What's srong with my 1994 Escort?

I have a 1994 Ford Escort. I have had the transmission replaced several months ago. The odometer and speedometer have stopped working, if I drive more than about 3 miles it won't shift into gear unless I press the accellorator all the way down to the floor for a while, and now, it seems to be hesitating as soon as I get started driving. It seems as if it will cut off if I don't put my feet on the gas. There is also a rattling sound going on somewhere underneath. Oh yeah, it get's close to overheating too. I have to replace the coolant every few days but I don't see that there is any leaking on the ground. The "check engine" light comes on sometimes and the blower on the AC/heat just stopped working. I know she is old and probably about to give up the ghost but, what can I do to help it live for about another year? I need it until I finish my degree. Help

Sounds like your head gasket may be blown if the coolant is not leaking out anywhere. This would cause your overheating problem as well, and running sluggish, due to the fact that the engine is burning the coolant and blowing it out the exhaust, this would probably look like a white fog coming out of your tailpipe. This could have also clogged up your catalytic converter as well also making the car run more sluggish. Your spark plugs are probably bad now as well. Has anything else on your dash gone out besides speedo and odomoeter? If so, maybe fuses? Hope this helps.

I have not noticed any white smoke from the tail pipe. I will check it again though. But, I just got back from picking my son up from school a little less than a mile away and we noticed a burning smell coming from under the hood. That can never be good can it?

No, usually not good heh. It definately sounds like the head gasket to me though, if the coolant is not leaking out anywhere, it has to be slowly burning out, possibly slow enough to not produce enough smoke to notice, but usually does produce white smoke out of the exhaust. You can probably check your spark plugs and the ends will be a white color, whereas they should be a tan color under normal operation. You can reference this website for reading spark plugs http://www.theultralightplace.com/sparkplugs.htm.

As for the overheating, I would take a serious look at the condition of the radiator if it is an original.

What you describe suggests that the engine is losing power. Be sure that air and fuel filters are good and that spark plugs and wires are in good order.

Do yourself a favor and open up the drain for your oil... just slightly to let it trickle out. If you see water/antifreeze coming out of there, get the head gasket fixed. If no water and it is positively just oil, scrap the head gasket concern for now and get the cooling system checked out.