Have you ever had your engine overheat? I have. It’s not fun. And it can happen literally any time of year (though, of course, it’s more likely to happen in the hotter summer months) which is the WORST part about it. Anyway, when I had this happen to me, I looked up exactly why it could be overheating, and this is what I came up with. Hopefully, this information will be useful to you…. And if not, call your dealer! Call them anyway, though, because you’re gonna need some kind of a repair if your engine is busted!

1. Your thermostat might be broken. The thermostat both measures the temperature of your engine and regulates it by restricting coolant from going through the engine block of your car before it’s heated up enough. If the thermostat is broken, it won’t open up and therefore coolant won’t be able to reach your engine, causing it to overheat.

2. The coolant hosing is degraded. After driving your car a lot, the hoses that carry the coolant, which is usually made out of not-so-high-quality plastic, can get corroded or caked with grime. This can lead to the coolant not making it through the hosing efficiently, or even making it through at all.

3. You’re out of oil. If your car is out of oil, you’ve got a big problem. Oil lubricates and even helps cool off your engine, so if you’re completely out of oil your engine could also literally weld itself together, which can lead to it seizing. You do NOT want this, so make sure that your oil level is at the regular level. You should be checking your oil at least once a month anyway – so if you aren’t doing that… Start!!!

4. Air in your cooling system. Sometimes air can get into your cooling system, even though it’s ostensibly a closed system. If there’s enough air in the system, it can block the flow of coolant and cause your car to overheat. The simple fix for this is to test your coolant and, yes, you might have to flush it. If you’re looking at your coolant, make sure your engine is cold – as in, you haven’t run your car for a couple hours beforehand.