My advice would be to first find a shop you can trust and have them pull the spark plugs and pressurize the cooling system to see if a head gasket has failed or if there is another leak from another cause.
Armed with these facts you can make an intelligent decision as to what to do.
If you need help finding a qualified mechanic in your area, try this link:
http://autorepair.iatn.net/
Stop right there! First remove the radiator pressure cap and fill it to the top when the engine is stone cold using 50% pure 100% Dexcool antifreeze and 50% distilled water. Fill the plastic coolant recovery reservoir 3/4 full with the same mixture antifreeze and distilled water.
*If the radiator was low make an appointment at your local Chevrolet dealer for an inexpensive *cooling system pressure test which will find any external or internal cooling system leaks.
All of the above must be done before thinking about touching the engine or changing the head-gaskets.
The car is at least 14 years old and the cooling system needs to be drained, flushed and CLEANED using GM one part powered acid cooling system cleaner to get the corrosion, rust and slime out.
Head gasket sounds about right. Its not that big of a deal. A gasket is just a seal between two metal parts. Depending on the engine it could be done yourself if you have a decent mechanic background. If not take it to a reputable mechanic. Just a guess but it would cost around $100 to have it replaced. Gaskets go bad, lots of car parts just go bad over time, this is just one of those things you need to know about owning a car.
Before you go that route take a look at the hoses for any that has evidence of water leaking, same for the radiator. Hoses are stupidly easy to replace, just look how they are put in and you can figure it out.. Radiator not so much.
you may have had a blown head gasket and the temperature gauge needs liquid for it to register the temperature. Head gaskets usually dont just fail they have signs when they are starting to go. you driving short distances never got it to a point of overheating and since you never checked any of the fluids you never knew it needed coolant. Head gaskets are NOT $100 job the gasket maybe is 100 bucks but tearing apart the top half of the motor to get to it is the issue and here you probably warped the heads and damaged the block. from the sounds of it you will need a new motor I will to bet you bought the car with the head gasket damaged. Just learn from this this is why you check all the fluids on the car if you would have you never would have overheated the car most cars dont need that much attention but here if you would have checked it even once or twice you may have salvaged the motor.
check if the head gasket has started leaking. better to have it pressured checked.somemotors are known for the problem. ford had the3.8 known for it. cadillac 4100 also famous for it. new motor i would recycle the whole car. not worth the money.
I have a 2000 chevy malibu LS, that my mom bought from a lady which was supposedly bought in "great condition". I've had the car for about a month probably or less. I never drove the car too far because I'm just learning to drive so I've only been practicing driving around the block in my neighborhood until lastnight(I decided to drive downtown for the first time), & that's when my car started to smoke(white smoke) from the hood & people were telling me it was overheated but my temperature gauge never went into the danger zone it stayed in the middle, so my cousin told me that I needed a sensor & that my temperature gauge doesn't work. We put water in my car & let it cool off. Then I tried to drive it home but it stopped accelerating & died on the highway! We let it sit for a day then put more water in it then tried to crank it up, it cranks but it wouldn't start up! This mechanic guy is saying that I have a bad or blown head gasket. And my mom said I'm going to need a new motor. How could I have damaged my head gasket that quick? I'm skeptical. Did I mess it up badly? Or was it already a lemon piece of crap?!
