I'm afraid that I have several problems with my car. I have a 2000 HYUNDAI Elantra. I wanted to have the factory stereo replaced with a new one. A friend of a friend supposedly knew how to install it. After 4 hours it became evident that he had no idea what he was doing. He said that the stereo started smoking after he reconnected the battery and he could not put the dash back together. I ended up with no heat, no air coming out of the front vents, no defrost, and the buttons on my climate console did not work (AC and rear defrost). He also "lost" (I think broke and didn't want to admit) the climate control knobs to control the speed of the fan and to turn from heat to defrost, etc...
I ended up having to purchase a new stereo and went to a professional (which I should have done to begin with). He was able to hook up the stereo and reassemble my dash. At this point I was able to get cold air to blow out of the defrost vents only. The air would occasionally go from cold to somewhat warm on it's own ( I have no knobs yet to control anything, had to order from dealership). So no rear defrost or ac either. All of the repair shops were closed for the weekend but the car was driving fine though.I had to drive to work the next day (about 30 miles away) and noticed a very slight burning/antifreeze smell coming through the vent but the temperature was ok. A little while later I noticed that my temperature gauge was spiking up and going back down. Then it spiked up and I noticed the smell a little more. I was driving on the highway and had to drive about another mile to pull off safely. As soon as I stopped I noticed white steam/smoke (couldn't tell in the car) coming from the hood but it stopped as soon as I shut the car off. I've had a radiator blow before and the smoke had never stopped that quickly.
I had the car towed back and checked it out the next morning.There is no visible leaking under the car and I don't see anything when I look at the engine. I don't know if it's the heater core but I've had a heater core go bad in a car as well and this wasn't the same. There is nothing coming from my exhaust and the oil looks fine. I looked and there seems to be coolant in the radiator. It's not a lot but I do see some and the coolant reservoir was empty. I started it up and let it run for about 15 minutes and it didn't overheat, no smells, no smoke, and no leaking.
I know these all probably aren't related but I'm at a loss. I don't know a lot about cars other than what has broken on all of the cars that I've had. I want to have an idea of what is wrong because being female, I've had my fair share of mechanics try to take advantage of me. Any help would be great! Thanks!!!
I ended up having to purchase a new stereo and went to a professional (which I should have done to begin with). He was able to hook up the stereo and reassemble my dash. At this point I was able to get cold air to blow out of the defrost vents only. The air would occasionally go from cold to somewhat warm on it's own ( I have no knobs yet to control anything, had to order from dealership). So no rear defrost or ac either. All of the repair shops were closed for the weekend but the car was driving fine though.I had to drive to work the next day (about 30 miles away) and noticed a very slight burning/antifreeze smell coming through the vent but the temperature was ok. A little while later I noticed that my temperature gauge was spiking up and going back down. Then it spiked up and I noticed the smell a little more. I was driving on the highway and had to drive about another mile to pull off safely. As soon as I stopped I noticed white steam/smoke (couldn't tell in the car) coming from the hood but it stopped as soon as I shut the car off. I've had a radiator blow before and the smoke had never stopped that quickly.
I had the car towed back and checked it out the next morning.There is no visible leaking under the car and I don't see anything when I look at the engine. I don't know if it's the heater core but I've had a heater core go bad in a car as well and this wasn't the same. There is nothing coming from my exhaust and the oil looks fine. I looked and there seems to be coolant in the radiator. It's not a lot but I do see some and the coolant reservoir was empty. I started it up and let it run for about 15 minutes and it didn't overheat, no smells, no smoke, and no leaking.
I know these all probably aren't related but I'm at a loss. I don't know a lot about cars other than what has broken on all of the cars that I've had. I want to have an idea of what is wrong because being female, I've had my fair share of mechanics try to take advantage of me. Any help would be great! Thanks!!!