How To Keep Your Car From Overheating

Summer sun doesn’t just take its toll on your skin, but also on your car. Just as your body can overheat from too much sunshine and not enough shade or hydration, your car sometimes can break down, too.

Sometimes it’s not just the heat, it’s the height: driving up steep inclines over long distances can also cause significant damage to your engine.

The good news is, overheating is something you can prepare for, and take action before a minor problem turns into a major one.

Here are five things to know, especially if you’re planning on taking a long road trip during the summer months:

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1. Pack for your trip

Buy a gallon of engine coolant — also known as antifreeze — and keep it in your trunk, along with one gallon of distilled water. The advantage of having distilled water as opposed to tap water is that it has fewer mineral deposits. But in a pinch, tap water is better than nothing.

2. Check the coolant in your radiator

When your engine is cold and you can remove the radiator cap safely, make sure the level is full and that you’ve got the right mix of antifreeze and water. This is something you should check every time you change the oil, and the radiator should be flushed every 2 years or 24,000 miles.

Never touch or attempt to remove the radiator cap when the engine is hot!

3. Things you can do to keep your car cool

Park in the shade. Being out of direct sunshine works just as well for your car as it does for your body. Tinting your windows can also help, but check with local law enforcement about the legal limits to tinting. The same effect can be accomplished with inexpensive windshield sun shades and leaving your door windows open. Check the radiator for obstructions: bugs, leaves, sticks or road debris can block the airflow and overheat the engine. The radiator’s job is to keep the engine cool, and anything that gets in the way defeats that purpose.

4. What to do when your car is overheating

The temperature gauge on your dashboard indicates how hot the engine is. Pay attention to where the gauge is when you start your car, and again during your trip. You have a lot to do while driving so you typically don’t need to watch it continuously, but if it starts rising, take action: pull over when it’s safe to do so.

If you see steam pouring from under your hood, it’s imperative to pull over as soon as possible. If you’re in a place where there’s nowhere to stop, turn off the air conditioning and open your car windows, and then do something that may make you uncomfortable but will cool your engine: turn up the heat, to its maximum setting. The fans will draw the heat away from the engine and, unfortunately, into the passenger compartment, and this will help until you can pull over.

If you see steam pouring from under your hood, it’s imperative to pull over as soon as possible.

5. You’re stopped, your engine’s hot: now what?

Do not touch or attempt to remove the radiator cap until the radiator and its cap are cool! Doing so will expose you to the risk of very serious burns.

With the car in park, try revving the engine first with a slight pressure on the gas pedal. This will increase air circulation and coolant flow through the radiator.

If the temperature gauge shows the engine is still overheated, shut off the car, and open the hood. Look for leaks, either from under the front of your car or from hoses under the hood.

Next: look for the plastic reservoir that most modern cars have adjacent to the radiator. Check the markings to see if the coolant level is too low, and if so add coolant, or water if you don’t have any, to that reservoir. If the reservoir was low, you may be able to resume your trip, but if it was empty, don’t drive it.

Call for help, and have a mechanic diagnose what caused your engine to overheat. Driving an overheated engine could cause permanent damage: warping the cylinder head, creating a gasket failure or seizing the motor completely.