Van problems.
 

Since I am completely dumb when it comes to vehicles and how to fix them, i'm depending on someone on here to give me some advise.

Starting yesterday I was driving in my van and the thermometer meter on the left of the dashboard, I think that is what you call it. It has cold on the left and hot on the right. Normally it stays in the middle but all of a sudden it went all the way to hot and a red sign came up saying "check gauge".

I opened the hood expecting it to be hot but it was still cold (Im in Canada, it's really cold out.). It seemed like my heater conked out also during all of this.

If anybody has idea what's wrong or what I can do to fix this, please throw your suggestions my way.

Check your radiator for fluid.
If it's empty then fill it with the appropriate mixture of water and antifreeze.
If it's full then you may have a bad thermostat (which is like a little trap door that keeps the water in the radiator from mixing with the water that's surrounding the engine until the engine has warmed up).

Another vote for a bad thermostat. That would seem to explain the issues you described, although I expect that if you looked closely under the hood their would have been some indication of "boil over" from the coolant resivoir.

If this continues, and u notice the coolant level (fluid in radiater) contantly draining after u fill it, check for leaks. If u notice leaks around the block and the head (the main body of the engine) you may have a leak in your headgasket.

What make, model and engine?