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

[hitcachi]

Sorry man but this sounds like a case of lack of car care. If you need your car that bad then you shouldnt even be hesitating to pay that 400 dollars to have someone replace the water pump. Or could just do it yourself and learn a little bit about your car that you need so much. But i know, you dont have time to do it yourself right. Thats ok it will just crap out on you when you need it the most more often i guess. Also why did you even drive it that long with it overheating. I would have pulled over right away and assessed the situation. Also you said that the water pump had been leaking from the gasket before this happened? Why wasnt it taken care of right when this was noticed. And another thing, yes you probably did warp something with it running that hot for that long. Please dont get mad at me for stating the obvious. Im trying to give you some constructive critisim. My advice. Get it to a shop now. -Jim