hello all. my girl friend picked up this little beauty about a month ago. everything was fine and dandy with the car. 108k miles previous owner just replaced ecu ( which worries me a bit). but its been spinning like a top till today.
my girl friend storms in the door say that the car is reving and over heating and needs a battery. (night time granted) i go out and do a quick turn on and assessment. Im not mechanic savy but i do know how a car should sound and run. The car starts up with no hesitation but the rpms are bouncing and hovering between 2k and 1.2k rpms. and the gas is not pressed. the battery light is on but oddly enough the CEL is not.. (usually floats on and off). The water temp gauge is about to hit the red zone (probally did but was sitting for a few minutes before i came out).

Im think there is some sort of vacum or hose leak thats causing the rpms to raise like that at idle and maybe a thermostat or air sensor thats mest up.
as for over heating not sure what that might be.


any diagnostic tips or solutions and trouble shooting would be greatly apreciated

 

Battery light plus overheating eh?
Well, what the heck is the connection between those two?

THE DRIVE BELT THAT COUPLES THE CRANKSHAFT, ALTERNATOR, AND WATER PUMP MAYBE?

Check it out.
Messing around with an overheated engine is dangerous; at a certain point, so much coolant is displaced that even the temperature sensors haven't enough fluid to work with, and will actually under- read.
Running an engine undercooled puts you at risk of warped or cracked cylinder head, leaking head gasket, cracked block, etc. etc.
If you need to work with the drive belts, first get a fine wire brush and a spray can of releasol, jigaloo, WD40, whatever, and get all the rust off the tensioner bolt threads.
If you try tensionong the belts without doing this first you have every chance of breaking the bolt or stripping the threads, so take your time and let the penetrating lube do its job.
In the meantime, get that battery to a shop where it can be professionally recharged and tested; replace the lost coolant (you can use just water if you want, that way if you have leaks, you won't waste money on antifreeze for your driveway.

The charging/ overheating issue absolutely must be dealt with before you even think of the other stuff (which may well disappear anyway).

 

check your coolant how much is in there? if not there is a leak that could be the water pump, hoses, thermostat housing, the belt that runs the water pump check that all out and for the battery light problem olm the battery and tell me what the volts are running it should be 12.7 off 14.7 running if you get these numbers its the harness that goes into the alternator but check that belt i think that might be the problem