Friday, April 15, 2016

My 1996 Ford Taurus Won't Start after Overheating?


I first noticed that my car was acting up when I went to drive it after a week of it being left in my parking spot at the dorm I stay in. I filled it up with gas and then when I started to drive, I noticed that it felt weird to drive, like it was fighting me to accelerate. When I would push down on the gas, it wouldn’t go any faster and there was also an audible clicking noise from behind me on the left side of my car. The clicking only occurred when I pressed down on the gas. When I pulled over to investigate, smoke started to billow out from under the hood as well as into the cab of the car.

Once it was done smoking, I opened the hood to see that there was NO WATER in the radiator. We put more water into it and had it towed back to campus. I was told to leave it alone and let it cool down over night. The next morning, I saw that there was NO WATER in the radiator at all again. I looked under the car and saw that there wasn’t a leak or puddle under the car either. I went back and checked later too and there was still no leak, but no water in the radiator either.

Now my car won’t start at all. It’s making a noise that sounds like this: https://youtu.be/3dRygFKO-4A (This is a video I took of my car)
Added (1). My battery light comes on too, but I just replaced the battery, so it shouldn’t be dead. I thought that was the case too, so I had someone give me a jump and there was no change.
Added (2). I talked with a mechanic and they said it might be the head-gaskets and that I should try this “Head-Gasket Repair” stuff. I did and now there’s coolant in the radiator and it’s not disappearing like the water did before. But my car still won’t work.

Any and all help would be greatly appreciated as I am a college student with little to no money and DESPERATELY need a working vehicle. If it’s something that requires a lot of money and time, I’d rather just get rid of it.

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