Check your car’s cooling system so overheating isn’t a problem this McHenry summer

Looks like she's stuck on the side of the road

somewhere as her car is overheating. If she
had her cooling system checked, she could
have left her McHenry home with confidence.

It’s summer in McHenry and you’re out for a nice drive. What could be better than this? Of course, the first sign you have that this day isn’t as idyllic as you expected is when you see white smoke drifting out around the hood of your car. This is a clue that something is wrong and, most likely, that something has to do with your cooling system.

Your car’s cooling system is essential to your vehicle. Any time you pull your car out of your McHenry driveway, you want that cooling system to operate at peak performance.

Most of the time, you don’t even have to think about the cooling system under the hood. It does its job silently, efficiently, and consistently. But, when it has a problem, it’s gonna let you know. Oh, boy, is it going to let you know.

If you see white smoke, actually steam, seeping out of the thin gaps around the hood, PULL OVER NOW!

If you continue driving when a car is overheating, you risk killing the engine. You can literally destroy the engine if the car is overheating.

One way to track the efficiency of your car’s cooling system is to watch for the white steam mentioned above. Unfortunately, by the time you see that white steam, you’re already in trouble.

To save the engine, you need to pull over. Now you’re stuck on the side of the highway. Hopefully, you have roadside service. Hopefully, your cell phone works.

There are several things that could cause your car to overheat. For instance:

Your coolant is old and is no longer up to the job.
You have a leak and don’t have enough coolant left to do the job.
That leak could be in the radiator, one of the radiator or heater hoses, the water pump, or the heater core.
Your thermostat is stuck and not allowing coolant to flow through the radiator and cool.
The water pump is no longer pumping.
The radiator is clogged and not allowing the coolant to flow through it sufficiently.
The radiator fan isn’t operating.
You’ve lost the belt that turns the water pump (on older cars, it might also turn the fan).

When your car is towed into a shop somewhere, they’ll examine the car and let you know what caused the problem. Hopefully, they won’t tell you that your engine is cooked and has to be replaced.

The alternative to waiting for a problem is to approach the issue proactively. This involves checking out your cooling system so you know that it’s in good shape. And if not, you can have it fixed so that it is in good shape.

If you maintain your car’s cooling system in good condition, something could still happen. It’s just far less likely. And you can leave your McHenry home with confidence that your car’s cooling system won’t interfere with that wonderful summer day.

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...

Timely maintenance is even more important with your Johnsburg Electric Vehicle

Even if you have an electric vehicle in your Johnsburg driveway, maintenance is still critical. You pull out of your Johnsburg driveway and you watch the gas stations go by as you smile from behind the wheel of your EV – Electric Vehicle. Of course, at some point, you will have to stop and charge the battery but you still take some comfort that you’re not standing next to your car as the fuel pumps into your tank. One of the true comforts you take with your EV is that the mechanics of your vehicle are simplified. You don’t have to worry about the engine breaking down anymore, and we all know how costly that can be. But there’s more to your EV vehicle than you may have considered when you first parked it in your Johnsburg driveway. Many of the parts found on gasoline-driven vehicles are also present on your EV. These require the same maintenance as your gasoline-powered vehicle. For instance, you EV still has: Tires and Wheels Brakes Steering and Suspension Windshield Wipers and So...

Performance Unlimited Blog

Search This Blog