Repairing your car yourself is a great way to save money and overheating problems are usually easy to do even if you have little experience in car repairs. The following videos will go over some of the most common overheating problems and how to fix them. Even if you decide not to repair the car yourself, they will provide valuable information on what the mechanic should be doing to deal with your overheat issue.
Grandpa TJ: I’ve located videos which deal with many of the types of leaks you may run into when overheating. If you are handy with some simple tools and can get to a hardware store, these videos will give you enough information to get the job done for far less cost than a mechanic.
Remember, you can get personalized help including video chat during your repair if you need it. Visit Grandpa TJ’s Inner Circle for more information on how to schedule a live consultation.
Here are links if you would like to jump ahead:
- Diagnosis of Common Overheating Issues
- Opening an Overheated Radiator Safely
- Adding Coolant to Radiator
- Finding Coolant Leaks
- Replacing the Radiator Hoses
- Replacing the Radiator and everything else too
- Replacing the Water Pump
- Replacing the Thermostat
- Grandpa TJ recommends: Burping the Air Out After Working on the Cooling System
Diagnosis
If you haven’t already done so, diagnosis of the cause of the overheating is the first step. Here are two videos which go over how to diagnose the problem that your cooling system is having.
Thanks to Budget Mechanic Hawaii for the YouTube video
Thanks to 1A Auto: Repair Tips & Secrets Only Mechanics Know for the YouTube video
Coolant Problems
Low coolant is one of the most common problems for car overheating issues. It is not unusual to have some small coolant losses due to evaporation. However, if you find yourself adding coolant or water to the radiator overflow reservoir often, then you may have a leak in the system.
WARNING!
You should always wait for your car to cool before trying to open the radiator cap. Scalding hot fluid which is under pressure can spew out from the radiator and cause severe injuries!
These guys didn't wait - Major Fails!
Thanks to Packeteers & C10 TRUCKS for the YouTube videos
If You Can't Wait...
Grandpa TJ: Sometimes circumstances mean that you cannot wait 15 minutes or more for the car to cool down. If that’s true then you need to find a source of running water (for example a service station water hose) in order to cool the radiator enough to safely open it up. Here is how I’ve handled overheating when time is an issue.
While the car is still running, spray the front of the radiator with water a little at a time to bring the overall temperature of the cooling system down. At first, it will turn to steam the instant it hits so stand back and go slow. As you spray more water, the outside of the radiator should cool down until no steam occurs. At this point, you can turn off the engine and move on to slowly releasing pressure from the radiator and then adding enough water to get you going again. The video below shows how. Note the thick towel he is using to keep the hot steam under control.
Thanks to Dr Valeriy for the YouTube video
Filling Your Radiator with Coolant
Thanks to 2CarPros for the YouTube video
Finding Your Coolant Leak
The next video shows how to search your car’s cooling system for leaks.
Thanks to 1A Auto: Repair Tips & Secrets Only Mechanics Know for the YouTube video
Replacing Radiator Hoses
The next video shows how to check your car’s upper and lower radiator hoses to see if they need replacing. Then it shows the steps needed to actually replace those hoses.
Thanks to ChrisFix for the YouTube video
Replacing the Radiator (and everything else...)
The next video primarily shows how to replace your car’s radiator but also briefly goes over replacing the water pump, thermostat and hoses during the radiator replacement. It then covers refilling both the radiator and transmission fluids.
Thanks to ChrisFix for the YouTube video
Replacing a Leaking Water Pump
The car in this video has a water pump with a large, active leak which could have allowed the engine to overheat and be permanently damaged. You will see how easy and cost effective it is to do the “driveway mechanic” routine to replace that leaking water pump.
Thanks to ChrisFix for the YouTube video
Replacing the Thermostat
Your engine coolant thermostat may be mounted in different places depending on the make and model of your car. Below are two videos showing how to replace engine-mounted and radiator-mounted thermostats.
Engine-mounted Thermostat
Thanks to BleepinJeep for the YouTube video
Radiator-mounted Thermostat
Thanks to wingman1861for the YouTube video
Grandpa TJ: After any work on the cooling system, you will need to “burp” the air out of it to prevent further overheating due to air pockets in the system. The above video on radiator-mounted thermostats shows how to burp the system without any extra tools – just go to the 3:00 minute mark. But there are inexpensive kits that you can purchase to make burping much easier. The earlier video on water pump replacement shows one of those kits in use – just go to the 9:36 minute mark in the Replacing the Water Pump video to see how to use one of these kits.
The Locate Supplies page has more information on finding spill-proof, “burping” kits.
Cooling system repairs are relatively easy to do and can save you a lot of money.