# No heat with slight waterworks **URL:** \ **Category:** Maintenance/Repairs\ **Tags:** dodge, stratus\ **Created:** [March 27, 2010, 5:56pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/no-heat-with-slight-waterworks/46715 "2010-03-27T17:56:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jonathansample](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9d8465/32.png) [@jonathansample](https://community.cartalk.com/u/jonathansample)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2010, 5:56pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/no-heat-with-slight-waterworks/46715/1 "2010-03-27T17:56:27Z")
My 2003 Dodge Stratus has been overheating whenever I turn the heater on. The heater itself, up till this started, slowly flickered from cold to short bursts of hot then just blew cold. There is a thick black tube that runs just a few inches from the overflow tank to connect to the top of a black part that has four bolts securing a cover from which sprays all the fluid running out of the tank. What might this part be and to what system of the car’s function does this part actually belong? ---
**Author:** ![BustedKnuckles](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/cartalk/user_avatar/community.cartalk.com/bustedknuckles/32/25_2.png) [@BustedKnuckles](https://community.cartalk.com/u/BustedKnuckles)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2010, 8:55pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/no-heat-with-slight-waterworks/46715/2 "2010-03-27T20:55:40Z")
Go to your mechanic IMMEDIATELY. Continuing to drive this car with coolant leaking like this will DESTROY THE ENGINE!!! Since you cannot tell me the names of the parts that are leaking, I cannot tell you how to stop the leak other than letting a qualified mechanic fix this for you correctly. This is a serious, and the fix may not be. ---
**Author:** ![oblivion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3ab097/32.png) [@oblivion](https://community.cartalk.com/u/oblivion)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2010, 2:11pm UTC](https://community.cartalk.com/t/no-heat-with-slight-waterworks/46715/3 "2010-03-28T14:11:49Z")
A good place to start would be replacing the thermostat. As BustedKnuckles said though, driving the car while the temp gauge is in the red will quickly damage your engine.