98 Ford Escort Zx2 overheating problems?

Wednesday I drove to the college world series (I live in Omaha) and it was about 95 degrees. I was idling in traffic for a long time on the interstate while driving down there, and then again downtown. The engine started steaming, there was no damage to any of the hoses when I popped the hood. I was low on coolant, so I filled it up and had no problem getting home in it that night.

Yesterday was only about 80 degrees and I had no problems driving it all day, even sitting in rush hour traffic, temp gauge was perfect.

And then today comes, it was about 90 degrees today, and I drove around to test it out with no problems, until I pulled into the drive thru, I waited for not even 5 minutes and my temp gauge was at 3/4ths, but as soon as I left the drive thru and got to going 45-50 mph it dropped back to normal in an amount of seconds.

I believe it is either the thermostat or the fan, but I could be wrong. Does anyone else have any ideas?

Scrap value of 98 ford escort?

Looking to get a newer car and this needs to go. Not in the greatest condition so private sale is likely to be a low offer. The car works as it should do but has severe corrosion, and several faults developed such as part of the rear bumper having cracked off, multichanger no longer working and a leaking boot, which is causing mold in the boot. It has just under 3 months tax and mot. Id get about £40 from reclaiming the tax.

Part exchange offer was £100. Scrap yards will only match the price. Seems a little low as i got £250 for my skoda octavia just 2 years ago. That was a 1.9tdi estate with a seized engine.

Do these scrap values seem low? If i scrap, then i can also reclaim the tax which will boost that price upto £140.

option 2. Sell on ebay. I already have an ebay account and a quick look at ebay shows a listing fee of £10 and a final value fee of 1%(minimum £20), so a total amount payable of £30 in fees. To get a better price on ebay, Id have to get at least £170.

Option 3. Stick an ad in the window. Might be time consuming to get a buyer given the condition.

Most likely are either ebay or scrap. Any ideas if i should be pushing for a higher scrap value?

Car starts and dies in a couple seconds?

Today I went to get gas at the gas station and right when i opened the gas cap the car died and there was a noise that came from the front of the car when it died. The car usually died when i opened the gas cap to put gas in so I thought nothing of it. So I put the gas in it and went to start it started up and it started up for a second and started to spit and sputter and died. I heard a sound like a turbo whining down and started again and same. So I started up and really quick reved it up and kept reving it and it stayed started if I kept reving it up so I drove it home like that. I could not slow down or it would sputter and die. The brakes on it would only work half good to. And i kept hearing that whining sound like a turbo every time a speed up and slowed down. The timing belt and gears just got replaced on it a couple months ago so its not that. I turned the key on and can hear the fuel pump turn on. Can someone please help me with this.Car is a ford escort

99 Ford escort shifting problems

I have a 99 Ford Escort with over 250k miles on it right now that i desperately need to last a few more months until I can buy another car.
It's an automatic and when I start out driving I can feel its pulling or kind of stuttering to get up to speed until I hit over 35 mph. (dangerous on the highway so I avoid it when possible) Once I get above 35mph it drives smooth but god forbid I have to stop at all and try to pick back up to speed again. And today the service engine light started FLASHING. Which freaked me out. I forgot the name of the stuff this auto zone guy sold me to help keep my tranny from slipping but it's red and comes a white bottle. I wanna say its called Luke's but i'm not sure. Sometimes that seems to solve the problem but only for so long. I'm freaking out and just need some kind of advice to help keep it moving until I can put some more cash away for a a new car.

How long does a waterpump generally leak before giving out?

2001 Ford ZX2.

Today, after a quick run to the store about a mile away, I came out to find that the car had been losing antifreeze and was dripping while the car was off. So in the 10 minutes or so that I was inside, it lost a few ounces of antifreeze and was producing a single drip every 3-4 seconds.

When I got it home, it wasn't dripping anymore. Not even a single drip.

I let it cool off for over an hour and then I jacked it up to see what I could see. It appeared to be coming from the right front and was dripping down onto a guard. I removed the guard and started trying to trace the problem. I saw where it seemed to be originating from, and after looking at a diagram of what all of the pulleys were… I see that this is apparently the water pump (the pulley right above the Crankshaft pulley in the center). It seems to be lightly coming out from an unknown spot… I could see a small line of coolant starting to form before it ran across and dripped down. It was dripping down onto the next part below (crankshaft pulley) and running down to the bottom of that particular part housing.

I just noticed it today, and it very well may have started this either today or very recently. The radiator was still full and the overflow reservoir was a little below the "cold full" area when it was hot, but still had a decent amount in it.

Added (1). How long do these typically keep working before failing? Will it increase in the amount that it leaks with time?

I checked all of the hoses… The radiator hose where it joins the radiator and water pump. It looked fine. I also checked what appeared to be a smaller return hose that leads from just above the main radiator hose and goes all the way around to the back of the engine… It is about half as big around as the main hose, but is still rubber. That seems to be fine, as well.

Added (2). My main concern is antifreeze getting on the belt and causing it to slip off somehow, like about a year ago. We once sprang a leak in the main radiator hose and it opened up and sprayed with quite a bit of pressure onto the drive belt and the whole belt came off.

Things are a little financially challenged this week… Should be able to get it replaced in a week or two. What are my chances of making it through without this getting worse and/or giving out?