Hello everyone, I'm new here. I'm not the driver of our Aveo with manual transmission, my Husband is. He's not home right now, and I am worried sick about our car.
Anyway, yesterday, we traveled a long round trip, about 250kms to, and another 250kms from, and of course some driving when we were at our destination.
On the way home, about 150kms in, a rock hit our car. We all assumed it had hit the side, because of how it sounded, and all was fine.
About 20 minutes later, my Husband noticed that the temp gauge was maxed out, and we pulled over. As we were pulling over, the engine/oil light came on. He's not a mechanic, and has only a very basic knowledge of cars. Some nice men pulled over to see if we were ok, as my Husband had the hood popped, and they took a look with him. They seemed to know a bit more about cars, and they said they saw a rock in the radiator, in those little fins/slots whatever they are called. I'm not totally sure they removed the rock, but, they pinched the fins back together, and they got us some water to refill the radiator, and some extra just in case. They also advised us to wait until the car was cooled off, and to not let it go above half again, and if it did, to pull over, add more water, and wait. Oh also, when he first pulled the car over, he (My Husband), thought it was an oil leak, but it wasn't, not much oil was gone from the dipstick, but he did top it off.
We waited a few more minutes, (About 20-30 in total from when we pulled over.) When the car was restarted, the temp gauge was just under half, and throughout the rest of the trip, (About an hour), it stayed there, didn't move one way or the other.
My question is: Do we HAVE to replace the radiator? (Money is VERY tight!), or, can we drive it and keep an eye out on the temp and fluid levels, at least as a very temporary solution? We should be able to save enough to get some money together within a month or so. How much (Approx) is a new radiator for a manual transmission 2006 Aveo? About how many hours does it take a mechanic to replace it? Can someone like my Husband (He's very good with these things, if he has the right direction), replace the thing if he can get the right instruction on how to do it? He's got amazing levels of comprehension, and has fixed things on our previous cars, based on online instructions.
We have to have a car, this is our only one, and I have a medical condition that would possibly require a hospital visit. We also need to be able to get normal day to day things.
Anyway, ANY advice is most helpful. PLEASE give me the positives as well as any negatives, because I can't handle too much negative about this right now. My stress level is through the roof on this. LOL. I do want honesty though. I appreciate any advice any of you have about what to do, and how we should do it, etc.
I'm so glad I found a dedicated forum for this car. We LOVE it, and the gas mileage it has. $45 CAD for travel of about 550kms altogether (With travel to and from and in our destination).