J
johanna71983
Guest
Was out Christmas shopping today when my 2000 Chevy Cavalier began overheating.. The low coolant light had been on for a couple days so I stopped at the mall and got some coolant. After I got out of the mall (about an hour later, and it was near freezing here today so plenty of time to cool down) I put the coolant in the reservoir and was on my way to the next store. The temp gauge shot right back up and into the red. At the next store I noticed coolant bubbling out from under my hood. Before I left that store (again another 45mins to an hour later) I put more coolant in. Left the store for home and again the temp gauge shot up into the red but then it suddenly dropped down to zero (which is really weird because it's normally on the half-way mark). After a few minutes it moved up to the 3/4-ish area and hovered around there for the rest of the way home.
What the heck is wrong with this thing? I plan on taking it to the shop near my job on Monday, but that's about 45mins away from my house in case it breaks down or needs to be towed. Also, I'm planning on buying a new car in January when I get my tax return so I don't want to invest too much into this car unless I need to do something about it for it to last another month or so.
Any savvy car people out there want to give me some insight? Is my car going to blow up or something?
Thanks in advance
Forgot to add, something else weird was happening.. I had the heat on full blast and when the car was moving it was blowing out hot air. BUT when the car was stopped (like at a red light) it was blowing ice-cold air (it was very cold out here today).
Mousie -- Has a weird kinda burning smell (smells kind of like if you boiled water in a pan until the water was all gone, if that makes any sense at all..) no film on the windshield..
And about adding the coolant directly to the radiator - this car has no way to get directly into the radiator. Its a closed system.
What the heck is wrong with this thing? I plan on taking it to the shop near my job on Monday, but that's about 45mins away from my house in case it breaks down or needs to be towed. Also, I'm planning on buying a new car in January when I get my tax return so I don't want to invest too much into this car unless I need to do something about it for it to last another month or so.
Any savvy car people out there want to give me some insight? Is my car going to blow up or something?
Thanks in advance
Forgot to add, something else weird was happening.. I had the heat on full blast and when the car was moving it was blowing out hot air. BUT when the car was stopped (like at a red light) it was blowing ice-cold air (it was very cold out here today).
Mousie -- Has a weird kinda burning smell (smells kind of like if you boiled water in a pan until the water was all gone, if that makes any sense at all..) no film on the windshield..
And about adding the coolant directly to the radiator - this car has no way to get directly into the radiator. Its a closed system.