What to Do If Your Car Overheats

Overheating can be scary, but if you know how to deal with it, you have a much better chance of saving this model. The most important thing to remember is not to panic. When you need professional service for your model near Ranger, Eastland, or Cisco, you can always count on Stanley Ford Eastland. Once you arrive, our mechanics will work hard in order to make sure that your model has everything that it could possibly need.

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Potential Issues

If you’re a fan of your model, you’ll want to make sure that it never overheats, as you might not be able to salvage your engine if it does. Some common causes of overheating are listed below.

Your Engine Air Filter Could Be Dirty: Your engine is constantly sucking in air, and if your filter is clogged, it’s going to need to work a lot harder to get the same amount. This can lead to a buildup of heat.
Oil Could Be Leaking into Your Coolant: When oil starts to mix with the coolant, you’re going to have a long list of problems, as your radiator wasn’t made to handle this mixture.
You May Be Lacking Fluids: If you don’t have the right amount of oil or coolant, you’re going to eventually deal with overheating. Your model needs a steady supply of both to run properly.

Avoiding Damage

When you’re behind the wheel of your model, you might not immediately notice that your vehicle is overheating. You’ll want to keep an eye out for the symptoms below, which can give you an early warning.

Watch for Leaking Coolant: If you smell syrup, it could be a sign that something is wrong. Your coolant has a sweet, sickly smell that’s easy to identify.
Check Your Dashboard: The lights on your dashboard are designed to give you a quick warning when you need it most. You’ll want to keep a close eye on them.
Look for Smoke: If smoke is coming from your engine, you’re going to want to carefully pull over to the shoulder as soon as you can.
Check Your Gauges: Your temperature gauge can easily show you when there’s a spike in temperatures. If you feel like you’re overheating, you’ll want to turn your attention to it.

Time for Service

When your car overheats, it can be frightening, to say the least. If you want to make sure that you have the best possible chance of salvaging your engine, you’ll want to follow the steps below.

Get to the Shoulder: If your model is dealing with rising temperatures, you’ll want to get somewhere safe so that you can turn it off.
Call for Help: Whether you’re calling for a tow or a friend, or you’re calling us at Stanley Ford Eastland, you’ll want to make sure that you call someone.
Do Not Mess with Your Engine: It can be tempting to pop your hood, but this will do more harm than good. The escaping steam might even injure you if you stand too close.
Turn Up the Heat: This might sound counterintuitive, but you’ll want to crank your model’s heat up before turning your A/C off. This will help divert heat.

You won’t always have time to schedule a service when your vehicle is overheating. For an immediate response, you can always head to Stanley Ford Eastland.

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When Your Car Overheats