Honest to goodness, I did love this car when I first got it. I got it as a birthday present. It always read a little hot, but I had a mechanic check it out and he said that the thermostat had an issue. So, I let him repair it.

A few months went on without an issue, but in October of last year, it started overheating again. Took it to a family friend who is a mechanic and it was the thermostat again. I had it replaced.

It ran fine for another month and I started smelling something burning under the hood. I took it to another well-known mechanic in town and he can't find anything wrong with it. He even checked my gaskets! My car continues to overheat and I can't drive it out of town. It has regurgitated coolant twice, but now seems to be holding it. Turning on the heat sometimes makes it worse. I am a senior and I don't have a lot of money to go and fix this car!

Honestly, as much as I love this car, it is just a pain in the ass. I should have asked to go and get a Honda civic or something...

First of all, after checking various possibilities for the car overheating, we decided it had to be the thermostat. Now, how does one locate the thermostat on a 2.7 Mitsibushi motor?...... Found it and the rest is history:...

It is not located in the normal or conventional manner as thermostats have been located in past vehicles. It is in the right front of the engine block, located in the thermostat housing under the alternator.

You have to raise the front end and remove the front rt tire. Then remove the serpentine belt. Then remove the alternator. Drain the rad but don't bother looking for the radiator drain plug because some genius decided to put it in the most ridiculous location, which involves another hour of work to get to. Instead, pull of the hose at the bottom and let it drain that way. Also, remove the air conditioning or you will only get to 2 of the 3 bolts to remove the thermostat. And there's more.

Best thing: take it to a mechanic if you don't mind paying a couple/few hundred dollars to change a $30 part, which normally takes 15 minutes on most other vehicles that DON'T subscribe to this type of ridiculous, idiotic design.

My advice to anyone with this type of motor? Get rid of the vehicle because you will also find out that the 2.7 Mitsibushi motor comes with all sorts of surprises which WILL cost you a whole lot more to fix than American made engines. And then NEVER buy a vehicle with this type of motor again. Honestly, you won't regret it.

In August of this year we were on a trip to Pigeon Froge, Tn when our 2002 Chrysler Sebring Lxi Convertible started overheating. We took it to a garage where we were told we need to replace the headgaskets. It turned out we had to go home with a loaner vehicle ( a Chevrolet Venture Van) while they removed the heads, sent them off to be shaved, replaced the headgaskets. We were told that solved the problem but we needed to know the cause, so we told them if its the water pump go ahead and replace it. 3 weeks later we get a call that our car is ready, come get it. They had replaced the gaskets, shaved the heads (replaced one head because the mechanic didn't line it up correctly and it cracked ( replaced at no cost to us thankfully for that)), replaced the water pump and put in a radiator. We were also told that they changed the oil and put new coolant in it. Thos cost $1,642.

Now its Oct and our car started idling badly and when you drive and have to stop for any reason the car dies, engine light comes on after the car dies. Used a code scanner on it and its telling us the car is misfiring on cylinders 1,3 and 5. If Chrysler has to pay for engine's, some one please let me know, I want in!!!

On or around December 9, 2008 my car began to steam from the hood. It was barely noticeable, but soon began worsening. I had my Sebring (2.7L) looked at, and I was told by the first person that it was the water outlet housing leaking. I continued driving my car because there was slight overheating, but even after lengthy trips would never go over the 1/2 mark on the temp gauge. I also continued driving it because I would add coolant and water to get my temperature back to a more comfortable level, and most of the coolant was still being delivered where it needed to. I went to Autozone to have another mechanic look at it, and he said that my upper hose is simply letting the coolant leak out, causing it to overheat a little more because of lack of delivery. I ordered my upper hose and I was preparing to install it myself as soon as it came in. I am a high school senior with no money, and new to relocating. This disappointed me even more because I just mailed a payment off on this car, and six days later this issue begins. You will see on the next complaint that this isnt the end of my problems with this car.

The car overheated and the light came on. I had to find water so I could get it cooled off enough to take to the Chrysler shop.

It really ticks me off. they charged $297 for an engine diagnostic test. Then the other $200 was parts and labor. I actually feel like I was Ripped off. Nothing showed on the diagnostic test so I guess I was lucky there. I've been reading the complaints and the cooling system seems to be in 2nd place behind engine complaints.

Update from May 29, 2009: I've done everything you guys said to do. I had a pressure test on the radiator all hoses and sensors checked. The coolent was good. The young man at Kwik Kar checked all this and didn't find anything. But he did find a black plastic bag wrapped around the cv something, it was melting. IHe did not charge me a dime. I drove 15 miles today and the car didn't smell hot. I will keep you updated.