Do you have steam coming from the engine?
Is your temperature gauge going to the red zone?
Are your engine warning lights coming on?
A likely cause is that your car is overheating and its possible reasons could be:
- Air entering the cooling system caused by a leak leading to antifreeze levels to drop; sucking in and disseminating air.
- Insufficient antifreeze circulation to the radiator due to some sort of blockage, such as a foreign object somehow lodged in the cooling system.
- Components in the water pump failing for various reasons like wear and tear.
There are preventive measures you can take to avoid these symptoms and their underlying problem. They are as follows:
- Follow the manufacturer’s recommended interval for flushing the cooling system.
- Repair antifreeze leaks immediately by one of our technicians here at MINHS Automotive.
- Regularly have oil changes performed by us.
- Pay close attention to your temperature gauge and if ever it’s red or the warning light is on, turn your car off.
If your engine has already overheated, scale down the stress on your engine by doing the following:
- Turn off the AC and turn on the heat as high as it can possibly go – which won’t feel pleasant – but it will be diverting heat away from the engine, which is what you want to be doing at this point.
- Pull over, stop, put car in park/neutral, press down on gas and rev your engine gingerly. This also relieves stress from your engine.
- Park your car, turn off your engine, and let the engine cool down before popping the hood to investigate the problem. How long this will take unfortunately cannot be given a uniform answer. It could be 30 minutes, it could be more. Also, do not open the radiator cap as you may burn yourself from the hot pressure of the antifreeze! Make sure the engine and radiator are both cooled down enough for you to comfortably touch them before you think about removing the radiator cap.
Please note, as soon as your car shows signs of any sort that there’s overheating, we strongly urge you to bring it in to be looked at by our experienced mechanics specializing in European cars. Overheating in the engine is not an issue you want to punt on. Tackle it immediately to avoid far costlier repairs down the line.
For cars that come into our shop suffering from overheating, the most frequent/typical repair types we’ve had to perform to correct this issue are: getting engine oil to max level, getting an engine oil change, fixing/replacing the radiator, flushing coolants, installing a new water pump, installing a new thermostat, replacing the coolant hose. So chances are that one of these services is what will be performed on your car to remedy this particular ailment.
To be 100% certain what’s causing this with your car and what needs to be done to fix it, bring your car in to MINHS Automotive. We have 25 years of experience specializing in European cars and keeping them in peak condition for our clients in need of auto repair in Bay Ridge and Brooklyn Heights.
Contact us today if this, or any other issue, is plaguing your BMW, Mercedes, Porsche, Land Rover, Mini Cooper, Volvo, Audi, or Volkswagen. We can't wait to exceed your expectations.