I was saving for a new computer, but now I will be saving for a used car.

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I can't afford to buy a new car but, hey, a few thousand should get me a fairly good used car right? Meantime I will be learning to adjust to walking and taking the bus for a few or maybe even several months as it takes time to save for a car even a used one, when you don't have a dime to your name. lol But I will learn to adapt. repairpal said it would cost 700 bucks to just replace the radiator. It seems that some sediment has invaded the cooling system of our Caddy Lack. It started running hot a few weeks ago. I ignored the warning signs, of rough idle and temperature readings up to 225 or more and smoke from the oil leak being more pronounced. It turns out the radiator itself sells for under 50 bucks, but to have a mechanic take the old one out and put the new one in, and also flush out the old radiator coolant from the engine and the entire system including the heater core, would indeed cost as much as another vehicle. It's not working for me. I tried spending several hours watching tutorials on YouTube about replacing the water pump, replacing the thermostat, doing some pressure tests and checking to make sure the fans turned on at a certain temperature. A friend of mine did replace the thermostat and the old one and it's housing was covered in scale and dirty black yuck. After he replaced the thermostat, which by the way costs about 20 bucks as a failsafe that remains open instead of closed, the system now has air in it for sure because he did not purge the air from the lines after putting back the coolant. The engine ran for 10 minutes at idle speed yesterday and the coolant temperature rose to an all time high of 240 degrees. I stopped the engine, as it was not only way too hot but even with the heater running full blast, I knew there had to be some blockage in the cooling system somewhere that is preventing proper flow. I told him I was concerned I warped the heads but he said I probably did not but the fact is, we have to run more tests to see where the blockage is if there is any and the water pump is clean and is not leaking and the belt to the pump is good. so all that said, I know the purge line was not checked, the air was not purged either from the system and also the engine has been running rough ever since before he replaced the thermostat. He did tell me that the old thermostat was stuck in the closed position. This must have been closed a long while and we drive only very short distances so the highest the engine ever got was 225 no higher. My guess is the engine and radiator have to be flushed out and since the radiator is aluminum it will not require replacement, only the lines that carry coolant to the northstar engine which is the kind our SLS has in it, are very thin and could easily have trash buildup in them preventing flow to the engine block, and if I don't even drive it another day I probably did some damage to it by driving unaware of a problem. The dashboard information center should have told me I had an overheated engine but it did not say anything, I had to run the list to check it myself and noticed the temperature of the coolant to be upwards at 230 yesterday at the Walmart. I think it would be more practical to replace the cadillac sls with a Toy O Ta at least that would be cheaper to keep 'er.