Sebring Overheating

30

Asked by Victor Jul 02, 2014 at 09:09 AM about the 2005 Chrysler Sebring Sedan FWD

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

Yesterday my temperature light turned on as I was coming home and I did not make a
big deal of it because I assumed it was the coolant. This morning before work I add
plenty of coolant and began my way to work(20min drive). I notice a squeeky noise
coming from my hood as I drive off. 5 minutes in, the temperature light turns on again
and so I try to make it to work as safe as possible (slow speed) because I cannot afford
to miss another day. I get there, and I instantly check my fluids, the transmission was
a bit bubbly (I thought it was my oil at first until I checked the second time) and my
coolant was there still. I go into work, come back half an hour later, check the fluids
again and the coolant is gone (I think it was drained into the radiator?) and I notice that
my transmission fluid isn't my oil so I find and check my oil stick, clean it, and
measure it again literally found no oil on it. This puzzles me because I got a oil change
last week.. I've been reading around people say check water pump, pulley, radiator, and
I want a more specific answer in my case please. What's going on?

My car is a 05 Chrysler Sebring.

37 Answers

102,475

Since you said that you heard a squeeking noise, it sounds like a bad water pump. Are you noticing any wetness on your engine? I would fill it with water and start it up and watch for the drip. It sounds like you may have bigger problems than just the coolant. I hope you filled up your oil to capacity after discovering that it wasn't on the stick. Have you noticed any blue smoke on early morning start ups? If you haven't noticed any visible smoke, the garage that changed your oil may have shorted you a quart or two. Just to be on the safe side, look under your car and look for any oil that may have coated the entire underside of your car. You may have a bad oil pan gasket. Sebrings have problems with oil pans rusting out and bad gaskets. Also check for oil leaking from around your filter. Sometimes the old gasket will stick to the engine block, and if they put a new filter on top of the old gasket, the oil will leak from in between the double gasket.

8 people found this helpful.
30

I am still at work so I was planning on going to Autozone/Advanced auto parts, whichever is closer, in my coworkers car to buy more oil and coolant just incase. I will add the oil to my car when I get back, although I know it's not good to add oil without filtering out the old, what can I do at this moment? There hasn't been any blue smoke, only smoke I seen comes from the coolant from heat causing it to bubble/smoke. I took my car last Sat. to fix some axles and ball joints and the mechanic said that engine wise my car is perfect. No leaks or anything so I doubt I'm having leaks, I will check under when I'm on break. Thank you for your quick response!

3 people found this helpful.
102,475

Are you sure that there was no oil on the stick? If you just had it changed, it is very hard to see on the stick if it's really clean. It's just like trying to see water on the stick. If you really have no oil, I would be bringing the car back to the garage and chewing someone a new one..........and I would have them fix the radiator issue for real cheap since they were idiots......There's no way you burned 3 qts. of oil in a week if you have no leaks.

1 people found this helpful.
30

Yeah I just checked again and the oil is near minimum, but it was really clear haha my mistake. So I'm guessing it has to be the radiator leak or defective water pump? Maybe a leak but I checked under the car again and I don't see any fluid.

102,475

I would fill your radiator and let it run for awhile to see if you can spot a leak. If you are not finding a visible puddle, that means you may be burning your fluid due to a bad head gasket. But there's no way you can burn that much fluid in that short of time. I would look for a leak when you get out of work....

3 people found this helpful.
Best Answer Mark helpful
30

@reelin68 Ok so before I went to buy the coolant, my co workers were telling me to check if the radiator had a leak by adding water to it, turning on the car, and looking under the car to make sure there was no drip. There wasn't but I looked towards the water pump and it seemed a bit loose (shaking slightly different than the rest of the hood) even tho when I try to move it, it was tight. I feel like the squeeking is coming from here...? Anyways, I went to the Advanced Auto parts and as I was buying the same coolant I was using before(blue container with green coolant), I asked to be sure if it was the correct one for my car and they said no.They switched it to an Advanced Auto parts brand that was DEXcool or something like that which is more reddish according to them. Not sure if this was the problem but now I got to replace the water in my radiator with this coolant except I'm not really mechanic savy and I don't know how to flush my radiator. Is it alright if I just add the new coolant in the container and let it flow to the radiator?

