur again?[:I]

Thanks in advance for your input

[Dalite]

This could be associated with the transmission learning procedure for Stage I. Some of the early Stage I installs had a similar problem, when the dealer installed the Stage I and didn't do the quick learn procedure - or the customer didn't do the quick-learn procedure, or the customer had it installed by someone else, and didn't know they needed to do the quick learn procedure.

It is hard to tell the cause on an intermittant problem. If there is any question in you mind about the quick learn procedure, and if it was done entirely as described in the Stage I instructions, you could pull the negative battery lead, put on the brakes or emergency flashers to drain off any residual voltage, then put the negative cable back on and perform the entire quick learn process.

This is by no means an official word; just a possible suggestion.

Keep us updated on the progress.

[kidturbofan]

Dalite,

Thanks for the response. I did, in fact, do the quick learn procedure as detailed in the Stage I instructions. I did give this a thought, as being a causality, but since I did the procedure and have driven the car a while since the Stage I install, I figured it wasn't a leading contender.

I know what you mean about intermittent problems...what a pain! Hopefully it won't re-occur. If so I think I'll put a new thermostat in as well as perform the quick-learn over again. Nothing like throwing solutions at a problem and hoping one will work! With any luch I won't have to though.

[^]

[Grouch]

My 2 cents

If it overheated once chances are it will do it again. I would have the cooling system cheeked including a leakdown test. It isn't likely the Computer is the culprit but it's possible.Doing anything less than a complete engine check could be courting disaster. I know of one person who overheated on the Interstate with no warning until it started smoking and pretty much fried the engine. Temp gauge never moved

[bobs turbo pt]

i would have it checked out also, but we all know the famous saying that chrysler is going to say and thats " we could not duplicate the problem" but make them aware of thee problem anyway!!

[OurPTGT]

Could it have been caused by air in the coolant lines[:I] Isn't the water pump driven by the timing belt? Hope it works out OK for you

[mhleung]

My car is at the dealer tonight, after overheating for the third time in 6 months. I have not put in any mods...I will report once I get my car back tomorrow.

I have to turn my heater on to full for 30 minutes, so that I could get to the dealer! Hope they can really diagnose what is going on there then...

[Daniel]

sorry to hear about your overheating problems... hope it can be fixed without a much of hassels... good luck
dcuizer

[turbomangt]

This is one reason why I have not done the S1 yet, why change something that is working fine? [:I] I would post this on the Turbo forum, many knowledgable people over there. I would suggest reading some of the posts even if you don't have a Turbo (yet) it makes for informative reading. I see Dalite has posted here, he is one of the masters on the Tech forum. Nice to see his watching us over here as well. Gary[^]

[GLH_TC 16V]

Who did the Stage 1 install for you? Did you perform the upgrade yourself? Sounds to me like it could have had some air in the cooling system. When you shut it down, the air moved to the overflow bottle and then your system was fine. Just a possibility...