im new here and have some issues

[damoney69]

ok lets get started....my gf has a 99 3.1 malibu that im repairing most of the time and now im at a stand still here...

concerns....

gf got stuck in the driveway of sisters pulling out and car started overheating for some reason. i told her not to drive to work the next day that id take her..she decided to drive car overheated she pulled over right away she said...so i check it out and heres what i got....

1) no pressure or fluid running through top radiator hose...
replaced thermostat and found out old one was stuck closed...fixed that problem but car had a horrible misfire after for some reason...dont know why...it was a pain taking off the intake but in the end i felt better since i did it....

2)next i replaced the wate pump since the car was at 100k and most fail between 60k-125k...it was a pain kinda having to get leverage on the bolts of the pulley to pull it out...but it was not that bad

so heres my problem....car flipped in a ditch with me and her in it december 31st...her dad paid 2500 to fix and got the car back and alot of things were wrong...

soo yeah after all that work i did with the tstat and water pump this past week i got this...

well after i put everything back in i left the cap open to burp it and bubbles came out...and put the cap back on... ran it for 15 minutes to run everything through and to my amazement it messed up more...


the coolant is backing up when the car gets hotter..all the coolant leaks out of the overflow and the coolant light turns on and the temp gauge rises but stays at a constant 3 lines before overheating which idk why....so what should i do or look for...

i hear a couple things...this guy who worked for gm for 15 years asked if i bled it and i told him now i couldnt find it...might it just be an air pocket that i have to bleed it and everything be fine?

also...she took it in and i was with her i told them everything tha happened and heres what we got

1a) cracked head cost 100 to find if it is when it needs the 3 part system to check it sounds like they are just taking the money from us since the motor has to be taken out right?

2b) they said it could be the lower intake gasket when i know they are made of plastic and that design that they made for the malibu was bad and they came out with the better one but i see no leak....or anything of that nature... i think they are giving me a run for my money when they quoted it at 934 dollars i will scan it and show you wen i can...but the run down on the price

1.) $270 for the intake gaskets
2.) $49 for the o ring gasket
3.) $16 for an oil change
4.) $670 for labor..

so i bought gasket fix from bars leak the liquid kind that runs through the radiator with the coolant in it and the temp stays at the constant 3 lines before overheating and nothing..

so plz tell me what could be going wrong im sorry that this is so long but im trying to put as much detail as i can to insure that u can see what i did and maybe see if anything went wrong....

any help would be good from here i appreciate any input and hope to get a start on it soon

[damoney69]

sooo no one has anything?

[magik_medicine]

does your coolant smell like gas or oil?