What to do when car overheats?

Answer 1

First thing is to turn your heater on, all the way hot. See if heat is coming out of the vents. If no heat then immediately pull over and turn off vehicle. That means that either you have lost all your coolant or your water pump is not circulating your coolant.

If you still have hot air coming out of your vent, then start to pull over and decrease your speed. Watch your gauge closely. If your fan is not turning you can be overheating due to trying to go up a hill or maintain freeway speeds and your fan is not comin on to help cool. In this case you want to keep air flowing through your radiator and take load off of your engine by letting off the gas. It is the fastest way to cool your engine.

If after a minute or two of decreased driving your vehicle has not cooled down at all. Immediately pull over and turn off your engine. This could be a failed thermostat. If you have a car or minivan, odds are you have an electric fan, so keep your key turned to on, engine off. listen for your fan turning under your hood. If no noise then you can just turn your key off completely. If you hear your fan, you want to keep your key on to continue to cool your engine down. Call a towtruck, do not try and attempt to drive again. It will overheat again and if you have not damaged your engine, you probaly will by continuing to drive.

All of this must be done within a few minutes. Most engines nowadays are aluminum, and they damae very quickly in overheating conditions.