How to Prevent Your Car from Overheating
Tips on Preventing Your Vehicle from Overheating
1. Look for a shady spot to park
When you have been standing out in the sun, and then move to the shade, you can really feel how much cooler it is. Your car is no different. When you park in the shade, you keep your car cooler, and you also extend the life of your car. If you cannot find any shaded parking spot, put up a sunshade on the windshield to keep your car’s interior cooler.
2. Apply a window tint
A window tint or film can block out UV rays from damaging your car upholstery and keep the interior cooler. You can easily get a tint applied at a local auto body shop or dealership.
3. Use window shades
Sometimes you are not able to find any shaded or covered areas to park at. If you have shades for your car windows, you can put those up whenever you have to park in the sun. These shades can block out heat and UV rays from damaging the interior of your car. If you want to shield your windows as much as possible, you might be able to get window shades custom-made from Koni for your vehicle’s make and model. These would be more effective than generic shades.
4. Leave a small opening on your car windows
Glass is a fast conductor of heat. When your car windows are closed all the way, heat quickly gets trapped inside with nowhere to go. If you leave your car windows open just a little, you allow the hot air to escape and keep the car ventilated. Do that with your sunroof too, if you have one. Just make sure that the opening is not big enough for anyone to put their hand through. Also, pay attention to the weather forecast because you would not want to leave your windows open even a little if there is a chance of a summer shower.
5. Turn on the floor vents first
When people get into a hot car, they tend to open up the upper vents and turn on the fan to full blast. However, that would just blow more hot air into your face. Opening the vents that point toward the floor would be more effective because hot air rises. Directing the air to blow down would push out the hot air better. When your car starts to feel cooler, you can open the upper vents and enjoy the cooler air.
6. When using your A/C, use the fresh air setting
When you set your A/C to use recirculated air, the hot air just gets moved around inside your car. Instead, use the fresh air setting for around 10 minutes. This cools down your car faster. After 10 minutes, you can set the A/C to recirculate the cooled air.
7. Cover your seats and steering wheel with a towel
If your car has dark upholstery or leather seats, it will absorb a lot of heat. To keep these surfaces cooler, cover them with a towel or blanket after you park your car. You should also cover your steering wheel so it can stay cool to the touch.
8. Consider getting a remote starter
You can use a remote starter to cool down your car before you get in. Then, when you get in, instead of using a lot of A/C, and you can just circulate fresh air.
9. Monitor the temperature gauge on your car
The gauge is on your dashboard. The needle usually stays around the middle. If you see the needle move toward hot, get to a safe area and pull over. Shut the engine and allow the car to cool.
10. Cool the engine by turning on the heat
This is counterintuitive because who would want to turn on the heat on a hot day? However, for cooling down the engine, turning on the heat will draw hot air out of the engine area. It might not cool you off, but it will cool down your engine faster.