ok everyone . no rest for the weary with this car!

on the way back home , and on my first highway trip, the car hit the top of the temp gauge and stayed there on my last 5 miles home. the reservoir was completely empty, there was dried coolant sprayed all inside the engine bay where it was in the direct path of the open hole that relieves the pressure. went ahead and let it sit for a bit and filled it up all the way. drove it again for about 5 miles and when i got home it seemed to stay in the reservoir but the radiator was empty. my coolant had very fine metal flakes(almost like someone dropped silver glitter in the fluid) and it was a cloudy brown.

first diagnosis was it was mixing somewhere. but the engine oil was fine, it had no mixing or weird discoloration. heater core wasnt bad. similar problem happened on my cousins honda prelude and found out the water pump blades were wearing away and were rusted. so water was going into the pump but not being pushed out so it was just getting used up. it seems correct since the only metal part in the system is the water pump. i was planning on doing the whole timing kit anyway so it seems like that would be the right thing.

havent pressure tested the system yet but i checked all the hoses and they help pressure and no cracks or leaky coolant around clamps. the upper was hot like it should be and the radiator had pressure as well when i took the cap off .