Chrysler Sebring 2003 overheating

Asked by Samuel Oct 25, 2013 at 08:07 PM about the 2003 Chrysler Sebring LX Sedan FWD

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

My 2003 Chrysler Sebring is overheating.

A mechanic friend of mine is trying to teach me how to work on cars, and we redid the head gasket and ran into many issues, and this problem is our final barrier from having a brand new car essentially.

Fans aren't coming on because the ECM is reading the coolant temperature 60degrees off. Not sure what is causing the false reading.
Replaced thermostat (a previouse "mechanic" had put it in backwards), pushed air through the coolant lines, gets good heat, fans failsafe come on when AC is on, I can manually hardwire the fans on, but this is not ideal, I would like for the system to work automatically.
With snap on tool connected, coolant temp will read 160 normally and boil over at 195-200; which is impossible because coolant boils at 265. I know why my car overheats, because the ECM is reading a lower false temperature so its not telling the fans to come on because it sees the temperature as normal and doesnt need to be cooled, but what I dont know is what is causing the lower false reading? could it be an ECT sensor? or is the ECM itself need to be reprogrammed? I want to know what is causing the false reading.

6 Answers

200,975

Try unhooking your battery for at least ten minutes. This tends to help in some cases.

1 people found this helpful.

thank you, I will give it a try; while we were redoing the heads the battery was disconnected, but since the new thermostat has been in, the battery has not been disconnected.

200,975

Did you properly burp all the air out of the system? If not an air pocket could be where the sensor is located and not actually reading the temp of the coolant. Had this happen on one I put a water pump in last week. Had to burp it three times before it started acting right.

2 people found this helpful.

yes, we used an air compressor to make sure none of the lines were blocked.

200,975

No I mean get all the air out of the system. Only coolant in the radiator, motor, lines, heater hoses and heater core(no air in system). If any air is left in the system it will cause the issue you are having.

2 people found this helpful.
6,765

You have probably bled the system already. For others, there is a coolant bleeder valve on the top left side of the 2.7. Several coolant/heater hoses converge here. The unit contains a sensor, and the air bleeder, it typically fails at 5-6 years, leaking coolant from a seam. Did the purge correct the overheating?

2 people found this helpful.

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