102,475

There's no way to get all of the coolant out of your block unless there is a block drain plug. Don't just pour pure fluid into the jug. When engine is cool, remove radiator cap and pour a 50/50 mix of water and fluid into your radiator until it is full. Then pour the remainder into your reservoir jug. Run car, and let it sit over night. As it cools, it will suck more fluid from the plastic jug into the system. Refill jug in the morning if it appears to be down. Before I go to all of that trouble, I would just keep filling the car with water until you figure out where all of your fluid is going. No sense in taking a $15 jug of fluid and having it disappear the next day. What may be happening is your water pump may appear to be spinning, but what in fact is happing is the shaft on the impellor may have cracked. When that happens, everything appears to be working normally, but the fluid is not circulating through the system. As you are driving, your coolant is boiling out of the overflow tube. By the time you get to where you are going, your fluid is gone, and there is no visible leak. My guess is this is what is happening. If you're not finding water in your oil, (it would look like a coffee coolata) or you're not blowing white smoke from your exhaust, then I would suspect a bad water pump.

4 people found this helpful.
50

Why is water coming out buy my transmission on my Chrysler seabring 2000 when I put water in it

5 people found this helpful.
102,475

First check your plastic coolant reservoir for a hole. Then check the hoses that go through the fire wall into the heater core. If one of those has a hole, it may appear to be coming from the transmission.

2 people found this helpful.
20

I've replaced everything my car is still over heating

2 people found this helpful.
102,475

Autumn, You probably have a huge air bubble in the system. If all parts have been replaced, that has to be the only other cause. You can get a kit at your local auto store to bleed the air out of the cars system. What parts have you replaced so far?

3 people found this helpful.
100

HI, I have a sebring 2.7 6 cilenders 2002. Since I bought this car the heater did't work. It was over heating. Leaks the antifreeze. Is cold here in Minneapolis. So I took my car to honest one auto shop. They told me that it was my "termostant". I can't spell that. Well I changed and the heat wasn't working. So I took it back. Now they were gonna flush the antifreeze and they were gonna put new houses. So I took my car home. Nothing no heat. So I bought a car heater at eBay. Just to keep me warm. So I took the car back again and they changed the heater cord it was located under the little box comparter. The next day. No heat. The car still over heating. Those part are very sxpensive. I paid more then $3 800. Then the cooling fans stop working. One day I was driving and my car got very hot. Cause of the overheating problems. I didn't have any more money. To fix the cooling fans it was gonna cost me $600 plus labor. So I parked the car in the street I was upset I was thinking in my head. Gob help me I don't have any more money to fix my car. And I need the car to take my kids to school. I was waiting for my car to cold down so I can go home. Well this old man came and he was like. Oh boy are you having a nightmare with this beauty. I told the guy how do you know. And he replaid me. I used to own a car like this one. So he told me all the problems overheating no heat cooling fans didn't work. Leaks antifreeze. He spended all his money trying to fix those problems. He was like let me guess you don't have any money to fix the car right.then he was like I can fix all your problems less the $20 dollars. I was like yeah right. I spend more then $3800 and the car sucks. He was like that sound like me when I was your age. Give me 45 minutes I'll be back. I gave my car info. And he went to autozone. When he came back. He bought a RADIATOR CAP for $10 dollars. I filled the jar and put the new CAP. He told me to run the car for $25 minutes. Un- Believable the heat was working and the fans were working too. No more leaking. WOOW. HE TOLD ME THAT WHEN THE RADIATOR CAP IS LOSE OR BROKEN THE HEAT COME OUT OF THE JAR AND THAT MAKE THE COOLING FANS NOT TO WORK. AND AT THE SAME TIME THE HEAT WON'T WORK. AND OFCURSE THE COOLING LEAKS. WHEN THE COOLING GRTS HOT THE STEAM COME OUT OF THE TOP OF THE JAR....SO IF YOU HAVE ANY PROBLEMS WITH YOUR SEBRING TRY TO CHANGE THE RADIATOR CAP. DON'T SPEND YOUR MONEY ON PARTS THE YOU DON'T NEED. LET ME KNOW IF THAT WORK FOR YOU. I CAN TELL YOU HOW TO CHECK FOR CODES AND HOW TO FIX THEM. AND HOW TO CHANGE THE HEATER AC FAN. AND HOW TO FIX THE HEATER CONTROL. THE LITTLETHING THE CONTROL THE HEAT SPEED. 1,2,3,4,5. I CAN HELP YOU FIX THE OIL LIGHT THAT COMES OUT IN THE DASHBOARD. LET ME KNOW IF THESE WORK. THANK YOU GUYS. I READ ALL THE PROBLEMS AND NO BODY SAYS THAT THEY CHANGE THE RADIOTOR CAP. STOP CHANGING OTHER PART. START WITH THAT. RADIATOR CAP. CHANGE THAT FIRST. GOOD LUCK

