Car overheats, have been told its the radiator and cost will be 300 plus on 1999 hyundi elantra station wagon

Just follow the upper radiator to the engine, the thermostat is under the cover that the upper radiator hose attaches to on the engine. Make sure to bleed the air out of the system after draining it to replace T Stat or the engine will overheat and damage a head gasket..

Where the upper radiator hose attaches to the engine is the thermostat housing. Remove the hose from the housing. Remove the housing, the thermostat will come out with the housing. Be careful to orient the new thermostat exactly the same as the old. If the new thermostat is put in backwards the car will overheat.
Hope this is helpful.

an overheat will not be caused by the muffler. what have you checked. radiator full? radiator clean?waterpump good? when does it overheat?

All fan comes on that means all temp sensors as well as circuitry are working. The culprit is that the engine has poor coolant circulation to cause this problem. When you on the freeway the air help to cool the engine, but not in a case of stop and go. There are 3 things can cause this problem: a bad thermostat, a bad water pump or a bad radiator. These 3 things can be all together or just only one of them. A radiator has all vertical small tubes inside to carry the coolant passing through and dissipating heat through fins outside. When it gets clogged up, coolant becomes stagnant hence heat is not dissipated causing over heat. The same thing happens when water pump is not turning to propel the coolant in the loop. If a brand new radiator was installed last year then focus on the water pump. If a rebuilt one was installed then it is questionable. Don't ever use a rebuilt one, it is saving only the part but cost a bundle for later labor and headaches. Good luck checking the 3 things to find out a root cause.

replace thermostat and check to see if heater core is leaking

did you happen to get it into you intake filter? it may be the plugs as well as the wires and ignition system (i.e. coil pack or distibutor).

either there is a drain on the electrical system your battery is no good or you have a bad altenator

According to my book, it is a evap system small leak detected. Usually a loose or faulty gas cap. Is the car running good? Check your gas cap, erase the code and see if the code comes back. Good luck. Phil

with 17000 miles thats not normal

hi there i hate to tell you but that job is an absoulute nightmare and yes you will need specialty tools and very small hands