Your car overheating is a pretty stressful situation. Why is it doing this, and what’s it going to cost to fix it? Plus, how should you proceed so you don’t do further damage to the engine? Toyota of Orlando is here with tips to help you understand car overheating as well as teach you how to react when you’re stuck in this car maintenance emergency.
How to react to car overheating
So you’re facing your car overheating. What should you do as the temperature needle creeps higher and higher? Here are some tips straight from our Orlando auto service center:
- Pull over and put the car in park. Trying to drive with an overheated engine can cause permanent, expensive damage.
- Pop the hood and turn on the heater inside the cabin. This will help to release some of the heat inside the engine block.
- Rev the engine (make sure the car is in park or neutral!). Sometimes this can force more coolant through the cooling system, taking the temperature down a little.
- Check your coolant. Is the tank full, or is the level too low? You may have a leak or you may have just run out of coolant. Either way, you can add more to the reservoir to see if that helps.
- Whatever you do, don’t ever try to remove the radiator car when your car is overheated. It can spray hot liquid, causing you serious injury. If nothing seems to be cooling down your car, call a tow truck to get you to our Orlando Toyota service center. Our techs will get things handled quickly for you.Our Orlando auto service techs explain this car maintenance emergencyDon’t try to drive your vehicle when you’re dealing with an overheated vehicle. In this scenario, something is wrong under the hood and the engine isn’t being cooled enough to handle the hard work it’s doing. In some cases, it’ll even shut off to prevent further damage. Here are some common reasons for car overheating:
- Faulty radiator. The radiator is the part of the cooling system that takes the hot coolant fluid (the fluid that’s already circled and cooled the engine block) and cools it so it can be circulated again. When it goes out, there’s no way for the hot coolant fluid to be cooled for recirculation.
- Leaks, cracks, blockages, or holes in the hoses. Any of the above can cause a lack of coolant in the system as it can’t efficiently make its way around. Be sure to have our techs check your hoses.
- Not enough coolant or wrong type of coolant. If you’re out of coolant or using the wrong type, your engine won’t be able to cool properly.
- Broken water pump. The water pump is the part the pushes coolant through the system so when it gives out, the coolant can’t be circulated.
- Car overheating? Need service to cool it down? Call Toyota of Orlando today – we’re open seven days a week at (407) 298-0001!Return Home