10 people found this helpful.
50

I have a crystler sebring 2000 n it start overheating out of nowhere n my antifreeze was gone so i was told to get radiator cap did that n filled it drove to work n went on break after a couple hours came out n seen a big puddle of antifreeze so took it to shop they said it was the waterpump They fixed that then it was good for a month then two weeks ago it overheated again so a mechanic said will its the thermostat he fixed that n said yeah it was bad so im like ok everything should be ok now but no two days ago it did it again so idk wat else it is..... i looked under the hood n the smoke was coming from radiator lid

5 people found this helpful.
100

Im having similar problems my 2000 sebring convertible is overheating just idling for like 10-15min. theres lots of anti freeze in the coolant resivour but the metal cap is smokin hot and theres nothing I was putting coolant but thats way too expensive over and over so I put water and same effect 15min overheating light is on and engine is super hot and dry as a bone. Yet plastic coolant resiviour is full any help with ideas????

10 people found this helpful.
102,475

Have you changed out any parts yet? Are your cooling fans kicking on?

4 people found this helpful.
20

I have a leak in my 97 Chrysler Sebring its not the hoses or the radiator. I can hear and see the water squirting out on the blockas soon as i pour it in any suggestions on where the leak could be coming from

2 people found this helpful.
102,475

Ndeyerish, If it appears to be leaking on the passenger side, it's most likely your water pump. Should be behind your timing belt cover. If you haven't replaced your timing belt, you may as well do that as well. The mechanic will have to remove the timing belt to replace the water pump anyhow. As long as he's right in there with it all torn apart, you may as well kill two birds with one stone.

4 people found this helpful.
450

Bigheadvic if you have a 2005 Sebring there is no way you shook the water pump after lifting the hood. You should look again at what part you shook that you THINK is the water pump. I'm assuming it has belts on its pulleys so it can be the ac compressor or alternator you shook but definitely NOT the water pump you shook. The water pump on your car is located inside the crank case with the timing chain around it. It is the center pulley for your timing and half the engine must come off before you can access it or even see it. It is NOT visible just lifting the hood. After about 5-8 hours of a trained professional removing engine parts, only then can you SEE or touch your water pump. I'm thinking you are shaking the ac compressor. It will also make squeeling noise if the clutch seizes up. It will also cause your car to overheat as the ac compressor cannot be bypassed on this car. It is part of the surpentine pulley belt system connected with alternator, power steering and crankcase by belt which connects to the crankshaft running the water pump, oil pump and cams with timing chains underneath your crank case cover. Does your ac work? Also, turn on your heater while it is running to draw heat from the engine and it will slow the overheating. After it is running, turn on your ac and determine if it overheats faster with the ac on. Although these cars are notorious for water pumps going bad, you cannot see the water pump without removing half the engine first. This is a job a shop will charge you sooooo much money to change on this car. If the water pump blows you will not likely see any water under the hood because the water will dump into your crank case mixing with your oil instead. You can see this on the dip stick. Your oil will look like milky coffee type stuff rather than pretty clearish oil. Or initially it may look like bubbles on your stick before mixing thoroughly with the oil as oil and water do not like to mix. If you run your car after this happens you will ruin your engine. If you catch it before allowing the slushy mixture to move throughout your engine everything can be drained repaired and cleaned and voila like new. But if you let this into your engine every minute you drive will be pure luck. This engine will seize if this is not fixed. That is IF the water pump did break and is dumping coolant/water inside the engine compartment. If it just stopped spinning and it isn't moving the water through your system you can have what you describe, pretty oil on your stick, overheating...but the disappearance of water doesn't fit. You have to determine what is happening to the coolant. Since you have already mistaken what the water pump is and seeing oil on your dipstick, you really need someone with some knowledge about cars to determine if your oil on the dipstick is milky or clear or contains water bubbles in it. Or find pictures online of milky dipstick, good dipstick and bubbly dipstick before you ruin your car. This engine has an aluminum block and sensitive parts and running it while overheating can quickly ruin the engine (crack the block, seize engine, etc). An overheating issue is serious and needs attention so DO NOT keep driving it like that so you don't do further damage. Let us know if you got it fixed please and what it was. Thanks.

