Graaah! What do I do!?

[Kudasai Hiroki]

A stuck fan is actually easier to fix than you might think. If you can't afford to take it in then just get some tin snips and cut the cowling out from around it. If you're not looking to re-sell the car for any profit then that would be the economical way to go. Besides you don't really "need" the shroud. It's primarily a safety feature. If the fan isn't getting stuck there may be a temprature sensor that is inoperative. I've seen that many a time. Those can range from really cheap to ungodly expensive depending on the kind of car you have. I have seen people just wire the fan to a switch on the dash and just turn it on when the car gets hot. Also check your thermostat. A clogged thermostat is the most common culprit of an overheating car. Those are usually easily removed and it won't hurt the preformance of your car at all. Just get one installed before next winter or your car will take forever to warm up.

Sounds to me like you need a new mechanic though. These problems sound related. I'm a friend of Doots and I'll be coming that way in a couple of weeks. I've been a mechanic for going on 10 years. If your car is still there I'd be happy to take a look at it for you.

Good luck

[Therin]

Oh my God, I love you. Blackmage, who is also a car person, has volunteered to come down this friday and poke around inside. I'm praying.

Let me try to put a little more detail in, though: The car is a 92 Civic, which my grandmother bought new. This means it's been around since I was...eight. The only consistent problem she's had with it is that the muffler tends to go after two or three years. However, here's my experience: The last couple times my car has overheated, it has first experienced a dramatic loss in power, as well as a suddenly finicky heating/air conditioning system. The first time it happened, it was believed to be the fan in the cowling, however, I was in the middle of a three hour drive. By the time I got home, got it to a mechanic I don't usually use, he said "Fan in the cowling." I took it to my regular mechanic to get fixed, a guy my grandmother has sworn by for many years, and they said the fan was working fine. Then they...*thinks* I'm not sure I have the order on this right, but I think they replaced the radiator. Two weeks later, my car overheats again. Two weeks. Got it towed up to the same mechanic, who said "Blown head gasket, $1500" to which I replied, "...Son of a b!@#$."

A day or so later, they decided to take responsibility for the problem, and fixed it for about a quarter of that. The day after I got my car back the second time, I made the 14 hour one way trip down to Atlanta, without a hitch. This is the first time my car has acted up since. That was August 20th.

One difference between previous times and this time, the only difference so far: My car's electricity was finicky. At first, I thought it was the 3rd party stereo thing, which has been acting up for years, just not badly enough to be worth spending money on. But the last time the stereo readout turned off, my speeometer turned off too. Just for a fraction of a second, and just once during the drive. But, later that night, there I was, standing outside and waiting for a ride.

As a note, Nagemi saved my life by going totally the opposite direction from home to give me a ride.
Edit: Fixed your language mister, I know you're emotional but watch it.