How to Prevent your Car from Overheating This Summer

 Welcome to Mercie J Auto Care, Where Compassion and Craftsmanship Come Together. I'm Rick Smith, ASE Certified Master Technician.

If you have any issues with your cars cooling system, don’t drive it.  Keep in mind that when I say cooling system I don’t mean the part that cools the air blowing on your face, I mean the system that keeps your engine from overheating which uses anti-freeze or radiator fluid (coolant is the term mechanics use). 

The largest main parts of your engine are the block and the cylinder heads.  Where the heads meet the block we have a gasket.  That gasket is literally in the center of the engine and will most likely be in the thousands of dollars to complete the job properly.  As the block and cylinder heads heat and cool, that expansion and contraction causes the gasket to move.  If any overheating occurs, the result is stressing the gasket beyond it’s elasticity. 

The problem with ignoring issues with the coolant is that you may do engine damage without realizing it.  Imagine you are wearing a glove with the pinky cut out of it.  If you grab something hot, the only part of your hand to get burned will be your pinky.  What if your brain could only sense heat in your index finger?  Then you would not know your pinky is getting burned.  The same thing can happen in an engine.  If you have a small air pocket in the system, part of the engine can overheat without showing a problem on the gauge.

So if you are losing coolant, or have a problem with a hose, water pump or fan, it’s not worth the risk to drive.