2 people found this helpful.
450

Also bigheadvick you need to find the air bleeder usually located on too of the engine near the intake plenum. This will be used to bleed air from your water system. If you have fixed the overheating issue you may just have an air pocket or few left in the system causing it to continue with issues. Use a tiny wrench to open and close the bleeder valve on top while the car is running. It will begin to boil out coolant/water mixture. Let is keep coming for a few minutes slowly while the engine is running to be sure there is no air in the system. If there is air it will spit and sputter and blow out air and coolant at high pressure then may turn to a steady stream of coolant again...keep going...but be filling the system with water / coolant as you go to not let the water level drop down or it will let air back in the system...keep going until another air pocket comes out. When the temp on the car levels out and the engine is acting right and there is a steady stream of coolant coming out the valve you have removed all the air. But with the way you keep letting the level drop and adding more you probably have quite a few air pockets in it. You may need to do this bleeding process several times after running the engine until there is no air in the system. The air pocket will allow overheating because the sensor won't read correctly if the air pocket is stuck over the sensor. It will also cause the thermostat to not open and close if the air pocket is stuck at the thermostat. This causes a continued overheating problem even after the initial issue causing you to lose water/coolant is repaired. Mine got so much air in the system after some repairs that I just kept thinking g there can't still be air and I'd bleed it some more. It took a couple weeks for me to get all the air out of my system. I bled it sever times. It finally got out and voila. And please in the future you need to check any type of fluid you put into your car for the correct type BEFORE you put it in there. You can do much damage not using correct fluids/oils. Do not add the red coolant to the green coolant. Get the green coolant out or it will damage your system. it can damage the metal and cause corrosion and pieces to start flaking off and those pieces will start running through your system clogging things up and causing serious problems. don't put straight coolant into your car either. You need coolant /water mixture. You need to find the block plug and get the green out. Or drain the radiator (take plug out the bottom) take off overflow cap (my radiator has no cap...I think yours doesn't either) place a garden hose in the overflow tank cap hole, crank the car, turn on the hose and as you are filling the reservoir your water will be dumping out the radiator drain plug. When all the water coming out the radiator drain is no longer green you have removed all the green. Stop filling with water but let it drain a little more to make room for pink coolant, turn car off. Plug radiator add coolant to fill system back to level then BLEED the system. Very pertinent to BLEED the air from the system. Good luck.

2 people found this helpful.
450

Autumn you don't need a kit to bleed air from your system on a Sebring. Just use a wrench the size of your valve and follow above directions.

1 people found this helpful.
450

Marcia check for air pockets in the system by bleeding it per above. After doing all that work there could still be air in the system.

1 people found this helpful.
20

Well sorry to give you bad news I have a 2002 and i had same issues this problem u have is the water pump and bad news is its a 12 hour job. Don't plan on fixing it your self because it consists of removing your timming chain and replacing a bunch of o rings and other crap. Your looking at about $1200. My next problem is I have a valve tacking which is another $1200 because my mechanic says u should never just do one. So I suggest u get rid of it while u can its just way too exspencive to fix any problems on this car. But you can put some pepper in your radiator I did that and it gave me about six months more until I saved money for my repair. Well anyways good luck.

1 people found this helpful.
20

Ps no heat coming out of your vents unless its your thermostat its most likely your water pump the christlers has to have pressure in the valves to push the heat threw your car vents "inside" and a bad water pump or going bad will cause it to not have enough pressure for heat and will cause u to over heat with any speed over 3k rpm or avout 20 mins of driving.

1 people found this helpful.
20

My car keeps overheating but the temperature guage was staying at a quarter of the way or moved up to the halfway point. We realized the car had no coolant in it and it ran cold all winter took a long time for the car to heat up. Last saturday they bled the cooling system and replaced the thermostat. Since then the car keeps boiling over within ten minues of starting it. the temperature guage is quicker to move but does not go into the red zone at all indicating a problem. It also does not have the check engine light come on. They had added water and have since now added two jugs of coolant to the car. Two questions could this be the radiator cap and how much coolant does a 2004 2.7 sebring touring hold.?

