Temperature Rising on Pontiac Grand Prix 2002

[hita34]

One day, I was on the highway and my Pontiac's speed started dropping. I looked at the temperature gauge, and the temperature was really high. I flushed the coolant system, and changed the gasket. Also the mechanic said that the oil might be leaking after they changed the oil. I paid like $700 for something that has nothing to do with the problem (I paid for a spark plug, ignition wires, fuel filter, and an oxygen sensor). After they changed the oil, oil started leaking all over my driveway, which didn't happen before. It also looked like coolant was leaking out. None of this happened before I got my oil changed with these guys.
After I changed the gasket, the car was running smoothly. But today, the same thing happened again, and I don't know if it's the thermostat, or water pump, or oil leaking, or coolant. The mechanic always suggests to fix something that doesn't have to do with the problem. I don't have much money on hand, so I need to only fix what has to do with the temperature rising, and I need my car to run.
I would appreciate any information.
Thank you very much in advance.

[Stealthee]

It sounds like you aren't exactly mechanically minded. You need to see if you have a friend that is take a look at the car. I would look at the lower intake manifold gasket as they are notorious for failing on these cars.

[hita34]

Originally Posted by Stealthee

It sounds like you aren't exactly mechanically minded. You need to see if you have a friend that is take a look at the car. I would look at the lower intake manifold gasket as they are notorious for failing on these cars.

Your answer was not helpful. If you don't have anything helpful to answer, don't answer at all. I already wrote in the original post that I changed the gasket a month ago.

[Stealthee]

That attitude doesn't help with people wanting to help you. You were not specific as to what gasket was changed. You just said "you changed the gasket." Considering there are probably 20 gaskets on the engine one would be left to wonder which one.

[DrRadar]

As Stealthee inferred, you haven't provided enough information for a remote diagnosis.

Leaking coolant and oil doesn't sound like it's something simple. Did you get everything torqued down properly when you changed the manifold gasket? If you're confident that was done correctly, you may want to check the head gaskets by doing a compression test as well as visual inspection.