Ford Repair: Over Heatiing, temp guage, ford taurus

Question
I have a 1996 Ford Taurus and it seems to be overheating.  If I turn the heater on then the temp. guage will drop some.  It goes from Cold to Hot fairly quick.  I have seen a little smoke from under the hood before I turned the heater inside the car on to bring the temp down.  I wonder if it is the radiator and if so how difficult would it be to change with out bringing it into a shop?  Or could it be the thermostat? I'm not sure.

Answer
Cathy,

I would start with changing the thermostat and then flush out the radiator and check all the hoses on the radiator to make sure that none are leaking or pinched.

If you need to change the radiator, it is not all that difficult to do. Good luck.

Ken