Let’s Learn about Car Engine Temperature and Things to Avoid

While practically everyone may own a car, not everyone may know their car engine. However, it is important for you to know if your car engine temperature is at the right level. It will help you know if the engine, the heart of your car, is doing well. And, it is important whether it is a manual drive or an automatic.

Nevertheless, not all car temperature gauges are designed to simply indicate the car temperatures as HOT, COLD or SAFE. There are digital gauges as well, which may give away only relative high or low.

How to Read Car Engine Temperature

It is common knowledge that an overheated engine can be a dangerous thing. But, what you may not know is how to gauge and what to do once you know it is overheating. This calls not only for the knowledge of how to read your gauge and recognize overheating car symptoms, but also how to react. Take a note of these maintenance tips.

Analogue Gauges

As you may have noticed that most gauges indicate through a numberless panel. They simply have C and H, or blue and red, and a point between them which indicates normal temperature. The interpretation is simple. Here is what you must interpret:

Normal – All is good

Cold – All is still good. The old cars need a little warming up in the winter. Modern cars are fine that way. No need to warm up. The computer supplies the fuel even if the engine is cold to get to get it up and running.

Hot – Yes, it’s worrisome and you need to react.

Digital Gauges

These simply display a value in Fahrenheit. If you are a gizmo person, you will check what the temperatures on a digital gauge mean. But, here is a simple tip:

Below 240^oF – All is good

Above 240^oF – The engine is overheating. The gauge will set of a blink or an alarm, and you need to get it under control.

Overheating is one of the most common engine problems that you must not ignore

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What to Avoid when the Car Engine Temperature Goes Up

1. Don’t keep driving, but don’t brake hard either. If the engine is overheating, simply slow down, pull the car aside safely, and turn the engine off.

2. Don’t try to start the engine again after a few minutes thinking that it has cooled down. Most time engines heat up because of the lack of coolant. So, you need to fix the problem first.

3. Don’t rush to open the bonnet right away. Odds are that you will end up burning your hands. Open it cautiously, once a few minutes have passed.

4. Never take the radiator cap or the water system cap off right away. It increases the risk of blowing up, since it is under high pressure.

5. If the radiator requires coolant, don’t rush off to refill it with antifreeze. Make sure that there are no leaks or bursts in the coolant system. The leak or burst could actually be the cause of the overheating car symptoms.

6. Start the engine after a few minutes of refilling the coolant. If it heats up again, do not try to be an expert. In case you cannot diagnose what the problem is or if the engine still heats up you must call professional help.

Remember, overheating car engine temperature can be a real trouble. Diagnose it and treat it in time.