1 people found this helpful.
102,475

Bonniegal, can you see the coolant leaking out any place? If not, I would go to the auto store and buy what is called a block tester. It will test for a blown head gasket. They run about $30. Here's a short video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4FoUc6fRNs

2 people found this helpful.
10

I have a 2006 Chrysler Sebring and I have put a new water pump and thermostat I have bleed the water and it's still over heating can someone please help me try to figure it out

1 people found this helpful.
102,475

Linnie123, the next step would be to go to the auto store and buy a block tester kit. This will test for gases escaping through the radiator. This test will let you know if your head gasket is bad. This also causes and overheat issue. Kit is about $30. Here's a video.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHp5E7XnbXo

2 people found this helpful.
230

Check your fans. We went through several issues too and found out the cooling fans weren't working. The part alone is around $285 Cooling issues are gone now we have other issues not with cooling. ugh

20

This is breaking my heart. I LOVE MY 2005 Sebring convertible. Only 78,000 miles on her. She is having the same issues most of you are talking about. Overheating, but not coming out of the bottom. I had a mechanic change the thermostat,a hose and he burped allot of air out of the line. I drove 1/2 mile away from picking her up from him and she went right back up to the red zone. He then replaced water outlet housing (cause it had cracked now). I still can't drive her. I just moved from LA to Las Vegas and I don't have a trusted mechanic (or a job yet)...this is a nightmare!! What next, the water pump??? Oy' vey!

2 people found this helpful.
102,475

Linda, try what I suggested to Linnie in the above post. You may have a bad head gasket.

1 people found this helpful.
20

Thanks Reelin68...I don't want to hear that...lalalala...lol I'm hoping for the best...:-)

20

Yes,the fans come on. The engine sounds fine. Today I drove it briefly to see what's going on and it didn't overheat (gauge wise), and the water was still in the reservoir, but it was boiling. There is also now a funny squeal like a loose belt...Geez, sometimes I think it's worse after I had "it fixed." As soon as I started to back into my driveway water came running out underneath. My neighbor (don't know him, just moved here) said "wow you've got a nasty leak." I wanted to say "No,Sxxt Sherlock,but I was polite. Do people really think I wouldn't notice?...lol

102,475

The squeal you are hearing is most likely the water pump belt. Odds are with only 78k on the car, it shouldn't be a bad head gasket. Since you've been on the West coast, the radiator shouldn't be plugged either. The fans are operating and the thermostat is new, so the only other vital piece is the water pump. Does your car have A/C? If so, is it overheating as soon as you turn the A/C on?

1 people found this helpful.
20

The A/C does make it rise up faster. I am going to get it to another mechanic soon, but $ is a major player here. Making another trip to LA; this time renting a car...:-( Whatever the problem is with my car, I guess "it is what it is."Thanks for all the help!

20

Well, I took it to a "real" service station and the diagnosis is... A Water Pump...YEAH!!! Okay, it's still a lot of $, but she's not dead yet...lol After all of my poking around from fine folks like you,I was pretty convinced it was the water pump myself. Thanks for sharing your knowledge...<3

30

I can not figure out why my 2003 crysler Sebring is not circulating the coolant to the engine block. The thermostat and water pump have been replaced

Your Answer:

Sebring

Looking for a Used Sebring in your area?

CarGurus has 27 nationwide Sebring listings starting at $3,499.

Postal Code:

CarGurus Experts

  • #1
    Sparky222
    Reputation
    4,910
  • #2
    ces13
    Reputation
    2,780
  • #3
    C Daigle
    Reputation
    2,760
View All

Find great deals from top-rated dealers

Search

Related Models For Sale

Used Ford Mustang
61 Great Deals out of 1,603 listings starting at $6,500
Used Chrysler Crossfire
14 listings starting at $6,990
Used Chrysler 300
28 Great Deals out of 550 listings starting at $2,995
Used Chevrolet Corvette
29 Great Deals out of 593 listings starting at $10,989
Used Chevrolet Monte Carlo
5 listings starting at $9,800
Used Ford F-150
363 Great Deals out of 12,802 listings starting at $599
Used Honda Civic
190 Great Deals out of 4,208 listings starting at $2,916
Used Honda Accord
59 Great Deals out of 1,026 listings starting at $2,995
Used Dodge RAM 1500
85 listings starting at $2,500
Used Hyundai Sonata
51 Great Deals out of 824 listings starting at $3,995
Used Jeep Grand Cherokee
121 Great Deals out of 3,487 listings starting at $4,950
Used Jeep Wrangler
144 Great Deals out of 5,930 listings starting at $8,995

Content submitted by Users is not endorsed by CarGurus, does not express the opinions of CarGurus, and should not be considered reviewed, screened, or approved by CarGurus. Please refer to CarGurus Terms of Use. Content will be removed if CarGurus becomes aware that it violates our policies.