HELP!!! 2002 Mits Galant OVERHEATING?!!

[oatmlcwby]

I have no idea what could be wrong, seems it could be a million diff things. About a week and a half ago i was driving and had my ac on, after awhile the ac light started flashing, (i think its the air conditioner light, its in the form of a snowflake and is positioned in the dial itself that is used to turn on the ac, heat, defroster...and i have to push the dial in so that the ac kicks on and the snowflake lights up green) anyway, that snowflake light started flashing and warm air was blowing out instead of cold, then the windows started fogging up (it was raining and humid outside that night, summer time in philly) no matter what i did (turned on heat, ac again, defroster) the windows stayed fogged up. I finally gave up and turned it all off and rolled down windows. I get home and park for an hour then go somewher else and when i turned on ac this time, the snowflake light stayed green and blew out cold air like usual. So i just left it alone and figured it to be no big deal. Now a week 1/2 later i'm driving and hit a few stopsigns, redlights and light traffic b4 getting on highway the temp guage arrow thingy started going up toward the red level, whereas it usually stays put right in the middle...i got on highway and it went back to middle. after gettin off highway 20 mins later i encountered redlights and stop signs and it started going up toward the red level again. any ideas as to why this may have happened????

[cougar214]

It might help to know which engine you have.do you have the Galant LS,ES,DE or the GTZ?
Either way you have a few options.Could be your radiator cap not releasing excessive pressure properly,Your thermostat is bad,or you have a bad/worn drive belt.I would say it's the drive belt because you mention your a/c not working properly and your a/c puts more strain on the engine when it's in use.Hope this helps you out.

[oatmlcwby]

Hey, thanks for the reply! The engine is V6 ES...i took it to a mechanic and he said indeed it's the thermostat, but they don't change them there so i have to take it somewhere else. How much do you think that costs to get changed, and also if i keep driving it without getting it changed, what kind of damage will that do to my car and engine? Thanks again, I appreciate it!

[cougar214]

The thermostat shouldn't cost more than 15 bucks,the labor I could not tell you and worst case you can seize your engine if you don't get it fixed so I would have it done as soon as possible.Good luck with your repair.

[oatmlcwby]

Ok thank you so much, ur the man!