Posted by Nirav Ashara in 5 Ways to Avoid Overheating Your Truck, Top 5s on Friday, July 17, 2009
5 Ways to Avoid Overheating Your Truck
Have you ever had the frustration of being stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic on a hot summer day? Chances are that you have. Sure, it may be hot and humid outside, but you'd better believe that the temperatures under the hood of your truck ar e even worse. That's bad. And if it gets too hot, well, cross your fingers and hope you'll make it home. Why? Quite simply, because heat is the enemy of your truck's engine.
The cooling system in your truck is your engine's front line of defense when it comes to the ongoing battle against heat. If you properly maintain your truck's cooling system and take a few other preventative measures, you're ensuring that your engine won't experience the added stress of operating under extreme high temperatures. But how do you keep your truck's engine running cool under most normal driving conditions? Is there anything that you can do to prevent your truck from overheating?
As it turns out, there's actually quite a bit that you can do. We thought we'd put together a short list of some of ways we discovered. So here are, in no particular order, the top five ways to avoid overheating your truck.
5: Watch Your Temperature Gauge
This may seem like rather elementary advice, but it does warrant a mention because so few drivers actually make a habit of monitoring their truck's engine temperature gauge. Understandably, the fuel gauge is critical for most drivers on a daily basis, as is the speedometer and possibly even the tachometer. But the instrument cluster of your truck can tell you so much more; you simply need to know where to look. Alongside the temperature gauge, you may be able to find an engine oil pressure reading, a battery charge indicator and maybe even a boost and vacuum gauge (if your truck has a turbocharged engine).
Once you've located your truck's temperature gauge, pay attention to what the gauge displays as a normal operating temperature for your engine. The easiest way to do this is to simply take a mental note of the reading on several different occasions after the truck's engine has had a chance to run for a while. If your engine's cooling system is operating properly, you'll find that the temperature should remain fairly stable or at least consistently fall within a certain range. If you see the temperature reading begin to increase rapidly, you may have a problem. Ignoring it won't make it go away, either. It's wise to diagnose and repair an engine cooling issue as soon as possible. If the worst case scenario plays out, you just may be able to avoid a potentially catastrophic engine failure. As you could probably guess, major engine repair or even replacement isn't cheap.
So there you have it: Something as simple as glancing at your temperature gauge could end up saving you a significant amount of money in the long run. Up next, we have another bit of straightforward advice -- nevertheless, it's equally important.
4: Look for Obvious Leaks
One clear indicator of a problem under the hood (or really anywhere on your vehicle) is the presence of fluid beneath your parked truck. But how do you determine if you're seeing coolant and not some other type of fluid? Typically, it's fairly easy to determine the specific type of fluid your truck is losing based on the fluid color and location of the puddle. In years past, all vehicles used engine coolant that was the same bright green color, and it had a very sticky-sweet smell. Now, coolant comes in a variety of colors ranging from the familiar bright green to red, orange and even pink. Different manufacturers have different standards when it comes to the fluids they fill their vehicles with.
At this point, the color of your truck's coolant doesn't matter quite as much as the fact that you've got a leak somewhere in your cooling system. The various fluids that circulate throughout your vehicle's many different sealed systems -- such as your cooling system, engine, transmission, brake system, transfer case and so on -- are meant to stay trapped inside until they're intentionally drained and replaced. Fluids lubricate and cool moving parts within your vehicle, and your truck's cooling system is no exception. To put it in the simplest terms: If you see a puddle of coolant beneath your truck, you have a leak. And if you have a leak, that means you're in danger of running low on (or running out of) engine coolant, which would definitely cause your engine to run hot or even overheat. So, don't delay in getting that leak repaired, or you could end up with a hefty repair bill.
In the next section, we'll find out why it might not be a good idea to add too much water (or too much coolant) to your truck's cooling system.
3: Use the Proper Coolant-to-Water Mixture
Your truck's cooling system doesn't operate on coolant alone, and it can't operate on just water, either. In fact, your truck's cooling system actually requires a mixture of coolant and water to provide just the right level of protection for your engine. If you skew the manufacturer's suggested coolant-to-water mixture by adding only water or adding only coolant, you could risk damaging your truck's engine.
The balance between coolant boil-over temperature and freeze-up temperature actually hinges on the proper mixture of coolant and water. For instance, a mixture that consists of 60 percent water and 40 percent coolant can provide boil-over protection all the way up to 259 degrees Fahrenheit (126 degrees Celsius) and freeze-up protection all the way down to minus 10 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 23 degrees Celsius). If you were to change that mixture to 30 percent water and 70 percent coolant, you would have boil-over protection up to 270 degrees Fahrenheit (132 degrees Celsius) and freeze-up protection down to minus 62 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 52 degrees Celsius).
As a general rule, you'll find that a 50/50 mixture of coolant and water is sufficient for most driving conditions. However, to ensure that you're using the proper mixture, it's a good idea to take a look at your owner's manual.
On the next page, we'll discuss a situation that could easily cause your truck to overheat -- one that a lot of truck owners are guilty of.
2: Don't Overload Your Truck
Seems like a simple rule to follow, doesn't it? But it happens all the time. Just take a look around if you don't believe us. In fact, the next time you're at one of those home improvement warehouse stores, pay attention to how much lumber some people stack in the back of their pickup trucks. Or the next time you're at a landscape supply store, watch how much topsoil or mulch some owners request to be dumped in the bed of their truck. By the time they're ready to drive away, the rear bumper is practically dragging on the ground. But what does that have to do with an overheated engine?
While it may look funny to see a grossly overloaded truck making its way down the road, the damage that driver is likely causing to his or her truck's engine is anything but. As you can probably guess, every part of the truck's powertrain (including the engine) has to work significantly harder to get all of that extra weight rolling down the road -- and keep it in motion, too. All of this extra work means extra heat created by the truck's engine. If the cooling system can't keep up with the demand -- you guessed it, potential severe engine damage.
One simple way to avoid overloading your truck -- and overheating your engine in the process -- is by familiarizing yourself with the manufacturer's suggested weight limits or weight ratings for your specific vehicle. These can be found in the owner's manual or on a decal or plate located on the inside edge of your truck's door frame.
Don't stop now. There's just one more tip that we want to share with you for beating the heat in your truck's engine.
1: Perform Routine Maintenance
Keeping your truck in proper working order is one of the best ways to avoid having your engine overheat. That makes perfect sense, right? To be honest, if you properly maintain your vehicle from bumper to bumper, you'll prevent a lot more than just engine heat issues. However, since that's the main focus here, what areas or components will require special attention to help you avoid an unwanted rise in engine temperature?
As we mentioned earlier, it's a good idea to watch for indicators of a problem in the cooling system, such as sudden jumps in normal engine operating temperature or leaks in the system. You should also regularly inspect your truck's coolant hoses for damage or deterioration. It's also a good idea to inspect any clamps that attach the hoses to the radiator and to your engine. Other areas that you'll want to keep an eye on under the hood include the engine belt (or belts, in some cases), the radiator itself, the radiator cap, the overflow container, the cooling fan and your engine's thermostat, just to name a few.
So there you have it, five relatively simple ways that you can avoid overheating your truck's engine.
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