05 neon

[Tamiam]

my o5 neon over heated last nite after sitting all night, it starts will go in reverse just fine and then it fails to engage into drive any ideas?

[Chromehero]

This is an old post, but having worked on a Neon that overheated, I can make some recommendations.

First, pop the hood and take a look at all the physical connections in there. If it was a catastrophic overheat/boilover/burst hose, things could be pretty bad, since there is so much plastic under the hood nowadays.

Your engine starts, so that is a good sign, but there may be vacuum hoses that have been damaged by the heat. There are many plastic tubes in the engine compartment as well, check them and their rubbery connectors.

Check the linkage that goes to the transmission. The connector may have been damaged. Unfortunately in order to get a good look at it, you need to remove the air cleaner box, but with an overheat, you want to make sure the vehicle is safe to drive anyway.

If those are fine, and engine runs smooth, check level and condition of Transmission fluid. It may be unrelated to the overheat of the engine.