Engine overheat, car won't start

When a car overheats that quickly, a blown head gasket is a pretty good first guess. It could also be something more serious such as a cracked head or block, but I'd start with the head gasket. In any event, a tear down of the engine, at least the top end, is in order. If the car is otherwise in good shape, then I'd think it definitely is worth repairing. If the car has been a lemon, then I'd dump it and move on.

Matt

98% chance that it's nothing more than a leaking water pump and skipped timing belt. Very common problem.

Probably through a leaky evaporator. Well-known problem on these; the evaporators are made out of something akin to cottage cheese in terms of aging gracefully.

Horseshit, pick a different shop. You lost your water pump and the timing belt slipped, therefore the engine won't start. That's how it happens on this engine. Fortunately, it's not a valvesmasher. Get a new water pump and timing belt and you're all set.

If the engine had a cylinder full of coolant, it wouldn't crank normally. If it had a blown headgasket, it would run poorly and smoke mightily.

DS

Disconnect the battery and wait 5 minutes then reconnect the battery. Some versions you must do this to get them to run after over heating. It's one of those big brother software knows best things.

Look for leaks and bubbles in the over flow tank while running.

Er...holy "what a load of shit", Batman!

Relax, Robin. It's just the... ... Never mind, you're right. Remind me to tell Alfred that it's time to shovel the guano out of the Batcave again.

Where do they come from???

My guess is that the car overheated because the water pump seized up. The water pump is turned by the timing belt, so the timing belt has likely now jumped time (or broken). The first-generation 3.5 is pretty tough and will tolerate a mild overheat, although if you truly did lose ALL coolant, then the heads may have warped. They are aluminium and not cast iron, unfortunately.

Not Chrysler LH cars, though.

Thanks for all that responded, and here's an update:

Because of many suggestions, I looked at the oil stick, no trace of coolant liquid in the oil and no foam on the oil cap.

I refilled the radiator with water and tried to restart the car, with the coolant top off. According to a mechanic I talked to, if one of the cylinders was busted I should see the water shooting up or at least gurgling. It didn't.

Finally, I did the key trick and read the error codes. Only one was

54, "no camshaft signal". Did a brief search on the net, found some references that this could be caused by timing belt being gone, entirely or partially.

So, after all this, is it safe to say that it's prolly the water pump and timing belt, both ruined? And if that, should I attempt to replace them myself? I'm not too mechanically inclined and never went beyond replacing a tire or the oil and filter (didn't have problems with that), but I'm willing to give it a shot now, if it's not too involved. Chilton manual makes it look scary, but what do I know? What do you guys think?

As always, your thoughts and suggestions are welcome

Thanks, Sorin

Yep, thats what it is.

There is no vehicle with an easier-to-replace timing belt than a first-generation Chrysler 3.5

That said, it still takes patience and you MUST follow the FSM procedure to the letter, including manually rotating the engine two turns after everything is installed and verifying that the timing marks all line up.

Its nothing difficult for even a casual shade-tree mechanic, but I would strongly recommend getting the factory service manual (FSM) for the car and following the directions.