A little hot air is a good thing when talking about your car’s heater

Remember last spring when you started wondering if the A/C was working up to par with the summer ahead? It’s time to start thinking in terms of your car’s heater and its ability to keep you warm.

Your car’s heater is important for more than mere comfort, however. It’s also important for clearing frost and fog off the inside of your windows. In this case, an issue of comfort gives way to an issue of safety – yours, your passengers and people in other cars and pedestrians.

Your car’s heater blows warm air onto the windows and helps clear the windows when you first start the engine and helps keep the windows clear as your driving. Many cars also combine the heating benefits of the heater in combination with your car’s A/C. The air conditioning tends to dry the air. Some cars will operate the A/C in tandem with the heater to bath the windshield with warm air while simultaneously drying the air.

Your car probably has the following controls used for operating the heater: a fan switch to set the level of air flow, a directional switch to determine where the air should blow and a temperature to set the temperature of the air coming out of the heater vents. You should take some time, before winter sets in, to check these controls and make sure they’re working properly. You also want to check to make sure the air coming out of the vents blows hot.

If the air isn’t hot, the first thing to check is the level of your antifreeze/coolant. Often, when this is low, the air will blow hot a while and then go cold as a pocket of air passes through the heater core. Filling the antifreeze/coolant to the proper level, using the proper mix of antifreeze/coolant and water, will help. However, you may want to check into why you’re low on antifreeze/coolant to begin with.

If you have a leak, you’ll only have to fill the radiator again later. And leaks can sometimes increase. You could find yourself stuck on the side of the road, in the middle of winter, with an overheated engine. There’s something just plain wrong about an overheated engine on a frigid day.

When you discover the fluid is low in your radiator, take your car to a qualified car care representative, such as Performance Unlimited, and have your cooling system checked for a leak.

If your radiator is not low, you may have a clogged heater core or some other problem. Once again, bring a qualified car care specialist into the equation.

To learn more about Performance Unlimited, visit us at www.4performanceunlimited.com.

Comments

Is your antifreeze safe from freezing this Richmond winter

You still have time to have it checked Well, there’s no denying it – winter tends to get chilly here in Richmond. We have to deal with snow and ice on the roads, scraping the same off our windows and windshield, and staying warm while we drive. Of course, you had your antifreeze checked before winter rolled into town. What?! You didn’t have your antifreeze checked before winter clamped down on Richmond? So, how’s your antifreeze doing? If you haven’t had it checked, there’s really no way of knowing, is there? This car has overheated in the middle of a Richmond winter. But, on the other end of the spectrum, the antifreeze can also freeze if it's not up to its job. Hopefully, you haven’t had a serious problem with your antifreeze already. If you did, you’d probably know. When antifreeze fails, it’s a potentially catastrophic condition for your vehicle’s engine. You could have hoses that have burst because of freezing antifreeze. Worse than that, your engine block may have crac...

Blocks of ice falling from cars in McHenry could cause accidents or damage

We’ve all seen those blocks of snow falling from behind the rear tires of a car when the snow rolls into McHenry . Fortunately, they’re just packed snow that will disintegrate under your vehicle’s tires as you simply drive right through them, right? Don’t count on it. Those blocks of snow are often packed so tight, condensed by the thaw-and-freeze cycle, that they’re anything but oversized snowballs . They’re often more like boulders. Hit one of those blocks and the collision between the block and one of your tires could send you careening off the road or into oncoming traffic. In some cases, they’re so solid you could pound them with a sledgehammer with little effect. They truly can represent a serious road hazard. The problem is that it’s difficult to tell how solidly they’re packed when you see them on the road, left their unwittingly by another driver. Either way, your best bet is to try to avoid them. But you want to be careful dodging blocks of ice in the road, too. You need...

Get out to McHenry Music Festival for a good time and music near to home

Some folks here in McHenry will load up the car and head out to Red Rock Amphitheater near Denver to see a show. Some will go to the MSG Sphere near Las Vegas. Some will go to the Bonaroo Festival Concert to see a show. That’s quite a bit of driving and you’d better make sure your vehicle is up to the trip. What happens, however, if something goes wrong – if your vehicle breaks down while driving there or back? What happens if the show is canceled, as happened this year with the Bonaroo Festival? We’re talking about some serious inconvenience, aren’t we? Wherever you go, whether your driving to Colorado, Nevada, Tennessee or anywhere else in this continent, you want to perform your due diligence and make sure the vehicle is up for the trip before you go. And it doesn’t really matter if you’re driving somewhere to see some live music or for any other purpose. A breakdown can be costly and may put you at the mercy of weather conditions or nefarious characters that come across you while y...

Performance Unlimited Blog

Search This Blog