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Common problems
Car Overheating
What to do at the roadside, and what usually causes it.
Overheating destroys engines faster than almost anything else. What you do in the first few minutes matters.
At the roadside
Pull over and switch the engine off. Turning the heater to hot and the fan to maximum pulls heat out of the coolant and can buy you a short distance if you're nearly somewhere safe. Don't keep driving otherwise.
Don't open the cap
A hot cooling system is pressurised, and releasing that pressure causes coolant near boiling point to erupt out. Wait until the engine is properly cool. This causes serious burns every year.
Common causes
Low coolant from a leak. A failed thermostat stuck closed. A water pump that's stopped circulating. A radiator fan that isn't cutting in — which is why some cars overheat in traffic but are fine at speed. A blocked radiator.
The expensive one
A failed head gasket, which can be both a cause and a consequence of overheating. Continuing to drive an overheating engine is often what turns a cheap thermostat into an engine rebuild.
Not safe to drive?
You don't have to risk it. We transport vehicles as our other business, so a car that shouldn't be driven can be collected on a transporter rather than nursed to a garage.
non-runner being loaded
Questions
Can I top it up with water?
In an emergency, to get somewhere safe, yes. It dilutes the antifreeze and corrosion inhibitors though, so it needs draining and refilling properly afterwards.
It's fine now it's cooled down. Do I still need it checked?
Yes. An engine that overheated once will do it again, and the second time is usually more expensive.