Get a $50 ODB reader and reset the fault. If it comes back, you can get the next code checked at a mechanic. If you don’t want to spend the $50, pull the battery terminal. I have to do that with my Jeep.
Pulling dents is cheap. It won’t look as nice but you can limp along for a little while. Asking is free.
The radiator thingy is probably the heater core which doesn’t affect the AC. You have to get that fixed. In the future, if you spend $1400 on something, make sure they give you a warranty. Otherwise, don’t get it fixed there. My rebuilt transmission had a 6 month warranty and it failed within the 6 months. We got a new one for free.
“If I was making $10 an hour, “
I assume you are making more so paying cash for another car shouldn’t be a problem. :)
My point is that people (not you of course) get a car loan because they think they deserve a better car than they can afford. Then when hard times hit, they have an millstone around their neck.
The radiator thingy is probably the heater core which doesn’t affect the AC.
I wasn’t very clear about that. I believe it is the “heat exchanger. It’s the AC’s equivalent of a heater core. I actually saw a couple of them at the AC guy’s place. He mentioned that they are a bit of a problem in the 300. We did dye tests and even though it leaked all the fluid in a day there was no dye in the engine compartment and only traces in the interior. But then, there should not be ANY in the interior. It’s $600 in labor because of the required removal of that nasty dash.
Regarding the code, yeah, I was thinking about just removing a battery lead, but if the sole reason is to kill the light, I don’t care. I’m just trying to use up the car until it gets hot. Then I’ll get a “new-used” car.
It’s also gonna need a new water pump and timing belt in another ten thousand miles or so. And at 122 miles a day that is not very far off. I believe this is one of those engines that a broken timing belt causes to place valves and pistons in the same time-space continuum. It might get noisy.