we literally drove this car off of the lot saturday and it has issues. we test drove it pretty far and everything was just fine, we test drove it far enough that it should have done this then. So we drive it off the lot and on the way home it starts overheating, oh yeah the radio doesn't want to work. its an 01 63,000 miles lxi

let's start with the overheating it starts dinging within a mile , you can hear the water boiling and then it takes probably 1-2 minutes and the fan kicks on but it seems like the thermostat is not sensing something. you can smell the anitifreeze once you get out of the car. checked the water levels in the radiator when it's cold and it's fine all around.my husband thinks just need a new thermostat, obviously we have the 30 day warranty so we will take it back tuesday, saturday he was leaving as we were so couldn't take it back immediatley. i was very skeptical about buying this car because we have a 95 that was a headache and i really don't want the same headache for another at least 4 years, the amount of the loan.

as for the radio it seems to randomly work. my husband has played with the fuse and it works for a little bit and then it just stops working, sometimes it freezes and you can't change the volume, channel or anything. and cd changer randomly works

 

I can try to help with the overheating.
my car is from '97 and with smaller engine, but I think they have the same system.

it's not becouse of the thermostat. stucked thermostat would overheat the engine in a matter of minuites. these T&C-s have electronic module which controls both fans, one for engine radiator and one for A/C radiator. it gets data from engine coolant sensor and turns fan on and off.
usualy, it's his fault. it is located on car body, just a bit lower and to the right of the engine radiator.
so, when you pop the hood, look inside, behind the radiator, down to the right on the car body and it should be there.
its bolted with 2 bolts and has 1 conector leading to it.

of course, providing these cars have same system, and I think they do.

 

01 Not quite same system turn on ac and wait for 30 seconds see if the fans come on if not check the fuses then more then likely the relay is bad but they are under the driver side front bumper on the 01.

 

so what do you call that module I described?
and you say that Mark IV T&C (2001 on) do not have that module any more?

 

Tevis Mark IV is ABS brakes man not cooling or a radio. The rad fan relay which is a solid state relay is on the driver side frame of the older van. The RS van 01-05 uses a relay yes different one and located under the bumper or behind the driver side headlight.

 

got it