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

[pure_dx]

thank you everyone, at least i will learn from my mistake, i continued driving the car because it stayed at normal operating temp for a while, and then the temp gauge would go way up and way down, so i was confuse and thought the thermostat was just acting funny and i should be fine, it probably stayed hot for at least 10 minutes on the highway which i was going about 70-75 mph, then when I release the gas pedal to go off the ramp, the rpms droped and check engine lights came on, then died, i can feel that the car was going to die if I come to a completely stop, is my car still fine because the ecu just cut the spark??

the car was leaking coolant from the water pump gasket, but the waterpump is working fine, i would just continue adding coolant and it would be fine, but i forgot about adding coolant to the radiator, i only add it to the reservior/overflow tank, my mistake on the radiator, i will get it to a shop for a diagnos test to make sure what it is today, btw the car is 7afe

This post has been edited by pure_dx: Feb 28, 2006 - 11:47 AM