To say the least this summer has been a nightmare with my car so far
with fixing it and finding the right/reliable mechanic. Back in June
my car started having an overheating problem. I had the fan switch
"fixed" which actually wasn't until the second mechanic did for the
fans to start coming on. Problem was not fixed with coolant still
coming out of the overflow tank. Took it back to the first mechanic
and told them it was not fixed. *They did a pressure test and said
they saw bubbles i forget exactly where but I figure you will know
what im talking about when they said I had a bad head gasket where
they put sealer in it and gave me an estimate of $932 to repair.
Reasonable for a mechanic at a shop but decided to get a second
opinion. *Turns out I had no oil in my car and i also had a couple
leaks which came as a surprise to me because I figured when someone
has an overheating problem the first thing they check for is fluids.
So my mechanic changed the intake manifold gasket, valve cover gasket,
timing belt, oil pan, and crank case gasket, flushed coolant system,
cleaned engine. No more bubbles in expansion resevoir He put a sulfur type substance in my car and drove it
around to clean it out and seemed to get rid of the problem of the
gauge moving up after getting off of the highway. Still had a problem.
Brought it to a third mechanic and told me that it was a head gasket.
So i called my second mechanic and told me he had not put in my
thermostat yet because I was going to go to him a day later to get it
installed because the auto part store gave him the wrong one. *My
second mechanic told me from the eye visibility he did not see any
problem with the head gasket and that is was more than likely the
water pump and he should have changed it when he did the timing belt.
So after he put the thermostat in my problems seemed to go down
dramatically. As far as the gauge going up, it did it sometimes right
when I would start the car for example after driving the car around
for a half hour then stop to get gas followed by turning back on, it
jumps up close to the red then sits back down in the middle. The
second mechanic told me it was more than likely a electrical issue
with the needle. However about a week later I took it for a reasonably
long drive about an 1.5 hours. *Ran some errands came back to my car
and it made a weird noise and felt like it was jumping a little bit
when I started it. The next day when I started it, it started making a
loud rattling noise that stayed there until after it hit second gear
and went away. *I called my mechanic that did the primary work on my
car and told him about the problem and I had planned to drive it over
there the next morning. *However, when I left work the noise was even
louder and made it about a minute driving where my car completely shut
off. *Checked my fluids and all of them at a good level. From the
research I've done it sounds like it can be anything from the water
pump bearings(which would make a little sense), oil pump, or
transmission. *The oil light flickered sometimes in the two days and
at other times not at all. *I am praying that it is the water pump
that caused my car to stop running but like I said, Im completely
dumbfounded how I've spend the majority of my summer dealing with
this. *

 

You might be better off sticking to one mechanic. Alternating between mechanics often results in more unneeded repairs being done and less fixing of the real problems.

The radiator fans are only needed when there is not enough airflow through the radiator such as stop and go driving.

Where you checking the oil on a regular basis?

The shop can do a block test to check for exhaust gases in the coolant.

What was the temp gauge on the dash doing when the engine was making the noises?

When the engine dead did it just quit or make a lot of noise first?

Could be the engine has some kind issue with lack of oil, this would explain the oil pressure light. Lack of oil can cause the engine to quit, but it would tend to make a lot of noise first. And the engine may no longer turn over when started.

Could be the water pump failed/drill bearing seized resulting in the timing belt breaking, this would cause the engine to die.

Someone can remove the distributor cap and watch the rotor when the engine is turned over for starting. If the rotor does not move the timing belt is broke.

 

@Joe

I had been checking and had got an oil change one month prior to the discovery that I had an oil leak

When the car started making the noise the temp gauge was sitting in the middle

Responding to the sticking with one mechanic part. It was hard to stick with te first because they clearly missed the oil leak. When the second one looked at it there was no oil. Reason why I went to the third mechanic is because of the temp needle raise. The third mechanic did a block test and told me something came up with it but my second mechanic told me when he flushed the system, he put some kind of substance with sulfur in it and drove it around. He said that would affect the engine block test

 

If the gauge was in the middle the engine temp was OK.

If you still have the car check the oil with the dipstick to determine if there is any.

It is possible the timing belt broke perhaps caused by a seized water pump drive shaft. Any shop should be able to troubleshoot if this is the case in under 10 minutes.

 

Mechanic came over yesterday to do a brief scan of it. Ran the test for the engine and nothing showed up on his equipment. Timing belt was not loose and still tight. Oil showed up full on the dipstick. He's coming back this weekend to take my car apart and figure out the problem

 

Post back with the findings.