What To Do If You Find Yourself With An Overheated Engine?

The engine manipulates heat as it transforms natural energy into kinetic energy. However, overheating is a possibility that is always present.

However, there are measures in place to deal with the excessive heat, such as coolant and engine oil. What will occur if things start to go wrong? It implies that, under certain circumstances, the coolant could start to cause issues for the engine of your car. A worn head gasket could be the cause of it entering the combustion chamber.

On the other hand, deteriorated engine oil may fail to lubricate the internal components, resulting in a heated environment under the hood.

What Should Be Your Course Of Action If You Encounter An Overheated Engine?

As soon as it’s safe to do so, you should stop if you suspect your engine is overheating so you can determine the cause.

Besides, you can also turn off the air conditioning and crank up the heater to the highest setting if you can’t pull over safely. The heater sucks up the heat under the hood and radiates it inside the car.

However, if your car’s engine is overheating, there are a number of signs that can help you identify it. Let’s understand some important hints that will surely prove to be saviours for your car.

Temperature Measurement at Dashboard

Now all smart vehicles equip with features of temperature measurement. However, it can be confused with the environment temperature while it reflects the engine’s temperature under the hood.

Your engine is overheating when you notice it moving toward the red indicator.

However, you should not wait as your engine to heat up to a dangerous level until it reaches the red indicator. This is proven and tested utility that comes handy to gauge a vehicle temperature.

Some Unusual Sounds under the Hood

Due to the lubrication provided by engine oil, an engine operates at a very high intensity. What transpires, though, if the engine oil loses its ability to lubricate while the engine is still working under strain?

Under the hood, there would undoubtedly be a friction-focused movement and an odd manoeuvre.

When this happens, your engine’s parts may start to click or clank as they interact without the protective effect of oil.

This might result in catastrophic damage and even hefty bills for car engine repair.

Overheating Dashboard Light

A specific light on the dashboard of a car serves as a temperature indicator. If the thermometer indicator rises above the waves, it becomes a problem. It measures the coolant temperature that the radiator uses to control engine temperature. When your engine starts to overheat, the radiator warning light illuminates. It crosses the red threshold.

Vaporization under the Hood

Every single thing has a unique resistance to heat and temperature. The boiling point begins for fluids used in automobiles once the temperature crosses the range of 100 to 105°C. While a car’s maximum tolerable temperature ranges from 90 to 100 degrees Celsius.

Therefore, there is always a coolant loss if your car begins to heat up beyond these temperatures.

The temperature of your engine will rise above the boiling point of your radiator fluid once it begins to overheat. As of result, boiling radiator fluid may come out from underneath your hood as steam, vapour, or white smoke.

Sudden Dip in Your Car Performance

The best performance cannot be obtained from an overheated engine. An improper combustion process is the main cause of degradation.

Under the hood, an overheated environment prevents normal air from mixing with fuel and providing the proper air to fuel mixture to the combustion chamber. Normal warming of the air makes it difficult to sustain for fuel during internal combustion.

By pressing the accelerator, you can experience the performance problem, and an overheated engine is almost certainly to blame. However, an engine diagnosis is a much better option to delve deeper if you have experienced such an incident.

Abnormal Smells under the Hood

It is common of burning of some things due to overheat. However, different things could have different smells.

In case of burning of valves and rubber seals, you can smell as odour of burning of plastic smell. While a sweet smell is a result of coolant burning, sometimes it might seem as syrup.

Moreover, an overheated engine burns the engine oil too. These smells hint the critical conditions of your car and initial warning of a possible fire under the hood.

An occurrence of one or more of these signs hints at the possible overheating. However, it would be wise to pull over to the safest corner of a road and try to turn off the engine.  A halt might help you to cool down a bit to your car’s engine.

However, you can make an inspection under the hood. But, take care while opening the bonnet as it might be heated enough to burn you. Usually, fluid such as coolant gets enough heated to cause damage.

It is best not to touch anything under the hood until the engine has fully cooled down.  Otherwise, you can take assistance of a professional from Service My Car by opting for roadside assistance service.

Beside, our experts are well-versed in any car repair and you have to just request a quote on our website and app for a car service.

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