To start off, I'm no mechanic, so I may be a bit slow! I try to at least learn as much as I can to get an idea of what might be going on so I can either do a fix if it's easy or can have some ideas of what may be going on when I bring it to the shop.

So I have a 2003 that I bought in April. Clean, no damage, carfax was clear. When I got it I did get the cheapest extended warranty, which covers the internally lubricated parts of the engine and a few other things.

It ran perfectly fine until last week, when the temp gauge began jumping between the middle to over heating and the high speed fan stayed on for a few minutes after parking. This happened a couple of times so I parked it at my moms, checked the coolant, it was dry even though I'd just had fluids topped off maybe a month before, added water, ran it a bit, and had to put more in. I decided to leave it overnight to see if there was a leak or anything, but there was no evidence in the morning. By morning though it ran fine, so drove it home, put coolant/distilled water 50/50 in (I would have done that before but wasn't anywhere near a place I could buy it). There had been some boiling noises around the time the temp gauge was going wacky, I'd had that noise before with my previous car and had to replace the radiator cap, so I did the same thing.

Fast forward to today. I'd been checking the fluid levels when I get gas and both oil and coolant had been fine. But as I'm getting off the freeway, the car started to rumble and driving rough, and the check engine light comes on. I park, turn the car back on, it starts idling rough again and I hear a clicking coming from the passenger side.

So what could this possibly be from? Should I bring it to the dealer where I got the extended warranty or would I maybe be better off bringing it to a local mechanic who would probably be cheaper? Help please!!!

 

A couple weeks ago, my car started driving and idling rough as well. It even wasn't shifting correctly. The CEL came on as well. It turns out, it threw a code that was an engine misfire. My little Indi didn't like the Circle K gas I filled her up with :( After pulling over, turning the car off and calling my husband to come switch cars with me, he drove it home and everything was fine. It was really weird, and scary at the same time. He just reset the CEL and it turned off. I would suggest using a higher quality gas (if there is such a thing lol). I don't know if you have QT gas stations where you live, but my family swears by them (partially cuz my brother is an asst mgr at one lol). Cuz obviously my car doesn't like Circle K!

My husband and I do all our own mechanic work, so we don't usually suggest taking it to a shop. But in this case, since you said yourself you don't know much mechanically, I think a local shop would be best. Dealerships are the devil and will try anything to get you to pay more, or even "trade it in on this brand new MINI!". I'm sure you're familiar lol. Plus, a local shop would be cheaper and more honest, especially if it's family owned or something like that.

Good luck!

 

See if there is someone around your area with access to a scanner/code reader to pull the codes so you don't begin just throwing parts at the car.

And as KMPSSBL suggested, look for indy shops in your area with a good rep.

 

Regarding losing coolant check the thermostat housing for leaks (white stains) and check your coolant reservoir, they are know to split.

It could also be a blown head gasket. Not sure how to test for that. On my old subie it would happen all the time when driving down hill. But that's a different engine

If you're scared about doing your own work, your best bet is to bring it to a trusted mechanic. Maybe someone here can point you to a good one if you don't know one.

 

I generally use high quality gas (mine doesn't like am pm gas ) I think there must be a leak but can't figure out where from. I'm trying to coordinate with my brother, he does know someone with a scanner.

Now it's driving fine, totally odd, but it is loosing coolant. I'm interested in trying to do some work, but wouldn't want to start with something crazy difficult!

I'm not going to be happy if it's a headgasket I just got it in may! The warranty extension is for "internally lubricated parts" of the engine, I don't know, I don't think this wwould be covered, I can't get a hold of the dealer anyway grr

Thanks!