Grandpa TJ: When you first see occasional wisps or worse billowing clouds of white stuff coming out from under the hood of your car, you get a sick feeling in the pit of your stomach. I know this first hand – because I’ve had several cars do this to me!
Table of Contents
Click the links to jump to that section of the page or feel free to browse down the page…
First Things First - Is It Smoke?
If what is coming from under the hood or up the sides of the car is smoke – it will drift for a short distance before fading slowly away. Note the drifting smoke in both of the pictures.
Smoke also can be other colors than white. It may be black as seen in the picture to the right. It may also be brown or white with a blueish tint.
If your car is smoking, especially with black smoke…
GET OFF OF THE ROAD IMMEDIATELY AND TURN OFF THE ENGINE!
If the smoke doesn’t stop shortly after you have turned off the engine,
GET EVERYONE OUT AND TO A SAFE LOCATION AWAY FROM THE CAR.
If you still see smoke – CALL 911 and report that your car may be on fire.
On the other hand - Is It Steam?
Steam comes out white and quickly disappears with very little drift. If you see steam, check your dashboard for the overheat warning light. If you have a temperature gauge, see if it is at normal or up at the hot end. You may also smell antifreeze which has an odd but sweet odor.
The first section of the 3 Common Reasons video below shows you what engine overheating looks like when steam is coming from under the hood. It is also possible that you don’t see any steam while you are moving but the overheat warning light on your dashboard indicates a problem.
Thanks to Autodoc.co.uk for this YouTube video
The next video, Do This!, deals with overheating while driving slowly or when you are stopped. The first section shows some of the underlying causes for your car to overheat.
The second section shows how you can cool your engine by turning off your air conditioner and then turning on your heater (see the 1:36 minute mark of the video). Those two actions alone may be enough to let you limp the car home or to a service station.
Thanks to electronicsNmore for this YouTube video
Click on the green buttons in the Pros & Cons section below the Safety section for detailed descriptions of ways to diagnose and handle an overheating.
Safety First!
Tips for when broken down near or in traffic lanes
Make sure other drivers see you and move over!
Watching for traffic and being seen is vital to your safety. Be sure to have and wear safety vests if you are out of your car. Position warning reflectors, road flares, flashing warning lights or orange cones to warn traffic to move over.
Grandpa TJ: It has been my experience that during daylight hours, people will see and react faster to orange road cones than most any other signaling device! Even the small ones sold as Soccer Training Cones (10 for $14).
I believe it is because they are a familiar sight to drivers when they are around road construction. They know that cones mean that they need to move over.
What are your choices? Pros and Cons
Pros: Easy to do. A professional auto mechanic will be able to handle repairs to your car’s cooling system. They will make a visual inspection and most often be able to recommend the correct solution to your overheating problem. Most overheating problems are pretty straight forward to diagnose because most of the cooling system is highly visible and leaks are obvious.
Cons: Some repairs can be expensive! You will have to get your car to the shop – either by towing or limping it slowly (see the Do This! video above for how to limp your car when overheating).
Occasionally, overheating problems are more difficult to diagnose and repair – especially coolant-flow blockages. Click the Repair Shop button on the left to see what kinds of questions you should ask the mechanic before repairs are started.
Pros: Easy to do and far less expensive than a shop. The earlier videos show how to detect and fix a couple of things. Click the green Find It and Fix it button to get more tips on how to safely determine what is happening and what you can do about it.
Cons: You may get your hands dirty! So if you have good clothes on you may want to wait for someone else to do the dirty work… And as always, there are safety issues that you need to be aware of when working on cars – especially when moving parts and hot coolant are involved. Click the green button to see your options.