If your cars’ cooling system is overworked and underpaid, there’s a chance your car overheats on a hot day stuck in traffic.
There’s only so much your engine coolant and water pump can do. If your temperature gauge tells you that a sabbatical on the side of the road is required, you’d best listen. Overheating an engine can do permanent damage, and you don’t want that.
Don’t worry. We can help stop your car from overheating on a road trip, just read on for some handy tips and tricks.
What to do if your engine overheats
If we’ve blown past preventing it, and are now dealing with the problem, there’s some easy steps.
- Pull over slowly and turn the car off. This will stop the engine from overheating further and will start cooling it down. A good rule of thumb is to wait 30 minutes with the hood open.
- Open the bonnet to allow the heat to escape. With the water pump not running, the coolant will struggle to take the heat away from the engine.
- Do not take the radiator cap off until the car has cooled considerably. It can explode boiling water in your face. When it has cooled, you can check the coolant level and top off the coolant reservoir.
- When you restart the engine, make sure to drive lightly. No hard acceleration, try and slow down gradually and make sure air is flowing through the radiator.
How to stop a car from overheating
This is a good idea to help prevent having to follow the list above.
- Make sure your coolant levels are topped off. Adhere to the mixture guide, 50/50 mix or 70/30 in some cases. This ensures that you have coolant that can be pumped through the cooling system.
- Don’t run your A/C unless you have to. The accessories that run off the motor create load. If you reduce this load then less heat will need to be managed.
- If your car is overheating, drop the windows, turn the heater on full blast. This will force hot coolant into the heater core and will be cooled as the air is pumped past it into the cabin. It serves as a mini-radiator of sorts.
- Make sure that you keep up with regular servicing. This will mean that the mechanic can keep an eye on your water pump and radiator condition.
My car keeps overheating, what do I do?
Look no further, we can help stop that from happening. Just click here and we can help you book your car in to get everything it needs to keep running. One of our experienced garage partners can help you solve any cooling riddle.