Seems like that time of year that everything goes wrong for my car and it only has 93k Probably because of the cold climate up here in Syracuse, New York.

Just replaced the battery on Monday after dying out in the middle of no where.

Today drove around for about 25 minutes and just as I was pulling back into my parking spot I realized my temperature gauge had gone up to 120C. When I turned the car off I heard a bubbling noise. Popped the hood and a bunch of smoke came up at me.

Found what I think the problem is in the coolant tank.

The little notch that hooks into the bottom right side (coolent sensor?) had fallen out of the tank and was just laying next to it. There was a small little puddle of solution next to it which I assumed was coolant.

This is what I found when I opened the hood:


Closeups:




As far as I can tell the cap looks fine:


I found parts of the insulation had fallen off after the over heat.




I was able to push the piece back into the coolant tank but what worries me is why it fell out in the first place.

Maybe this is the part I need to keep the sensor in?
Coolant Sensor Lock Clip

Hopefully I'll have this fixed so I can drive home for spring break on Thursday :x