Hey Gt_Cruiser your damage looks to be the same as what happened to our PT in January. My then fiancee (now wife) was driving to work in Brooklyn and was stopping at a red light and skid on some black ice into the back of a Crown Victoria. The driver in the front car didn't want to call the police (may have been an illegal driver) and she was too scared and agreed, so we are paying this all out of pocket. *doh*
We took it that day to a mechanic, and he replaced the radiator, and everything was fine, except the panels above each light, the center grill and the hood were pushed in. So we waited to get the car fixed cause it was running fine, and we decided to leave the car with a family friend who has a business repairing body damage. We left the car in February while we were on our honeymoon, and came back on the 29th and he had popped out all the panels and the car looked great again, he said that the car needed a new thermostat, but since it wasn't warm here yet, we wouldn't need it and to come back with the car at a later date.
Then we were driving on March 6, in a bout a half hour of stead moving traffic, stopped and waited for a friend to get in and then stop and go for another half. While we were waiting for our friend, an odor came into the car, which lasted for about 5 minutes but then went away, however now our car was quickly going above the mid level on the temperature gage. Stupidly we drove the car, but the temp gage would go down to normal levels when moving, but then would raise back up when stopped. We stopped using the car after that night, and dropped it back at the body shop friend on Saturday, and it's on its way to the dealer today.
Our friend said it was a good thing we brought the car back and had stopped using it because we nearly blew a gasket. He's tried replacing a number of parts, and its still over heating, so it's going over to the dealer to see if they can figure out what wrong. This is right now.
Not sure why I'm telling everyone my story, just I guess it's part of this support group and knowing that your not alone. The car is under my wife's name and insurance, so I'm not sure if it's even too late to claim it, or even if you could without a police report. The airbags didn't go off on ours either. I'm just at a loss trying to wrack my brain at what is wrong. I took auto in High School, so I know more than a novice, but not everything. Why would a car run fine for a month an a half and then now over heat to the point of near catastrophe? The crumpled panels no doubt allowed water to get into the engine compartment in the beginning, could that have been the cause? Maybe it's just a short in a wire somewhere preventing it from working?
Oh well, good luck to everyone on their babies!
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