Oldsmobile/Buick Repair: 1998 Oldsmobile Intrigue, oldsmobile intrigue, upper radiator hose

Question
Billy,
I hope that you can help on this one. I have a 1998 Olsmobile Intrigue. First of all last night, my car started overheating, then stalled and began smoking while driving. I pushed it into a gas station to lift the hood and see what the problem was. After allowing the car to cool, I checked the oil which appeared to be low and added more. Perhaps too much, and also added water to the radiator. I Was able to get the car home. When I started it to come to work this morning, the "Service Engine soon" light came on and was idling kind of roughly. It seemed to want to overheat again but I turned the heater on and the temperature guage quickly dropped to normal, but the car is still idling roughly and acts as though it will stall but doesn't. Any advice on what this might be and could the rough idle be caused by having added too much oil? Any advice you could offer would be greatly helpful since I know NOTHING about cars other than how to trade them in!
Thanks in advance,
Lance  

Answer
hi lance. well the eng overheat is the biggest prob.and the eng cooling on when you turn the heat on tells me the fan cooling fan is not running unless the heater turns it on .this is caused by a bad temp sensor.the temp sensor ,actually has several jobs and just about every winter most cars need one.first of all you have to put antifreeze in it instead of water.as this will freeze and destroy the engine.buy a temp sensor .it is located on the intake manafold near the place where the upper radiator hose hooks to the engine.which is most likely what code the puter will have stored.this sensor will caUSE rough idle and eng overheat.these are the most common probs.however if this eng ever runs right again depends on what kind of damage was caused bye the overheat,and this could be serious .but replace the sensor get the anti right and the right amount of oil in it and if problem persist i would say head gaskets would be in order.please rate my help ty billymac