Dealing with a Car That Overheats

Sumner's here so that means that for lots of us its time to pack up the car, pack the family into the back and hit the road for the annual summer holiday. Apart from kids whining and terrible service station food thanks to a combination of high temperatures and big traffic jams you may also have to deal with a car that overheats on your way to your destination.

So just what should you do if the temperature gauge is creeping higher every minute and smoke is starting to creep out from below the bonnet? Here are some suggestions:

*If you have the A/C on turn it off right away. Running the air conditioner will certainly have been making your trip a more pleasant one but it will also have been putting a lot more strain on your car. And if you forgot to make a stop at the garage or an auto car parts store to stock up on the right coolants the trouble could be twice as bad.
*If turning off the A/C did not help turning on the heating very well might. As terrible as that sounds to the car occupants when the weather outside is 30+ doing so will take a lot of the heat away from your car's engine and should help it cool down enough to be able to make it to safety if not to your final destination.
*If you are sitting in stop and go traffic and your car is starking to smoke put the car in neutral and then rev the engine a couple of times. This forces the fan and the water pump to speed up, cooling the engine down in the process.
*If the situation looks really dire and you think the car is ready to boil over any second don't take any chances and pull over onto the hard shoulder as soon as you can. Open the bonnet to let the engine start to cool but do not try to add any water to the radiator until everything is cooled off well and all the smoke has cleared.

If your car has a habit of overheating, even when the traffic is moving along nicely and its not so hot outside then that is probably a sign that there is a more serious underlying problem that has to be dealt with.

There may be a hole somewhere in the cooling system leaking coolant or your thermostat may be faulty. Fortunately a visit to a car parts retailer and your local mechanic can usually take care of both problems fairly easily. Just remember to have it checked on before you leave for your break or you could end up spending more time on the side of the motorway than you do beside the seaside!