Need advice on my car “issues”
So recently, I took my car (2016 CT200h) on a fairly decent road trip through small hills and climbs (100 miles 1 way) for a job opportunity. On the way there, my check engine light came on climbing a hill. Soon after the overheating light came on as well. I questioned why the hell it was doing that if I took it to Vegas (over 400 miles) a few months back and nothing popped up.
I stopped at an autozone when I reached my destination and said the coolant temp sensor was malfunctioning. I had no way of fixing it at that point so I just drove it back home.
Again, the check engine light and overheating light came back on again and when I got off the highway onto the streets, it turned off.
The next day, I checked under the hood and saw the coolant tank was bone dry. I checked for signs of leaks and found nothing that showed recent or old dried coolant in the engine bay, so I filled it back up thinking maybe that was the cause of the lights coming on.
Few days go by, no lights. Was driving a few miles a day, purely on the streets, so not much stress on the engine. Now, I took it for a bit of a longer ride and there it is, both of the lights on again. I checked the coolant tank again, but it was still full, no signs of it dipping.
I took it to my mechanic and he said, without even looking at the car, “ look man, I have worked on a lot of these cars, and when they came to me, I found out it was the head gasket.”
Now being on this forum since getting the ct, I knew this was a common and reccurrent problem.
I am asking to see if this is what happened anyone else, if they had a similar situation as me?
What did you guys end up doing? Replace the engine, or the head gasket? I know it’s roughly the same price.
I can’t sell the car cause I got utterly F***ED in the A** at the dealer charging me for a brand new car and needed on at the time, so I’m still paying it off.