Why Is My Car Overheating: (Causes, Prevention+ Fix)

The car may overheat or run hot for various reasons. Sometimes the car may even overheat when idle or while driving especially if there is coolant leakage.

Here in this article, we look at reasons for car overheating, what happens when a car engine overheats, how long you can drive, and what to do in case you find yourself in such a scenario.

What can cause a Car to Overheat?

What causes a car to overheat? The Vehicle can overheat at any point anytime the car cooling system no longer effectively absorbing, dissipating, and transporting heat that results from the car engine burning fuel. The main reasons why your car is running hot is related to the failure in the cooling system that may due to the following causes:

Leaks in the Vehicle Cooling System

Leakage on the cooling system is one of the causes of engine overheating. Leaks lead to loss of coolant due to evaporation, thereby affecting the amount of coolant that is optimum to dissipate heat from the engine.

Bad/ faulty Thermostat

Faulty or bad Radiator

Radiator plays an important role in cooling the coolant or water fumes or gas back to its liquid form once it passes through the cooling fins. Any fault in the radiator such as holes and blockage affects the cooling mechanism thereby raising the engine temperature.

Worn out or holes make the fumes escape from the radiator reducing the amount of coolant or water in the cooling system affecting its efficiency. Inadequate fluid on the truck or car cooling system makes the engine run hot.

Blocked fins prevent fluid movement inside the cooling compartment there by reducing the efficiency of the no of times the fluid pass through the system.

Faulty or bad radiator fan(s)

The radiator fan usually does automatically open once the thermostat senses the temperature has gone beyond a certain point inside the car engine. If the radiator fans are faulty, this affects the cooling system even if the radiator is working well. In many cases, you may notice the car overheating while idle if there is fan failure. At high speed, the overheating light on the dashboard may go off. However, if the car overheats when driving and not when idle it may be as a result of other causes.

Engine fans have their own fuse inside the fuse box. Faulty fuse may lead to radiator fan failure. If your radiator fan is not working check its fuse inside the fuse box.

Tip: if your the car is  running hot when idle or stopped and not when moving, first check if the fan is working.

Faulty or bad engine water pump

Engine water pump failure may make your car overheats since it doesn’t facilitate the cooling system.

Bust /worn out coolant engine pipes

Worn out rubber pipes may burst causing the cooling to splash out or escape from cooling system affecting or causing the engine temperature to rise.

Wrong Coolant/ Bad Mixture of Coolant

It’s not recommended to add or mix different car coolants together. In addition, if you get expired or the coolant has overstayed, it may cause the coolant system clogging thereby affecting the cooling engine system.

Leaking joints between pipes and engine connection

Sometimes the coolant fluid leakages may occur on rubber pipes and engine connection. In case you had taken your car for some checkup ensure the joint on the pipes are well tight to avoid water gas from escaping through it and reducing the amount of it within the car cooling system.

Failing of faulty serpentine belt

Serpentine belt plays an important role in moving the car cooling system and driving the water pump so as to facilitate the coolant movement in and ou of engine and radiator.

What to do when the car overheats

What to do when your engine overheats while driving or even after stopping. The best solution is to fix the causes of engine overheating. However, you have to identify the cause before taking any remedial step. Here is a step by step guide:

• Turn off the air conditioner.
• Turn on the Defroster/ Heater.
• Find a safe place to Pull Over and get your car off the road.
• park and then rev the engine.
• Open the hood and check the coolant.
• Be patient and allow the car to cool down.
• Restart the car and drive to near fueling station.

Tips to prevent car engine overheating problem

• Carry out coolant flushes and exchange regularly.
• Carry out engine radiator inspection regularly.
• Check your coolant levels especially before turning on ignition in the morning.
• Always fix the car engine and radiator issues immediately to avoid worse problems or issues in the future.
• Use the recommended coolant only.
• Carry out switch box inspection regularly and avoid letting water near it. Ensure it has spare fuses for unexpected events or occurrences/ problems.

Things to avoid when car overheats and wont start

• Don’t panic
• Don’t continue driving with overheating engine
• Avoid opening the hood immediately
• Don’t postpone let your car get fixed