Gems of Wisdom - Overheating Car

I’ll be the first person to say that there isn’t a ton of practical information that comes out of my blog. Well, that changes right now.

Here’s what you do if your see that your car is overheating. I learned this in high school sometime (and unfortunately had to use it then and a few days ago) and realized how few people know what to do.

So, here’s my piece of practical knowledge for you to know. If you are driving down the road and you hear a strange “ding” and see a little image of a thermometer that wasn’t there before, or if you have a temperature dial and the gauge points to the little red area, your care is overheating. This generally means something has gone wrong with the fan blowing off the heat your engine produces or you are out of antifreeze so the radiator isn’t cooling off the engine correctly.

I’d definitely recommend pulling over and getting a tow to a shop. Since I’m too cheap to pay for a tow (I don’t have AAA and this car isn’t under warranty) I decided to drive to the repair shop.

I decided right away that I would prefer not to arrive at the shop with my car as a ball of flame. As amazingly cool as that would look on the road, I forgot to pack my heat suit. While I’m willing to light my hands on fire for a visual, I haven’t quite decided to light my whole body on fire.

Here’s what to do if you still need to drive a car that’s overheating. Open the vents, turn the heat all the way on and turn the fan all the way up. You may want to open the windows, it gets crazy hot in the car in the summer with hot air blowing full blast at your face.

You’ll definitely notice a bit of an odd smell. It’s the smell of the antifreeze boiling a bit and entering the air. It will stop soon, but that’s actually not such a good thing.

Ok, there’s my gem of wisdom for the day. In case you were wondering the car didn’t blow up, but with a $1,100 repair bill I almost wish it had J

Peace,

+Tom/Bob

posted by Tom at 4:07 PM