car over-heated!!!!! Options

[pure_dx]

help! here is the story, this morning i went and started my car, 15 mins later i came back and the car was not at operating temperature, it was lower, below the normal temperature, I drove around and the temperature needle slide very quick up and down, it would stay HOT at the very top when going uphill and go below the normal when going downhill?? When i was at the highway after 15 minutes driving around, the needle stayed way at the top HOT!! as I slow down, the check engine light came on, the battery light, and the oil light (all 3, everything!) the car was having a hard time going in 1st gear and by the time i climbed another hill, the car died on me! i tried to restart but the car wouldn't restart! i pushed the car in a parking lot and after 1 hour I came back and started the car, it started out fine. The coolant in the reservior tank is BROWN and milky chocolate shake and was BOILING!! really bad i could hear it boil, after a while I poured some coolant in the radiator cap which has NO coolant in it.

Is my head gasket gone? was that what produced the brown coolant? will i need to replace it?? hopefully tomorrow morning i'll bring it to a shop and they can replace my water pump, but is it worth it??($400+) my water pump is bad and was leaking from the gasket, please please please!! give me any advices on what to do!! *sigh* thank you much

This post has been edited by pure_dx: Feb 26, 2006 - 1:10 PM

[95CelicaST]

Okay, there was no coolant in the radiator, but regardless- you should have known something was up when the Temp guage was fluttering everywhere. You allowed the temps to get so high that you blew your head gasket and most likely warped your head.

Now, it could have been caused by something else. My Old VW ran fine and all but the Previous Owner broke part of the Thermostat off and somehow managed to get into the coolant lines and into the block. It blocked the flow of coolant, so it backed up and blew everything to hell. Water Pump, Head Gasket, Head, and Radiator. It only cost me 900 dollars to fix, but the car was out of commission for over a month.

It doesn't matter how the problem started, the fact that you allowed it to go on like that is horrible. I wish you the best of luck on finding the true source of the problem, don't expect it to be done and great in 3-5 days. Be glad if it is done in a week or two.