New guy with new car, with problems

[SupraSaver87]

Alright...your heating problem:

First of all, turbo's HEAT GREAT. I mean, you can JUST turn your car on, and there is heat. So if it isn't heating correctly....I would almost GARUNTEE....it is the heater core. Maybe a worn out element. Thermostat.....well it COULD be that, but I would start with the least expensive thing to fix, and move onto the most expensive. It shouldn't be doing harm to your engine in the state that it is in, so you can take your time to find the problem, and also you get to be aquanted with your car.

The "Overheating" of your engine...the temp it reaches right away. I don't think that is anything, my car is in good running condition, and it gets hot...really hot. You have to think of it this way. Your turbo is pushing compressed air into your intake, that allows for a quicker, hotter, more powerful burn. That extra heat has to absorbe into SOME type of material...and the aluminum heads, and what not are easily able to accept the heat. Your turbo is also being spun by your exhaust gasses, and I don't know the EXACT temp your exhaust is leaving your engine at...but ITS HOT!! So it would be normal for the metal housing around the turbo, and also the turbo housing its self, to get warm, to hot.

My engine after normally driving it around town for 15 mins is WAY to hot for me to touch it. So don't worry...unless the freaking thing is radiating those heat waves all the way out of your engine bay, and around your car or something...lol.....then don't worry about it.

Your dash lights sound like a loose wire. Take off the guage cluster, and recheck the connections, look for fray'd wires, and that kinda stuff. Trial and error is the best way through anything...makes you understand your car all the more.

P.S. You will learn VERY quickly that these cars need work....not all the time, but they usually will let you take an afternoon everyone once in a while to work on them, they don't mind...lol.