If you are taking your vehicle on long trips in the middle of a particular barmy summer in Australia, you may find yourself being more susceptible to engine overheating. An over-heated engine runs the risk of permanent damage. Often-times, insurance companies will not pay out for any kind of engine damage. If you ever have the misfortune of needing to have your engine replaced, you will know first-hand that it is usually better to just get rid of the whole vehicle to the Melbourne auto wreckers.
Since there is a variety of factors that can cause an engine to experience over-heating. Here is a quick run-down of these reasons:
The engine system has a cooling system inside it, as you probably already know. And it relies on coolant to be circulated throughout it using a water pump. As you can guess, your engine needs this pump to be working otherwise it won’t have anything cooling it down. If it isn’t working, you can expect some overheating to result.
You need to have that thermostat working properly. If for any reason it isn’t working properly, you will be on the fast-lane to having a vehicle whose engine is ruined due to over-heating. This is because it signals the driver that the coolant system needs to be turned on.
Furthermore, the manufacturer of your vehicle will have recommended a specific coolant for your car. Using a coolant that hasn’t been recommended is just asking for trouble. Over-heated Engine type-trouble. You have been warned. Take heed!
There are many points within the cooling system where leaks can spring up unexpectedly. This includes such greats as the hoses, the pump the freeze plugs, the gaskets and even the thermostat. Leaks are bad, as you can well guess. Your cooling system will be compromised and won’t work correctly as a result. Trouble will be just around the corner, and before long you will have an overheated engine.
The business of driving draws in all kinds of foreign materials into to the inner workings of the engine’s systems. They are tiny and insignificant, but they can build up and create blockages. Tubes, hoses and fins in the cooling system are places where this is most likely to occur. When this happens the vehicle can’t cool itself and the radiator can fail.
Keep your eye on the thermostat. This can be located on the dashboard, in case you didn’t already know. In the event that you have noticed the engine is getting a bit hot under the collar, there are things you can do to protect it.
Finally, park your car somewhere there is plenty of shade. Often trees will provide a lot of shade. If you are in the middle of a desert and there is nothing throwing shade anywhere, don’t worry, these things are outside of your control. Next, open up the hood of the vehicle.
Avoid getting burned by not removing the radiator cap. The car will cool down eventually, and once you have determined that it is sufficiently cooled you can put more coolant into the system. Always keep extra coolant on hand. Some water can also come in handy too.