1995 Neon

[Rallaye]

I have a 95 neon. The problem I am having is that the Coolant flushes out into the overflow tank and fills it up to a point where in dumps it onto the ground. I have sat there and watched it in park for 30-60 minutes and it won't do it. It does something while driving it because after filling the System full my daughter drives it for about 2 days and the system is empty. I cannot find any leaks. I have changed the cap and checked the thermostat. The vacuum line on the throttle body was old and cracked so I replaced it. Still the same problem. The dealer can't find the problem and I'm tired of taking it in for them to change parts and charge me outragious prices. They said the head gasket wasn't bad but everything I read led the me back to the head. I changed it out and have the same problem. This is driving me batty. Any help would be appreciated

[das2123]

Another person described your same problem and said that having the head resurfaced fixed his problem.

[denisond3]

How about doing a pressure test of the cooling system - with the engine stopped? It might be something that only leaks at higher pressures. While the radiator cap my have a 16 psi limit, there can be higher pressures in the cooling system locally while running, so I could run the pressure up to maybe 20-22 psi. Then look for anything dripping. There are rubber hoses from the water pump area and below the intake manifold that seldom get replaced, and your car is old enough for them to possibly be failing.
If you do this, be sure to take the spark plugs out before you crank the engine - in case there is coolant leaking into a cylinder from a leak in the head or headgasket. Crank the engine enough to ensure you dont have coolant in a combustion chamber.

[Rallaye]

I checked the head when it was off and was flat. I'll do a pressure chek next on the cooling system. I would have thought letting the car run for a half hour would have developed any leaks that I would have had.

[das2123]

Originally Posted by Rallaye

I checked the head when it was off and was flat.

How did you check it?

[Rallaye]

I took it to the machine shop that resurfaced it about two years ago. They told me it was in good shape. Last night I let the car run for about an hour. When I went out I saw a small puddle of coolant on the floor. It looks like the tube that goes to the overflow tank has a bad connection. This shouldn't have been bad enough though to cause the system to empty out in a few days. When I shut the car off and it started to cool down I expected the system to draw the coolant from the overflow tank. It didn't. I got to looking and heard a gurgling sound coming from the area of the thermostat housing like it was sucking air. I took it apart and the rubber gasket was torn and smashed. I also looked a the small heater hose that comes off of the water pump to the tube. It was original. When I took it off it had a split in it on the back side that you couldn't see. I'm going to replace it, the thermo gasket and the transfer tube tonight to see if this fixes the problem. I'll let you know.

[Rallaye]

Looks like this took care of the coolant problem. Now the front passenger brake is stuck on. Removed the caliper and took the piston otu to see if it was dirty or rusted. Looked good. Put it back together and it acts like it won't release, it also takes alot of effort to press on the brakes to get the cars to stop. I'm going to replace the brake hose going to it since its original. I'm also going to look for a vacuum leak since it doesn't appear that the brake booter is working. Any other ides if this doesn't work?

[Randy Bailey]

Try greasing the pins.