Anybody know anything about cars?

Well we made it down here to Myrtle Beach. I haven't been outside yet but it looks beautiful. The sun is out and I'm sure it'll be in the 70's. The car developed a problem on the way down. It makes a very weird clunking noise like someone is under my hood trying to tell me to let him out. When the clunking starts the heat guage goes up. It doesn't overheat but runs hotter than it should. Then the clunking will stop and it will cool down. I knew hiring that guy to fan the motor was a bad idea. We took it to a dealer in West Virginia and they changed the thermostat. Which did nothing. So I'll probably take it to another one today. Hopefully I'll make it to the beach too.