My car overheats: common causes and symptoms

Normally the working temperature of a car is around 90º C. If these degrees are regularly exceeded, we have a problem with the car that we must solve as soon as possible.

That our car is hot is one of the common problems that we can find and can be due to several causes. To avoid hot flashes as much as possible, we must keep the car in perfect condition. with maintenance perfectly up to date so as not to end up having typical problems due to failure of the cooling system.

low antifreeze

We do not spend much time on this cause because it is very simple. look in the expansion tank of your engine, the level of antifreeze must be within the marked limits. If it's low fill it up. Of course, there may be a leak somewhere in the cooling system. To detect it, we recommend the article: The car leaks antifreeze, what do I do?

That is why it is convenient to carry a bottle of antifreeze for emergencies in the car. If you want to get one, you must buy the right antifreeze for your car. This way you will avoid problems by putting an incompatible one.

dirty radiator

But what is the reason why my car overheats? The most common is usually when the radiator is dirty. A vehicle with many years and kilometers, can perfectly have a dirty radiator, even more so if that vehicle has traveled on dirt roads on a regular basis. In this case, what we need to do is cleaning the radiator of our car.

The reason you have to do this regularly is that heat dispersion requires the thin fins of the radiator to be in contact with the air. Coolant (or antifreeze) circulates from the engine to the radiator.

Once in it, it is distributed through the fine ducts that it has inside, so that it dissipates the heat as much as possible in its sheets. From there, the heat passes into the air thanks to the passage of air through them, which will not occur properly if there is a layer of dirt that hinders heat transmission.

The car overheats because of the faulty thermostat

If the radiator of our car is in perfect condition, the car can also get hot due to thermostat. If it is in poor condition, it can block the passage of antifreeze to the radiator.

This is so, because the thermostat opens or closes the flow of coolant from the engine to the radiator, as needed. When the motor is still cold, it does not need to be cooled so it is kept closed. Only when the engine warms up does the thermostat open so that the liquid reaches the radiator, where it will cool down.

If it doesn't work well and the car overheats, it means the thermostat stays closed even when it would be his turn to open up. It can also stay open, but in this case the car will not overheat, but it will take a long time to reach its service temperature (with the consequent greater wear).

We can check our car's thermostat easily. For this, it will be necessary to take a look at the upper radiator hose. If when you put your hand on this hose we notice it at room temperature, it can be said that the thermostat is in poor condition and that is why the car's engine heats up.

Radiator fan not working

But that's not all, since it can also happen that the fault is the radiator fan, that's why the car heats up. The radiator should be activated when the engine temperature reaches approximately 94º C. If the fan does not turn on, the problem may be in the thermocontact that activates it, in the wiring that powers it, or, on rare occasions, the fan itself.

If that is the reason for your car to heat up, the temperature rise above normal will occur at times when this fan is required but not doing its job. That is, when the engine runs with the car stopped for a while (especially if it is hot), after trips, when the engine stops receiving air at high speed, in traffic jams or other similar situations.

broken water pump

In order for the antifreeze to circulate between the engine and the radiator, it is necessary that the water pump moves it through the various conduits. If not, it does not matter that the thermostat opens the passage, and that the fan works at maximum power. The car will overheat.

For that reason, when the water pump stops workingNormally, the engine failure warning light comes on. As you know, in the description of this witness it is indicated that it must be taken to the workshop. At least, that's how it is in most car instructions, without going into further description. Since it is a single witness, for countless breakdowns of varying severity.

For this reason, it is also convenient that you know some symptoms that you may notice, that reveal the water pump as the reason for heating the car:

• Antifreeze leak from water pump: normally by the joint of its casing or by the drainage opening. Look for antifreeze leaking anywhere. Although you should be aware that some newly installed pumps may leak a bit until they settle.
• Abnormal sound of the pump: This mechanism is usually activated by pulleys and belts, which if not working properly produce a characteristic screeching noise. Especially when the engine is started. If instead of a screeching sound, it's a bearing rubbing sound, it's usually because the pump bearings are already bad.

In case the car overheats, what we should do is go immediately to the workshop so that they solve the problem and, in this way, be able to drive calmly with our car. In addition, it should be added that, if we are faced with a heating problem, it is most likely that we must replace the antifreeze with the subsequent one. venting of the cooling circuit.

Images – Stevan Sheets, Mitch Barrie, George, l0lnix