*Long post, sorry but I'm not sure what's important & what isn't.
About a year or so ago we bought a 2010 Chevrolet Equinox. In July of this year I had a blow out on a retread tire. Insurance totaled it out & cut the bank a check for $3000. Since we still owed more than that & had no other vehicle, my husband is disabled, & I work part-time, my husband talked to the lady at the bank. So they worked out a deal where she sent us the check, we kept the car, & still make our car note like before. We got an oil leak fixed & had them fix the area around the tire a little but my husband decided anything else could wait. We then used what was left of that money to pay off some of his medical bills.
In September of this year I took my sister to her oncologist appointment about an hour away. We went to a few places afterwards & by the time we were leaving, it was dark. I was on the interstate, weaving around to get on & off exits, whereas at home I just drive a two lane road. I look down & there's a message on my dash "A/C off due to high engine heat". I didn't know what to do so turned the A/C knob to off, & look at the dash. My temperature gauge was at the red mark. I get over & exit as quickly as I can & pull over. The temp. goes down so I decide to drive, maybe find a gas station or some place with water, but the temp goes right back up. We end up pulling it into a church parking lot & get a ride home.
One of my nephews once lived there & worked at an auto parts store & knew several "shade tree" mechanics. My husband decided this would be our best option since we no longer had full coverage on the car after the blow out.
Guy has car from end of September to 1st of November. Kept saying it was something else, raising price. We went to the bank & borrowed $2000 to pay him & then he said it was $425 more because of the head(s). I asked what he did & he said: head gasket kit, water pump kit, new thermostat & seal, timing kit, new radiator, flush cooling system, replace head from machine shop, antifreeze.
I got a ride to the city & met him at a gas station, where I had to put gas in the car. I drove it home & since it was late, parked it. I had noticed our trash from eating out was scattered in the backseat but thought maybe the mechanic pushed it out of his way or something. The next day I was walking around, picking up the trash & when I opened the glove compartment to put my latest insurance card inside, there was a live rat! I refused to drive the car & set glue traps & snap traps but it never tripped them. Someone said mothballs in a sock in the glove compartment & on my engine, & I haven't seen the rat since. I was worried about what damage the rat did anyway but when I drove it for the first time, headed to a car wash to vacuum the rat stuff out, the same message popped up on my dash, "A/C turned off due to high engine heat". But the temperature gauge was in the cold area. So I took it to another mechanic closer to home. He put it on his computer which he says is like AutoZone's but more advanced. The car did throw a couple codes & he fixed that. He also said the first mechanic should have but didn't clean the valve cover. So he did that & unclogged the pvc valve. (I may be getting some of these wrong!). The car did fine driving the 20 or 30 miles from his house to mine until about halfway & then that same message came on after I turned the A/C/heat/defrost on. That seems to be what's screwing things up.
So now I've had the car almost 2 months & have yet to really drive it. The second mechanic told me to take the positive post off the battery for 15-20 minutes & that should reset it. Which it did & the message did disappear but when I turned on the defrost, it did it again. Another thing that's happening is the fan stays on for longer than normal after you turn the car off.
I called the Chevrolet place but they can't put it on their diagnostic machine until January & it's going to be $110 just for that. The second mechanic said to have the computer flashed or put on diagnostic so that's what I'm going to do.
When I went to meet the first mechanic & get the car, he told me there was an oil leak. Why he didn't ask if we wanted him to fix it I don't know. But then I thought, that's what we had fixed back in July. So I called that place to see what they did & was told they replaced the front cover oil seal & belt that was soaked. They also did something with the cylinoid valve & replaced the cam shaft actuator valve (again, I may be butchering these).
Will it hurt anything to drive this car?