Heat is extremely bad for your car’s engine, but oddly enough the entire combustion process produces a lot of heat. That is why your car has a few tricks to help keep the engine cool. The problem is that when the car overheats, you need to understand why. The Auto Shop of Chapin has some suggestions.
Cooling System Problems
The cooling system in your car consists of a variety of components ranging from the radiator to the water pump to a simple thermostat. It also uses a variety of hoses and belts to keep everything running. If any of those simple components fail, then the cooling system isn’t able to keep doing its job and the car’s engine runs hotter than it should.
Lack of Coolant
A special consideration when you’re talking about issues with overheating is the antifreeze or coolant in the cooling system. Coolant circulates through the entire cooling system, removing heat from the engine as it travels. If there isn’t enough coolant in the system, it won’t be able to cool the car’s engine down at all. Check coolant levels periodically to make sure that there’s enough in the reservoir.
Head Gasket Failure
There’s a gasket that fits in between the cylinder head and the engine block. It’s there to keep engine oil and coolant out of the cylinders. That’s crucial, because the cylinders are involved in combustion and oil or coolant in the cylinder would completely ruin that whole process, then your car’s engine can’t run. If the gasket fails, that’s a catastrophic situation and it means your engine likely needs to be replaced.
Infrequent Oil Changes
Your car’s engine has a few different systems that offer “backup” to other systems. Engine oil, for instance, cleans the engine and lubricates the moving parts. But it also helps to keep the engine running cooler, which backs up the cooling system’s efforts. When you stretch oil changes out so that you’re waiting longer periods of time in between, that taxes the oil and makes it and the engine work harder than it should have to work, contributing to overheating.
Keeping your car running cool is a priority, and The Auto Shop of Chapin in Chapin, SC can help. We’ll run thorough diagnostic testing to determine what’s causing the problem. From there, we can put together a repair plan that resolves all of the issues affecting your car’s engine.