When I am in traffic, the temp gauge goes up to approximately 94 or so, when it gets this high the car stalls and wont start for around 20 minutes until the gauge reads cool again, (below half way). If I am driving around 60mph the gauge reads just below half and she runs fine, but the minute I stop at a light or in traffic the gauge goes up and the car dies. I am going crazy as did everyone when I got stuck in the middle of the road at 5 oclock rush hour traffic on friday and caused a 3 mile backup!!!

I changed the fuel and air filters, thought I would start there but that didnt help. I did notice that the cooling fan did not come on at all, not sure if it is because I had the heat on in the car. I would think that the fan should come on at some point though to cool the engine.

After the third time of stalling, cooling down, starting the car again and two hours later to get home, the check engine light came on and is now on all the time. Any help would be greatly appreciated since I dont have alot of money and am trying to fix it myself.