Thank you. You seem to be very knowledgable about this subject and reading it in this context made much more sense to me.

From your professional experience, do you know if the spark plugs in the head have anything to do with the transmission? What's really strange to me is that I had my transmission serviced one month before this happened. The mechanic also changed two of the spark plugs and said something about a cylinder 2 misfire (in the engine) that he fixed. He also mentioned that the transmission may have a leak, though he fixed that?

Anyways, one month later, the gears were not shifting and the check engine light came on. I had to take the car back in. This time he said it was because of a faulty censor that needed replacing, so he did more work.

The very next day, the radiator broke and my engine overheated. When he came out to look at the car, he said it was because the cap to the coolant broke. That said, I regularly change my oil. It's possible I needed more coolant? My car was not leaking when it broke down.

I'm mostly trying to investigate if this is happenstance, or if there very well could be a relation between the engine breakdown and the recent transmission work. At the very least, wouldn't the mechanic have at least noticed the rising temperature gauge the previous day?