My car overheated and shut off at a red light (car engine, vehicle)

[Wintergirl80]

My car is an older Toyota Camry. It's been having problems with the radiator itself becoming empty underneath the radiator cap, so every two weeks or so I have to add more coolant. Anyway, I haven't done that in a couple weeks and tonight when I drove it started smoking pretty bad at red lights, from under the hood, but the temperature control inside the vehicle read cool.

I tried making it to the nearest parking lot while I was driving , but my car basically shut-off at a red light and smoked badly from the hood. I ended up getting it towed home. Does this sound like a reasonable fix or does it sound like my car completely died? If its able to be fixed for a reasonable cost I can have it towed to a mechanic, but don't want to do that if my engine is ruined completely.

Also when this problem happened for some reason my heat was turned on and blowing air but wouldn't get warm, not sure if that has anything to do with it but noticed it being a problem.

[elnina]

Why did you wait so long with the radiator problem? It's not a very expensive job to fix, unless everything else is also in a bad shape and neglected.
Is that your first car?
Toyota Camry OEM replacement radiator usually costs around $50 to $100 plus labor.

[TexasLawyer2000]

It sounds like one of two things happened:

1. Your car engine was overheating and the sensor tripped and the engine will no longer turn on without a mechanic assessing the issue (Not sure if Camry's have this feature).

2. Your car engine overheated to the point where the pistons expanded, creating additional friction and heat, and eventually melted or got stuck. In this case, you will need an engine replacement and I would expect it to cost $3000 - $4000 for parts and labor.

You really should have had that radiator replaced as soon as you saw it was problematic. The fact that you weren't getting heat shows that there was no coolant in the system to transfer the heat way from the engine (and into the heat exchange for the heater). Not to mention your contribution destroying the environment by leaking poisonous coolant everywhere.

[Wintergirl80]

I was adding coolant every two weeks, very small amounts directly to the radiator so I thought it was okay to do that until I could get it repaired. I had replaced the radiator eight years ago. I was saving up for the repair.

The last time it cost a little under $200 and now the damage is most likely much worse. I just didn't realize adding coolant over a few month time frame was the wrong choice.

[southernnaturelover]

The temp gauge displays the coolant temperature via a sensor, but if there is no coolant there's nothing for the sensor to read. That's why it didn't indicate an overheating situation. Same with the heater, it works by sending hot coolant through the heater core. No coolant, no heat.

Sounds like your leak got much worse.

[easy62]

You could also have a blown head gasket that’s why you were losing coolant also, take it to a mechanic and find out exactly what’s wrong.

[Bummer]

Heat or Excessive Heat is probably the worst and most destructive "negative" to a Vehicle's Engine, WinterGirl80.

Unfortunately, your Camry's problem could be minor or major and only a qualified mechanic will be able to diagnose the issue at this point.

GOOD LUCK.

[Wintergirl80]

It's interesting to know why the heat wasn't working, makes a lot of sense. I just hope my car can be repaired and the engine wasn't ruined.

[LKJ1988]

Car always conk out at the worst place like a red light dwight.

[CCCyou]

Did you check the oil? (to make sure it wasn't turning into 'milkshake' and level rising - if coolant was leaking internally/bad head gasket)?
Or was the car creating coolant puddles where ever you parked it?