Keep your cool with summer service
It’s a good idea to have your garage check the cooling system, including belts and hoses
Automotive cooling systems are the unsung heroes of our vehicles. You never hear or see any automaker advertising or bragging about its engine cooling systems, yet they have undergone a quiet and substantial evolution in a relatively short period of time.
Gone are the days of having to flush out coolant every two years and replace hoses and belts almost as frequently. Material and manufacturing development in radiator hoses and engine drive belts have brought them to just about outlasting the vehicle they’re installed in. But for all these engineering and technological marvels, cooling systems on today’s vehicles aren’t something you want to take for granted, because when something goes wrong, it can get very expensive, very quickly.
How quickly? If you’re driving the average vehicle made in the past 10 years, a failing cooling system can destroy an engine in only minutes.
The extensive use of aluminum and lightweight alloys in modern engine construction makes them particularly susceptible to overheating damage. Cylinder head gaskets can fail and leak, cylinder heads themselves will warp, and eventually pistons and combustion chambers will be relegated to the scrap heap.
If you find yourself in a vehicle that’s overheating, the first thing you need to do is to reduce your speed and immediately start looking for a safe place to pull over. Switch the cabin heating system to full heat and turn its fan all the way to max. The heater core this system uses, in behind the dash, is simply a small radiator and by turning the temp and fan up all the way, you’ve adding another source of heat exchange to help reduce engine temperatures.
When you reach the side of the road, switch the engine off and pop the hood. Never try to release a pressurized-coolant radiator or recovery bottle cap until the engine cools off completely because the resulting eruption of hot coolant will cause severe burns.
Prepare for the summer travel season. Nothing brings stress to any vehicle’s cooling system like long hot runs with a full load of passengers and gear. Don’t simply assume your regular oil changes will cut it for checking under the hood. Unless you’re getting a written report on fluid levels and conditions as well as those of belts and hoses, all those oil changes are just that: a simple engine oil and filter replacement.
Your tech should be looking for any cracks or frays on your engine’s drive belts and carefully checking each coolant hose for any weather-checking (small cracks). Are any of the hose clamps rusted? Is the coolant being replaced according to your owner’s manual recommendations? If you’re not sure or don’t see these items listed on a written inspection report, ask.
Have you ever pulled into a highway gas-and-gulp station on a hot day and seen vehicles with coolant leaking out underneath? Vehicle engine temps will spike for up to 30 minutes after the ignition is switched off because the source of coolant circulation, the water pump, turns off with the engine. If you’re driving an older and heavily laden vehicle, letting it idle for a few minutes before switching off the key isn’t a bad idea.
Don’t be alarmed when checking your engine’s fluids if the level in the radiator’s overflow seems to fluctuate. Coolant expands and contracts with temperatures, and as long as it’s in the range marked on the side of the reservoir, there should be a sufficient amount.