How Long Does It Take A Car To Cool Down?
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With the summer in full swing, it can be easy for your car to overheat. The hot engine and the boiling oil on the inside all mix together to produce a large amount of heat that you should learn how to cool down.
How long does it take a car to cool down and what can you do if you’re caught in traffic with a boiling engine? We’ve got the answers below.
Causes for Car Overheating
When you open the hood of your car, you’ll notice that all of the tubes and wirings can get complicated. There are many reasons why your car can start to overheat, some of them dealing with the engine cooling system.
Understanding The Engine Cooling System
The engine cooling system is there to regulate the heat that builds up in your car. As you go down the road, oils, liquids, and gasses are all combining together to keep your car moving and cool. Your engine cooling system is made up of four parts, each of which could be the issue that’s causing your vehicle to overheat.
Water Pump
The water pump is a pretty expensive repair when it comes to a heating-up car. Not only is it complicated to get to but the parts and pieces to get it patched up and back working are on the expensive side.
Radiator
The radiator too can be expensive. It works in unison with the engine to keep your vehicle moving, If there is an issue with the radiator, you could lose the cooling fan, which means that your car will start to heat up quickly.
Heater Core
The heater core is at the center of it all and will cost you a bit to repair. If you have an issue here, your car will heat up fast and possibly start to produce smoke if you let it run too long without repair.
Thermostat
If the thermostat stops working, it might not be too big of a deal, unless it’s paired up with other issues. To fix it, your technician will take a look under the hood and see what’s causing the issues.
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What to Do if Your Car Overheats
An overheating car is something that happens to all of us. Whether it’s the hot sun or some kind of other issue, all drivers should take precautions when driving their car to make sure that it doesn’t overheat. Below, you’ll find a few tips for keeping your car fresh even if it’s starting to overheat.
1. Keep Antifreeze on Hand
It’s always a good idea to keep a bottle of antifreeze on hand. If not antifreeze, water will do but don’t just rely on that. One of the most typical causes of an overheating car is low levels of coolant, which you can fix in a few seconds by adding some to your car.
2. Turn off the Air
While it might seem unthinkable with some of the summer heat you get in the US, when you see that your temperature gauge is starting to heat up, turn your AC off. The AC puts a lot of extra strain on your engine. If you’re going long distances in the hot sun with the AC blasting, your car might overheat very quickly.
3. Crank up the Heater
You may think that we’re crazy about the suggestion but, it could help. When you see signs of overheating, you could turn on the heater and watch as the heat converts from the engine to the inside of the car. In that way, you can keep your car nice and cool and avoid stalling out somewhere.
4. Pull Over
If you can’t seem to get your engine to cool down, you could just pull over for a bit and turn your engine off. In that way, you’re giving your car some time to relax and cool off, not having to worry about pumping oil, gas, and other substances from one place to another while you commute.
5. Check Coolant
As a way to get to the bottom of the issue, you could pop the hood and take a look at the coolant tank. In doing this, you’ll know whether or not your tank is leaking, checking to see if there was any difference in the amount of coolant you still have in your tank.
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How Long Does It Take A Car To Cool Down?
Because the heat of your car is an indication of the engine’s health, the ways to get it to cool down can vary. When you start to see that your car is heating up, the first thing you should do is pull over. Then, try shutting off the air and popping the hood, checking to see if you still have liquids.
After that, you’ll have a good idea as to whether or not you will need to add liquid or just keep your engine turned off in order to get your car back up and running. As a standard estimate, you should think about keeping your car turned off for at least 30 minutes. Then, if needed, add liquid or coolant and see if levels change.
Even if you do have a leak, you can still probably gain a lot of ground and get to your home or a local mechanic after letting your car rest for just 30 minutes. If not, you may need to call someone to bail you out as you might have popped something beyond repair.
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Keep It Cool
Your car is a complex machine that works in a number of different ways. With all the different mechanisms working here and there, you’ll need to take care of them all and make sure that it’s cool so you can drive.
If you notice signs of overheating, stop, pull over, and try to see what the problem is. Then, just sit back and let your car cool down before you start driving to keep the engine and other mechanical things safe.
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