Can a Car Thermostat Cause Overheating?

A broken thermostat can and will cause your vehicle to overheat. It can result in your vehicle overheating because the thermostat controls the flow of coolant to the engine. If your vehicle has a damaged or broken thermostat, it’s important to take your vehicle to one of the car dealership locations Sacramento has to offer. In the meantime, continue reading to learn more about the vital role of the thermostat in your vehicle.

How Does the Coolant and Thermostat Work?

When your engine is cold, coolant circulates throughout the engine, heater core, but not through the radiator. As the coolant warms and reaches operating temperatures, the thermostat in the vehicle opens to allow the coolant in to cool the radiator. This process ensures the coolant in the engine stays at the optimum temperature. If the thermostat malfunctions, it can stick shut and prevent coolant from entering into the radiator, which will cause your engine to overheat. This sort of thing applies not only to personal vehicles, such as cars and pickup trucks, but it also is an issue that can happen to semis. So, if this overheating happens while driving, you will want to get in touch with a roadside repairman for your personal vehicle, and if you’re in a semi you’ll want to contact a semi truck Road Side Tractor Trailer Repair service immediately to handle the problem before it gets worse.

How Do I Know If My Thermostat is Broken?

If you have no experience under the hood of your vehicle, it’s best to take your vehicle to one of the car dealership locations Sacramento offers. If you do have experience under the hood, you start by checking the temperature of the upper radiator hose. If the upper radiator hose is hot near the radiator after you have driven the vehicle, then the coolant is indeed flowing through it. If the hose is still cold after you have driven the vehicle, you may have a broken thermostat. In this case, you should take the vehicle to one of the car dealership locations in Sacramento for vehicle repair. In any case, you should very very careful when testing the temperature of the upper radiator hose because it could be hot enough to burn you.

If you are looking for a car dealership in the Sacramento area, please visit the Roseville Automall or check out our online inventory. We have been proudly serving the Sacramento, Roseville, and Davis area since 1990.

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