On my way to a first date, car's temp guage goes to hot. I get off the highway, it goes back down to normal, then back to hot, etc, etc. I attempt to top off the coolant (after the pressure released, spilling coolant) and limp the car back home. The gauge kept bouncing from normal to hot until 5 miles from home when it stayed on hot. About a mile away the "low coolant" message came up. I have no idea what the problem is, not to mention a young lady who thinks I was trying to get out of a date! Any help would be appreciated!

97' XK8 with 56k

 

Early XK8's were plagued with both waterpump and thermostat problems. Hard to believe that you got to 56k with out a pump/thermostat replacement which will now have to happen. No big deal! buy the parts on line and we will show you how to fix it. $100 of parts plus coolant, which you probably needed anyway, and you will be all better.