What Happens When Your Car Overheats?

We live in a country where our main source of transport is our vehicles. We use them everyday; whether we’re dropping the children off at school or making your way to and from the office your car is an important part of your day.
Many South Africans also love using their cars for road trips, as our country offers many wonderful scenic routes which the entire family can enjoy. But using your car everyday and for long journeys requires you to keep it well-maintained. To ensure the longevity of your car – and the safety of your family – your car needs regular services and you should definitely own car insurance. There are many cheap car insurance options available which will cover your problems extensively.
If an accident should occur, car insurance insures that most expenses are covered by your insurance company. Besides having car insurance we should also know how to take care of our cars ourselves. Knowing how to change a tyre or what to do when your car overheats while you’re on holiday can always be helpful. During road trips in the hot summer month’s cars overheating are common and could be quite dangerous and it’s important that you know what to do.
-          If you think – for any reason – that your car is about to overheat switch off your air conditioner and open your windows. This decreases the load on the engine and helps it to cool off.
-          If switching off the air conditioner and opening the windows didn’t work, turn on the heater and blower. This transfers the heat from the engine to the passenger compartment of the vehicle. This might help your engine a lot, but please know it’s not going to make your hot summer day any easier.
-          If you think your vehicle is about to boil over drive to the right-hand side of the road, open the hood and stay there until your car cools off. Never open the radiator cap under these circumstances and if your engine cap has boiled over do not add water until the engine is cool again. If you must add water when the engine is still a bit hot, add it slowly while the engine is running in neutral or park.
-          Hot summer days are the most common cause of cars overheating, but many other factors can also cause this. If your car overheats on a day when the weather is mild or even cold then the problem might be the water and the coolant level in the radiator is low or that there’s a leak in the cooling system.
-          If your car’s thermostat isn’t working it’s of great importance that you replace it at once. This ensures that you at least have an indication of when your car might be in danger of overheating.

Source: Cheapest Car Insurance