What to Do When Your Car Overheats

Have you ever seen a car pulled over to the side of the road with its hood up and steam pouring out from the engine? If so, you’ve witnessed a driver with an overheated engine. Overheating occurs when the engine’s cooling system starts to malfunction in one way or another. It might be low on coolant, the belts might be frayed or the fans may have stopped running. Regardless of the cause of the overheating, it’s not a good situation! Trying to drive even a short distance with an overheated engine leads to severe consequences and potentially expensive radiator repair in Athens County, OH.

The first thing you should do when your car starts to overheat is pull over to the side of the road and turn your car off. Though you’ll eventually need to pop the hood, don’t do so until the engine has had a chance to cool off a bit. Once a few minutes have passed, get out and inspect your vehicle’s coolant level. If your engine overheated, there’s a good chance that your car is low on coolant, and will need to be topped off.

If you’re prepared and have a bottle of coolant on hand, slowly take off the radiator cap and pour some more coolant into the system. After your coolant is refilled, you should be good to go! Just make sure to keep an eye on your temperature gauge as you continue to drive down the road. If you don’t have any coolant on hand, you’ll need to call a tow truck to haul your car to the nearest mechanic.

Prevent engine overheating

The good news about engine overheating is that it’s easily preventable. Follow the advice below, and you should never have to worry about your engine overheating again:

• Have your cooling system flushed: During a radiator flush in Athens County, OH, contaminants are cleaned out of your cooling system, and fresh coolant is added to the radiator. Your owner’s manual will tell you exactly how often your radiator should be flushed, but most experts recommend having the service performed every 30,000 miles or so. The good news is that this is a quick procedure that’s easily performed by our trusted mechanics at Dana’s Tire Center.
• Keep an eye on your dashboard: The temperature gauge on your dashboard is invaluable—it’ll tell you when your car is in danger of overheating before steam starts coming up from the hood! If you notice that your engine is consistently running hot, bring your vehicle to an auto repair shop for a checkup. We’ll perform an inspection and fix your cooling system so you shouldn’t have to worry about overheating.
• Always be prepared: You may not be able to avoid an overheated engine, but you can at least be prepared for the possibility. Keep a spare bottle of coolant in the trunk of your car so you can remedy the situation yourself without having to call for an expensive tow truck.

Don’t wind up like that driver stuck on the side of the road—bring your car to Dana’s Tire Center and get a radiator flush in Athens County, OH today! We can perform the service in no time at all and get you back on the road quickly.

Categorised in: Radiator Flush, Radiator Repair

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