hey guys! im desperate! i have taken my car to two places and spent 200$ and its still not fixed, i will start from the begining!

I drove home from work one day and i noticed my car smoking from the hood, when i get home i pop the hood and see my engine coolant cap is off and smoke if coming out!
i fill it back with water, and put the cap on, that night i drive to subway! and my car starts smoking and shuts off on me! it doesnt start at all, and my heater stops working

I then put more water in my engine coolant cap, and it starts.
it works fine,

next morning its working, heater is on, and on the way to work, my car starts over heating again!
heater starts blowing cold air my car shuts off as i stop at a red light!!

I put water in it,
and it runs but not so good, i take it to good year, they said my BYPASS hose had a tear and then put a new one in for me,
that they said i need to get a new thermostat! so i take it home and have my BF brother put in a thermostat for me!!

it starts working fine, but as im driving AGAIN it start over heating, the heater isnt working still but it is not smoking as much

i take it to another repair shop, and they say they put pressures water in all my tubes, NOTHING IS LEAKING,
they said it might be the thermstat was put in wrong * but i doubt it * or its not a working thermostat, but we bought it from autozone new!!

WHAT ELSE COULD IT BEE??!!?
remember my heater turns on sometimes! but most of the time is cold air blowing!!!
please please please help i dont have much money to spend.

 

can sum1 please help mee!!!

 

It's probably the t-stat. Let a mechanic change it correctly. Your BF may have done it wrong or gotten a bad one from Autozone.

 

a faulty t-stat would not cause a stalling condition. it could cause an overheating condition, which in turn *could* have created a blown head gasket.

if i recall correctly, the thermostat will only fit 1 way in the housing.

the fact that the radiator cap was blown off the neck concerns me, as this is an indication of great pressure.

what i suggest is to do the following, in this order.

1-verify the level of coolant in the radiator as well as the reservior.
2-run the vehicle at idle with *only* the heat on vent (no defrost) and let it come up to operating temp. check the upper hose where the thermostat is, and when the temperature gets hot enough it should open and you will feel the hose get hot as the engine coolant passes through.
3-verify the guage is in the normal operating range and stays there until the cooling fan engages.

if the vehicle overheats with the proper amount of coolant in it, and there are no leaks, and the hoses remain cooler than normal, you could have a blown headgasket. a leak down test could verify this since the combustion chamber gases will have co2. this will turn the dye a different color.

if that is the case, then you are looking at a hefty repair bill. and a new radiator cap.


df