Eric Bergen

The number of cars I saw off the road between ripon, ca and mountain view, ca due to over heating. I went up to ripon today to check out the Stanislaus river as a possible new fishing spot. According to my truck’s thermometer the high temp I saw today was 106F. There are a few steep grades on 580 going through pleasanton. People were working their cars too hard and simply overheated. One of the cars I saw pulled over was a convertible with a couch upside down in the back seat. I’m not sure what they were thinking but they paid for it. Here are some tips to prepare you for the summer heat.

If you see your car over heating turn on the heater and roll your windows down until it cools off. The heater works by running hot coolant from the engine through a little radiator. By turning on your heater with the fan on high you can help cool down the engine faster. Driving down the road with the heater on and windows down is much better than stopped on the side waiting for your car to cool off.
Change your radiator cap and thermostat. These two parts combined may cost you $10. They are well worth it. Radiator caps can wear out and blow prematurely. Thermostats can get stuck closed. Both of these parts are cheap to buy and easy to change yourself.

Check your coolant. Coolant testers are only a few dollars and can save you from a cracked block in the winter or overheating in the summer. Car coolant is a mixture of anti-freeze and water. The ratio of the mix determines the freezing point of the coolant. Coolant testers will tell you the approximate freezing point of coolant. During the hot summer months you can mix your coolant with a little more water to be a little more protected against overheating. Cheap testers will have several colored balls in them. Coolant testers are nothing more than a turkey baster with a few colored balls in them. The balls are a different weight and thus will float with higher density coolant. The number of floating or the color of the floating balls determines the freezing point.

If your going to be driving over hot mountains pack a few gallons of water (no need for anti-freeze) and some rags. If you do over heat pull over, shutdown the engine and wait for the car to cool down. This is important. If you radiator depressurized the water/steam coming out was well over 200F. WARNING!! IF YOU TRY TO OPEN THE RADIATOR CAP WHEN IT’S HOT THE RESULTING STEAM BLAST WILL BURN YOUR SKIN OFF. After the car is cooled down remove the cap with the rags and fill the radiator with water. Close the cap and you should be good to go. If you do fill your radiator with mostly water be sure to have your coolant flushed before winter. Waking up on a cold morning with a cracked block or all your freeze plugs on the ground is no fun.
It also helps to have a truck with a tow package (oversized radiator and transmission cooler)

This entry was posted on Friday, June 23rd, 2006 at 10:47 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.