Damsil in Distress 90 celica gt 2.0 Help

[Faye]

I need some tech help. I bought this 90 celica GT about a year ago and it ran fine. It has 140,000 k on it and now it's giving me trouble. It is sputtering when ideling; bucks, and a sluggesh jerkyness when accelarating; replace the distributor cap, spark plugs (which had oil down in there) and filters. It overheats but the guage is only 1/2 way up, the one hose gets real hot and the other is cool. The fan won't come on, but it works when hooking it up to a battery to test. Replaced the fan parts like the sensor, switch and motor; but still doesn't come on. Can anyone tell me what these problems could be before I take it to a dealer to get fixed so being a female I don't get screwed???? please help!!!!

[Pineapple]

Change thermostat, could be stucked close. Also may need new rad. Feel the rad to see if its hot on top and cold on bottom. If so, you don't have coolant flow through the rad. Either thermostat or rad.

[Faye]

thanks for the info, I'll check her out tomorrow. Would you happen to know why it would spudder when ideling in nuetral; sounds like it wants to cut off.

[fredk]

check the big intake hose for cracks or looseness, change the thermostat and eyeball the spark plug boots that go onto the plugs, the oil may have distorted them and they are letting sparks out