The radiator is a vital part of your engine’s cooling system. It removes the heat from the engine and keeps your car from overheating. For efficiency, your engine needs to be hot enough to work correctly but not hot enough to damage any of its sensitive components. Due to the hot and pressurized conditions your radiator operates under, it can easily suffer damage. Performance GMC Cadillac Columbus has the parts available anytime you need a radiator repair.
Broken Radiator Fan
When your engine temperature rises over 185 degrees Fahrenheit, liquid coolant is pumped through your engine’s cooling system. Coolant can absorb heat, and as it travels it takes in the heat from your engine. This hot coolant needs to cool down, and when it reaches your radiator, it enters a series of tubes. These aluminum tubes are cooled by the airflow through your radiator while your car is moving.
Anytime your engine is idling, there’s no airflow through the radiator to cool the hot coolant. When this happens, a fan attached to the back of the radiator comes on. This fan blows over the tubes, cooling the liquid inside and pushing the heat out through the grille. The fan, however, can fail. If the fan is damaged, we would have to replace the radiator as the fan is part of the casing.
No Cabin Heating
On a cold day when you switch on the heating, you expect a flow of hot air to take the chill off. If you get cool air instead of hot, there’s a problem with your radiator. Your car has a second, much smaller radiator called the heater core. This radiator is located in the passenger cabin section. Some of the hot coolant from the engine is diverted here, and a fan comes on to blow the heat into the cabin.
The heater core is less likely to fail than other parts of the radiator system for several reasons. One of these reasons is that the radiator operates continuously, whilst the heater core is only used when the heating is switched on.
Blown Head Gasket
This is an unusual problem, as most of the time radiator problems are resolved before reaching this degree of danger. This problem happens if a radiator problem is ignored, and the engine temperature is allowed to get too high. The head gasket is the main seal between the cylinder head and the engine block. It’s the most important seal in your engine, as it prevents coolant and oil from mixing. Extreme heat from an overheating engine can crack the seal.
Once the seal cracks, engine oil, and coolant will intermingle, your will lose compression, and your engine is in serious trouble.
An overheating engine can cause serious damage and cost a lot in repair bills. Fortunately, that doesn’t have to happen. If your engine seems too hot, call us immediately at Performance GMC Cadillac Columbus. We’ll have it fixed in no time.
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