Picture it: you’re driving down the road, enjoying the soft sunlight and birds chirping as you roll your window down. It’s a lazy Saturday, full of possible adventures and trips for caffeine. Then, out of nowhere, you smell something. An odor in the air you can’t quite place. Or, maybe it’s not an odor. Maybe there’s smoke leaking from beneath the hood of your car. Either way, you know something is wrong, and when your gaze drops to that temperature meter on your dashboard, you see what everyone dreads.
The needle has crept above the halfway point on the gauge.
It’s a sinking feeling, watching your car overheat. And worse, most are usually at a loss as to why it’s happening. If you ever find yourself in this kind of position, or you’ve been there before and didn’t know what to do, then this article is for you. Below are the three main reasons why a vehicle overheats.
Broken Belts
A serpentine belt is responsible for performance engagement and enhancement of many systems throughout your vehicle. It ensures the alternator is working properly, keeps the air pump running for your car’s A/C, and helps ensure that other components work efficiently. Needless to say, it’s a priceless part of your car. But, once that begins to fail, one of the parts that require engagement also begins to fail.
This is the water pump that helps keep the engine cool.
So, if your vehicle is overheating? There’s a chance it may be that your serpentine belt is failing. Either way, get yourself and your car to us at 21701 Hwy 99, Lynnwood, WA 98036 so we can help you as soon as possible.
Leaks In The Cooling System
Your cooling system is a complex puzzle of wires and pipes and pressure caps that help push coolant through hoses beneath your vehicle’s hood. However, if that system starts to leak and the coolant loses pressure, the car can’t effectively cool your car. Now, there’s one easy way to check for this. If you pop the hood of your car and take a look, a significant enough leak will show on the hoses that you can see with your own eye. Liquid coolant comes in all sorts of colors, partly so that it can be located quickly, if necessary. You have a cooling system leak if you see any sort of yellow, green, pink, orange, red, or blue color lining your hoses. However, even if you don’t see any of those colors, that doesn’t mean you’re out of the woods. You still need to check in with your trustworthy, ASE-certified mechanic to receive a formal diagnosis and fix the issue.
Radiator Malfunction
Last, but certainly not least, we have the car radiator. It’s key to cooling your vehicle because it converts all that heat that the coolant pulls from the engine and pushes it out into the air. Think of a boat with a small leak. As the water builds, someone comes in with a bucket and shovels it back out. That’s what your radiator does: it shovels out that heat so the coolant can work as well as possible. But, if something begins to fail with your radiator, the heat isn’t removed from your engine as efficiently, thus resulting in overheating problems.
No matter the reason for overheating, one rule is always don’t panic. If you are driving and your vehicle begins overheating, keeping yourself safe is as simple as pulling the car over and shutting the overheated engine down. But, your next step is to take your vehicle to a trusted technician, where we come in. At Jeff’s Auto Repair, we work with state-of-the-art equipment that aids us in getting the job right the first time. Our expert staff is standing by, waiting to take the stress off your shoulders while we get you back on the road safely. So, call us at (425) 771-4588 or stop in and see us at 21701 Hwy 99, Lynnwood, WA 98036. Let us fix your car troubles.
The post Is Your Engine Overheating? Let’s Take a Look at Why appeared first on Jeffs Auto.
