If the alternator goes bad, and isn’t charging the battery, the red “battery” warning light will usually come on while the engine is running. Plus, after a jump start, the battery will go flat again, and the car will stop running a few minutes after you disconnect the jumper cables. If you didn’t see that warning light, and if the car continues to run OK once it’s been jumped, the alternator is probably OK.

If a car battery goes very flat, that tends to damage the battery, so it can’t hold much of a charge in future. Plus, batteries often don’t last many years.

So it’s probably the battery. But places that sell batteries will normally test your battery and alternator for free, and it’s best to get them tested, just to be sure.

DIYer advice: Your post isn’t very clear. But here are some points:

1. A bad battery will not cause the engine to overheat.
2. If you have the 4 cylinder 2.5 engine, a slipping serpentine belt will cause the battery to go flat (because it’s not turning the alternator), and cause the engine to overheat (because it’s not turning the water pump). (I don’t think this applies to the V6 3.5 engine.)
3. " started smoking and overheating". What started smoking? How do you know it was overheating (did the temperature gauge on the dash go up into the red zone?)?
4. Have you checked the coolant level? Is it low?
5. Have you checked the engine oil level, on the dipstick? Is it low?

I think you mean the blower (interior fan) isn’t working?

Does it work on any of the speeds (1,2,3,4,whatever)?

If yes, it’s probably the blower resistor.

If no, it might be the fuse (I think it’s in the interior fuse panel), or it might be the blower motor. But check the fuse first.

DIYer advice: Almost certainly, replace the alternator, because the alternator bearing is seizing up.

Just to be sure, remove the belt, and spin the alternator pulley by hand. It should spin freely (one finger should be enough).

Do not drive it. (You should have stopped the engine the minute the temperature gauge maxed out, to prevent engine damage.)

DIYer advice: If nobody comes up with a better idea, buy a can of electrical contact cleaner, cross your fingers, and spray it over the radio buttons. I did this once on a 2010 Hyundai Elantra (I don’t know what had spilled on the radio buttons, but it might have been something like iced coffee), and it worked.

It looks like removing the radio is a pain: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CEji94jqK4

DIYer advice:

It’'s an extra 3% in overall tire diameter (an extra 10mm in sidewall height and ride height, and 10mm less clearance at the top of your tires). 10mm is slight less than half an inch. Not a big deal in my opinion.

https://www.wheel-size.com/calc/?wheel1=205-55-16X6.5ET45&wheel2=205-60-16X6.5ET45&fcl=50mm&wcl=30mm&scl=50mm&sr=0mm

OK. If the engine is running OK, then you can replace that swaybar link (it’s cheap to buy, and easy to replace), and then see if the car drives OK. But it would be good to ask a mechanic to check out the rest of the suspension. Because if that swaybar link broke, perhaps some other part of the suspension got damaged too.

It’s a sway bar end link. Not a very important part, and cheap and easy to replace.

https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/volkswagen,2015,jetta,2.0l+l4,3308958,suspension,sway+bar+link,7580

But I’m surprised it broke like that (unless the car hit a rock, or something).

And that part being broken wouldn’t stop the car from being driven (as long as you didn’t go round corners too quickly).

What’s the back story here? Why is the car “ruined”? (That part being broken wouldn’t mean the car is “ruined”, unless something much more important is broken.)

I once drove for an hour when my alternator belt broke, before the battery died. (1994 Mazda, all lights and electrics turned off, handbrake up one click to turn off the daytime running lights). And that included 2 starts.

So it’s not stupid.

The bottom circle is the radiator cap. Coolant goes in there too (the same coolant that goes into the top circle reservoir).

The reservoir and radiator are connected, so coolant can flow between them. So normally, you never need to open the radiator cap, you just check the reservoir. But if the reservoir ever gets very low, the radiator might be low too. And it takes a long time (days) for much coolant to flow from the reservoir to the radiator. So it might be a good idea, in your case, to open the radiator cap (but only do this when the engine is cold), just to check the radiator is full to the brim with coolant. And if it isn’t full to the brim, top up the radiator, as well as the reservoir. Then start looking for leaks.

My power source for hydraulic car jacks? My arms. (I didn’t even know they sell hydraulic jacks that plug into the cigar lighter or connect to the car battery. Sounds like a gimmick to me. Unnecessary, a hassle to plug in, an extra wire to trip over, and just something else to go wrong.)

"The battery works "

No. The battery has enough power for the dash lights. But it takes a *lot* more battery power to crank the engine than to run the dash lights. See how the dash lights go dim when all the battery power goes to trying to start the engine? So it’s probably a weak battery.

Try a jump start, with jumper cables from another car. Or try charging the battery. Or get the battery tested.

DIYer advice:

" Can the coolant be low but reservoir be ok?"

Yes. I takes time (many days) for much coolant to get transferred from the reservoir to the radiator. A little bit gets transferred whenever the engine warms up and then cools down again (air gets forced out of the radiator when it heats up and expands, and then coolant gets sucked back in from the reservoir when it cools down and contracts).

" Could I take the radiator cap off and add more coolant there?"

Yes. And it would be a good idea to open the radiator cap, check that it’s full to the brim, and add coolant to the radiator if it isn’t. But only open the radiator cap when the engine is cool. (You don’t normally need to do this, and only need check the reservoir, unless there’s a large leak. But in your case, it would be good to check.)

" I need to do some driving this week that will be in the 2-3 hour mark. Would I be ok or should I consider other transportation until I get the thermostat replaced?"

If it were my car, I would drive it. Then replace the thermostat when I got back.

Probably brake rotors and/or pads (but you usually replace pads and rotors together). Not tires, if it only happens when you’re braking.

OK. That makes it *slightly* less likely it’s rod knock. (Because rod knock is often caused by low oil or low oil pressure.)

If it were my car, I wouldn’t scrap it (or replace the engine) quite yet. I would cross my fingers, remove the serpentine belt, (or even cut it off, because you have nothing to lose), and start the engine. If the knocking disappears, breathe a great deep sigh of relief, because it’s nothing internal to the engine, just a failed harmonic balancer or something. (But stop the engine after a minute or two, or it will overheat, without the serpentine belt turning the water pump.)

But don’t get your hopes up too much.

Sounds to me like there was a communication mix up between you and the mechanic.

" gives me an estimate off ball bearings."

That doesn’t sound make sense to me. Did he perhaps say “ball joints”, or “wheel bearings”, or even “alternator bearing”? What does it actually say on the invoice?

I don’t know. But get the lug wrench out of the trunk, and check the lug nuts on the wheels aren’t loose.

DIYer advice: 0.56 amps is a significant draw.

Small car batteries have a capacity of around 40 amp hours.

https://homebatterybank.com/how-many-amps-is-a-car-battery/

40/0.56=71. So it would take around 71 hours (3 days) for that draw to make a fully-charged battery totally flat. And less time than that for the battery to be too flat to start the car.

I’ve read that an acceptable draw should normally be less than 50 miliamps, which is 0.05 amps. So yours is 11 times as big.

BUT, it may be that you took that 0.56 amps reading without waiting long enough for everything to go to sleep.

The brake light switch is blue plastic. (And it switches on at the start of the pedal travel.) Does it look like this? (this is for the 2002, because Rockauto didn’t have listing for the 2023).

https://www.rockauto.com/en/catalog/honda,2022,civic,2.0l+l4,3449966,electrical-switch+&+relay,brake+light+switch,10474