well couple days ago i realize that my radiator was leaking, but at the top so i ust refilled it every two days or so with intentions of having it changed soon(this week), but something happended, i was driving and my car started jerking on the freeway and all of a suddenit lost power, i was acelarating and it wasnt picking up, after about ten seconds, it picked up again and ran well till i got to a parkign lot and it jerked again and i stoped and that was when i realized that my temp. gauge was all the way up. when i checked under the hood the radiator ahd spit out all the coolant right over the alternator area, i refilled the radoator and was running good again(two days ago). The same thing happened again yesterday, this time when i filled it up, i drove for like 5 mins and the temp. gauge was rising and falling(regular to high), then the car went dead, i refilled the radiator, but the car wont start, the starter is working i think but the engine is not kicking up. i was pulling teh car home and teh lights went dim after 2 minutes or so.
i wanna know, if the alternator is bad, will that keep the car from starting?
is there a write-up for changing the radiator?

i am gonna buy a new alternator today but i wanna get a few answers first.
thanks guys.......

 

The first answer you'll get is "CHANGE THE RADIATOR BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING ELSE!!!"

How do you dare to drive that car knowing the coolant is spitting out from the radiator. First sign you see the car being too hot on the temp guage, you should not even dare to drive it, not to mention you keep adding water to it and drive it around again and again. Now that the car is overheated, of course you won't be able to start the car. My best advice to you is to change the radiator before you ever touch that car again. Seriously, you don't want to over heat your car like that. It'll end up costing you much more to fix once the problem gets big.

Also, dont' worry about your alternator right now. Even if the alternator is out, you'd still have at least 2-3 days of crank power left. Dude, I just hope you don't screw up your car. Seems to me like you're about to fill up water and drive it again. Not good, not good...

 

thanks cyu1 but i realized that i did bad and i was gonna change both of them today but i will take your advice and change the radiator first.
I was gonna just go and figure it out as i go along but is there a writeup on removing the radiator?

 

i was thinking the same thing. i'd be scared sh!tless to drive a car with a busted rad. a busted axleboot or patched up tire or worn brakes i can live with. but a busted rad is serious. if you wanted a quick fix, you should've found the leak and did some JB weld/epoxy/permatex sort of thing. if you have the money to buy a new alty, you have the money to buy a new rad.

 

if the engine is too hot, will that keep it from starting, and when is cools down, will it start?

 

when you said that the temp was going up and down. That kinda tells me your thermustat(sp? that thing that measures temperature) is sticking. NOT GOOD to have it stick with an aluminium engine. Quickest way to blow a headgasket. So i would change the thermo. also.

 

Apparantly heat expands when it heats up. The sensors on it are helping protect it from continued dangerous operation and like the others said you are basically toasting our engine. It needs coolant for a reason. You've already done enough for it to tell you "help". Fix the radiator primero.

 

i took my radiator to get fixed and they just called me to come get it.
my alternator, well itook it to autozone and they said that its still good so i put it back in.

 

is there a write up for it? i looked for it but i guess id idnt look in the right places.

 

this guy came by tonight and told me that my hed gasket might have went out. has this ever happened to anyone. he told me its loads of work to fix it.

 

If you overheated the engine enough, not only could you have blown the head gasket, but warped the head itself. This is the reason you never run an overheating car.

 

All I can say is wow.

 

i think i need a moment to cry the **** away

 

does anyone know anything about the head gasket? writeup anyone?

 

yeah, it's a btch to change. you'll have to pull off lot's of parts...you'll have to get to the cylinder heads to change it. dude, good luck for being so worriless when you drove the leaking coolant car.

 

i need a write up, plzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz