Your Truck or Car Has Coolant, but the Engine Is Still Overheating? What Causes, What to Do and How to Prevent

Engine overheating can occur for a few different reasons. Some of them are small and easily fixable, but if left unfixed, they can cause a lot of damage to your car’s drivetrain. Here we’ll talk about some of the causes, what to do if it happens to you, and how to make sure it doesn’t happen again. Even if your car isn’t currently overheating, it’s best to read on and learn what you can do to prevent car overheating problems and be prepared if it does ever happen to you! 

Knowing about this before it happens can mean the difference between a cheap and easy fix and a completely ruined engine. 

5 Reasons a Car Running Hot

There are a few things that cause a car to overheat. Let’s check them out:

Insufficient Coolant

If you just began driving a new car, it may be that there isn’t enough coolant circulating around the engine. If you’re sure it’s been properly filled, there may be a leak somewhere in the system, slowly depleting the amount of coolant in the system being the reason your car keeps overheating. You also have to be sure your car has the correct type of coolant in it. 

Radiator Issues

Your car engine has a radiator that uses airflow to help dissipate heat away from your engine. If your radiator is leaking, damaged, or clogged, it won’t function properly, and heat will build up within the engine bay, which will make a car run hot. 

A Blocked Coolant Hose

If you’re asking yourself, “Why is my car overheating, but it has coolant in it?” It may mean that there’s some debris in the system that’s blocking the flow of coolant. 

A Damaged Water Pump

The coolant within your engine relies on a water pump to effectively circulate it, but when it’s not circulating properly, it causes a car to overheat.

A Faulty Temperature Gauge

Your car’s cooling system has an internal thermostat used to measure your engine’s temperature. If it isn’t working properly, it may not be the reason the car overheats, but rather it would tell you your perfectly running engine is overheating. This is a simple fix, and you may be happy to hear that it’s not more serious! 

What to Do If the Engine Is Overheating

Now that we’ve discussed car overheating causes let’s talk about what to do if your car is experiencing overheating problems. You can do a few things to prevent serious damage if you spot the warning signs fast enough.

1. Turn the heater on! Yes, even during the summer. Your car’s air conditioning and heating system are hooked up to your car engine, so one of the quickest ways you can help remove heat is to use the heater to pull heat away from the engine and into your car.
2. Pull over! Find a safe place for you to pull over as soon as possible and turn off the engine. The explosions from the gas and air inside your engine’s cylinders are what cause cars to overheat, so if you shut off the engine, it won’t produce any more heat. 
3. Let the engine cool naturally. Engine overheating causes extreme damage to the whole drivetrain of your car, so you’ll want to let it cool down once you have found a safe space to park. 
   

   What You Shouldn’t Do When Your Car Overheats

   There are things to do when your car overheats, like we mentioned above, but there are also things NOT to do! These are just as important because if you do any of the following, there will be even more damage and the cost of repair will go up significantly! Let’s take a look:

   1. Do not keep driving! If you keep driving your car running hot, what might be a simple and somewhat cheap fix will turn into a complete-blown engine! 

   2. Do not open the radiator cap! The radiator is filled with extremely hot fluid that will result in a plume of steam shooting out of it and at you. Very dangerous, NEVER remove the radiator cap while the car is hot. Let it cool off naturally, as we mentioned above.

   3. Don’t wait! Wait for your engine to cool on its own, yes. Do not wait to get it looked at by a professional. You can call a tow truck to take you to the nearest service station. The longer you drive your car with a broken cooling system, the greater the chances that you’ll do major damage to your engine.