The car has put on 145k miles. The engine light started blinking and white smoke was coming out of the hood. Brought it to Midas and they said it's a #3 coil and everything was all set. I paid them $300 and thought it was fixed but a little bit down the road i noticed white smoke still coming out of the hood. Open the hood and there is steam coming out of the radiator backup. Took it to a different place and they diagnosed it and said that the cap spring fell off and the top of the radiator where the cap screws into the tank is chewed up. They said this means even a new cap will not seal the tank and car will keep overheating. What's weird about it is the car was not overheating before i had this issue with the 3 coil. So i don't get why suddenly this is a problem? He said he thinks it's because when all this happened to the car it melted the top of the tank a bit.

Cost to replace radiator + cap + hoses and a flush (Midas filled it with water) is $680. Then there is also a major oil leak, and they are not sure what it is yet. On top of that we found a milky substance in radiator resevoir. My friend says it's because they put water in the radiator tank, but i have also heard a milky white substance can be because of a leaky/defective head gasket. The garage says there could likely be some engine damage on top of all this because when the breakdown happened the cars hose slipped off and it lost radiator fluid and had no oil. I know in the past they have found oil in the spark plugs, when i replaced the 2 coil.

Also the front brakes are worn out and the car has several lights out. The heat wont work and the cruise control light wont go on. Not sure if this is just a fuse?

The mechanic at the second place said that i could end up spending 1-2 thousand fixing the radiator and oil leak and then i'd still have body work to do, brakes, the other 2 coils at some point + whatever else happens to the car.

So should i put anymore money into this car or is it totaled? Same exact cars in way better condition, are selling for 3 grand. Just to get my car back on the road will be at least a grand and as much as 2 depending on the oil leak issue. This doesn't even factor in any potential engine damage, work that's yet to need to be done, or body damage (bumper, headlight, several other lights, brakes, a tire). So far i've done the timing belt, water pump and 2 coils.