Panicked, What would you do?

[Frodo]

I say go with #1 choice in your original post. As Clueless indicated, what’s to lose? Why do either of the other two unless you’re sure this engine has crapped out altogether (or will do so)?

I had my water pump go on my Box, with maybe 40% of the impeller blade material chewed up and, presumably, floating around in the cooling system. Jake Raby, et al, had me convinced I’d be screwed when one or more of those pieces got lodged somewhere unfortunate, creating hot spot(s) and wreaking havoc. I tried flushing the system, running everything that came out through a sieve—never recovered a single piece. Replaced the coolant and drove her. That was 58K miles ago, she still runs like a champ.

I don’t know how old “old” is, but consider changing the oil yourself. It’s easy, and you can do it for under $100 a pop..