Hi, I have a 1999 Cavalier. I guess I should say this first: I am unfortunately one of those people who know next to nothing about cars, other than to get it gassed up. I had an oil change done about 2500 miles ago, and I guess all my fluids were fine then.
Here is a quick list of symptoms:
1) Check engine light is on and temperature readings are at red. 2) Leaking a very thin and possibly brown oil next to my front right tire. 3) Cools down very quicky and heats up very quickly. (These are gauge reading and I don?t know if the gauge could be wrong or not.) 4) Heating vents have started blowing cold air even though I had it set to full heat.If anyone knows what these problems could mean, please drop in some suggestions. For a detailed description of what happened, please read below.
As I was driving to work this morning, I looked down at my dashboard and noticed that the check engine light was on and the temperature gauge was at red. I panicked because I?ve heard that at those temperatures your car could seize; and so I parked it immediately. Less than five minutes later, I turned it back on, and noticed that the temperature was back to normal, which was strange... can temperature drop that fast? (it was at most a chilly morning in Michigan).
I started driving it again since I was parked right next to someone?s driveway. For some reason, the heating vents were now spewing out cold air although I had it set to max heat. The temperature started rising really fast (within 2 minutes), but I found a good place to park it for the day. While waiting for a friend to pick me up, I noticed that the car was leaking some fluid almost right next to my front right tire. It was a very thin (also brownish maybe?) kind of oil.
My friend didn?t take a look at the car, but said that it possibly could be the head gasket and that if that is the problem, I?m looking at at least 800. Do any or all of these symptoms relate to the head gasket, or could it also be something else?
Thank you.