Car overheating/squealing belt

[Amshill]

2006 PT Cruiser
160k miles

Few issues I've been experiencing with my car the past few weeks. Some of which may not be related to the other...

For starters, a few weeks ago I started noticing a strong gasoline/fumes smell mostly on the sides of my car and in the back. (No noticeable leaks coming from car.)

Second- When I try to start the ignition, it doesn't start immediately...it rolls over, I have to take out the key then try it again and then it'll start. I've been having to do this for the past 2-3 weeks every time I start my car.

Lastly, I started noticing squealing from the hood coming from unknown belt, seems to have gotten worse/more intense this past week and tonight as I was driving, the temp guage on the dash started to go up followed by thermostat light indicator. I turned the heat up full blast and it started to go back down, so I was able to get home safely.

Any idea what could be causing these issues?

My car was in the shop back in March- had to get a new alternator and battery. Went a few months and everything seemed fine, until all these issues starting popping up.

Any advice is appreciated. Just looking for a ballpark price now as it will obviously be going back to the shop.


(Other info- I've had the car for almost 3 years now. Had the ac worked on back in March or April while it was in the shop and it's been running great the few months. Latest oil change was last month.)

 

[RLGL]

squealing belt ...overheat........water pump seized ?
long crank time...... fuel pressure regulator?

 

[Scarpozzi]

The basics:
Sluggish Start:
1. If your car isn't starting right up, it's having issues with either spark or fuel (which could be fuel or air).
- Check your air filter to see if it's extremely dirty...if so, replace it. At 160k miles, it may need to be replaced if it wasn't replaced in the past X number of oil changes
- You can inspect your spark plugs by removing them and looking to see if you have a fouled plug. It can happen if your engine is running too rich due to a dirty air filter (for instance). You'd probably have a check-engine light on if your car was having these issues though. Your O2 sensor and MAF sensors are supposed to lean out the mixture to address these kinds of things....just with cars over 120k miles, you start to see more dirt buildup.
- Finally, if you smell gasoline in the back of your car, you could have a gasket leaking or a semi-clogged fuel filter. I don't know about your vehicle in particular, but research where the fuel pump is located. Tanks are usually under the car in the back and they sometimes will put the fuel pump back there near the tank. (I replaced one on a Nissan once that was under the back seat) The fuel pump likely is fine, but there may be a filter inline that has picked up something and it may be restricting the flow of gasoline at startup to have it turnover quickly.
Overheating Issue:
2. While the car is cool, open the top of your radiator if it has a cap. If not, make sure your reservoir has coolant in it. If you don't see any, fill it to the line and check it again.... GM engines tend to use DexCool which is this reddish brown looking coolant. If you have an opportunity to find a shop that uses a universal coolant, I suggest you have them pump your system and replace DexCool (if your engine uses it). DexCool breaks down every 5-6 years and actually can clot up in the radiator. I replaced mine twice in 10 years because of those problems... Radiator flushes cost about $100-120...if you do that, you might as well have them swap your hoses while they're in there.
Belt:
3. Belts get wear on them....depending on the rubber, they sometimes get worn and the tensioners can get loose....or too tight and cause the rubber to squeal on the pulleys. Inspect the belt when the car isn't running. Look for any stress marks or potential points that it could break. If the belt looks good, try adjusting the tensioner and/or spray the belt with a little belt dressing to try to get rid of the squeak.

 

[Quiksilver]

2006 PT Cruiser
160k miles

Few issues I've been experiencing with my car the past few weeks. Some of which may not be related to the other...

For starters, a few weeks ago I started noticing a strong gasoline/fumes smell mostly on the sides of my car and in the back. (No noticeable leaks coming from car.)

By leaks you mean no noticeable holes in the exhaust or anything like that? or You mean like fluids leaking. Is the check engine light on at all? To me it sounds like a evap. leak perhaps a bad purge canister or something as simple as a leaky gas filler neck. Fastest way to find this out would be to smoke test the evap system and look for where the smoke leaks out from.

Second- When I try to start the ignition, it doesn't start immediately...it rolls over, I have to take out the key then try it again and then it'll start. I've been having to do this for the past 2-3 weeks every time I start my car.

When you turn it over, do you immediately turn the key, or do you pause at in the run position for a moment to give the fuel pump time to turn on and prime the fuel injectors? I mean for me basic ignition it fuel, spark, oxygen, compression, and timing.

Lastly, I started noticing squealing from the hood coming from unknown belt, seems to have gotten worse/more intense this past week and tonight as I was driving, the temp gauge on the dash started to go up followed by thermostat light indicator. I turned the heat up full blast and it started to go back down, so I was able to get home safely.

Watch this video:

The fact your overheating, and able the get the temperature to come down by using your heat (letting the coolant flow into the heater core and blower fan blowing the heat away) in combination with the noise would leave me to believe your water pump is bad. The pulley is seized up, which means the impeller inside the water pump isn't rotating letting coolant flow in/out of the engine block. The other option I would think would be its electric fan or clutch fan has stopped rotating as well and the squeaky belt is caused by another pulley. In all honesty the fastest and easiest way is to open the hood and look.