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I know very little about cars, most of my knowledge extends to things I've had to have repaired.
So gear heads, a little background.
I have a 2004 Dodge Intrepid I bought in July of 2010. Obviously I didn't need to start using the heat until a few months after I bought it. The first time I used it I discovered problems with. Like say in the moring you go out and start your car to warm it up throw on the heat to defrost the windshield. The entire time I've owned it the engine will warm up doing that but the heater won't blow hot air until the car is moving. Even if I stop at a red light the heater will go from blowing hot air to cold.
In late spring of 2012 I had to replace the thermostat, it over heated and blew, crap I forget the name of the valve. The following winter, so '12-'13 the heat was being even more wonky, sometimes the heat wouldn't blow hot unless I was driving over 50, and I had to top off the antifreeze A LOT even though I could never find it leaking under my car.
So last spring, 2013, after I got my taxes back I got a tune up and replaced the battery. A few days later my check engine light came on. It was my thermostat, again!! I had to replace it when it was a little less than a year old. THEN a couple months later it overheated and I got a crack in my radiator, had to replace the radiator.
A few days ago I drove to the gas station about 10 minutes away, and straight back to the house. Same thing car heats up but doesn't blow hot til I'm moving. Heat worked on the way there, but not the way home. I park the car in the driveway. Now, it never overheated according to the temperature gauge but after I stopped a lot of steam was coming out from under the hood, actually close to the windshield, not the radiator.
Any guesses for what could be causing my problems, I'm wondering if something else is funking up my thermostat. Water pump? Heater core? something else entirely? Like my car is possessed
So gear heads, a little background.
I have a 2004 Dodge Intrepid I bought in July of 2010. Obviously I didn't need to start using the heat until a few months after I bought it. The first time I used it I discovered problems with. Like say in the moring you go out and start your car to warm it up throw on the heat to defrost the windshield. The entire time I've owned it the engine will warm up doing that but the heater won't blow hot air until the car is moving. Even if I stop at a red light the heater will go from blowing hot air to cold.
In late spring of 2012 I had to replace the thermostat, it over heated and blew, crap I forget the name of the valve. The following winter, so '12-'13 the heat was being even more wonky, sometimes the heat wouldn't blow hot unless I was driving over 50, and I had to top off the antifreeze A LOT even though I could never find it leaking under my car.
So last spring, 2013, after I got my taxes back I got a tune up and replaced the battery. A few days later my check engine light came on. It was my thermostat, again!! I had to replace it when it was a little less than a year old. THEN a couple months later it overheated and I got a crack in my radiator, had to replace the radiator.
A few days ago I drove to the gas station about 10 minutes away, and straight back to the house. Same thing car heats up but doesn't blow hot til I'm moving. Heat worked on the way there, but not the way home. I park the car in the driveway. Now, it never overheated according to the temperature gauge but after I stopped a lot of steam was coming out from under the hood, actually close to the windshield, not the radiator.
Any guesses for what could be causing my problems, I'm wondering if something else is funking up my thermostat. Water pump? Heater core? something else entirely? Like my car is possessed