The UK has recently experienced scorching tropical weather, basking in temperatures nudging 35°c. These surging temperatures are great for working on that tan we all crave, but the downside is our homes are ill equipped to deal with heat like this, and so are our cars. Take a look at some of our top tips to help prevent you and your car from overheating!
Keeping Your Car Cool Over Summer
As most of us are aware, hot air rises. When getting into your baking hot car, set your vents to blow fresh air or AC out into the footwell first. Open your windows or your sunroof and this will allow hot air to escape whilst keeping cooler, fresher air inside the vehicle for longer.
Use cold ice-packs to circulate cooler air, position them in front of the dashboard vents to enjoy cooler air without using your air conditioning.
Consider using sunshades to keep the inside of your vehicle cool when left in direct sunlight. As an alternative, try covering your seats in a blanket when leaving your vehicle. When you return, put the blankets to one side (which will be hot by the way!) your seat should be much cooler than if you left it without blankets.
Take a look at our air-conditioning service if it hasn’t been checked for a while, this will ensure the system is running at its coolest, and that the system is nice and clean!
How to Prevent Your Car from Overheating in the Heat
It’s important to remember that when you use your air-conditioning, it uses your engine to keep itself running. Constant running of your air-conditioning will work your engine much harder than it needs to, so try and use AC only when really required, this will help keep your engine cool!
Coolant! A clue is in the name, it helps keep your engine cool. During the summer, engine coolant is hugely important, as you’ll realise. Ask yourself when you last checked your coolant levels, if you don’t remember or if you rely on the annual service, we strongly suggest you check the levels. Extra coolant is a drop in the ocean compared to associated vehicle overheating issues. Don’t forget, DO NOT check coolant if the engine has been running recently, the coolant will be boiling hot, allow the engine to cool first!
Check the oil levels, this is the lifeblood for your vehicle, as it prevents parts from seizing up and helps keep your engine cool by dispersing heat. Check the dipstick to understand what level your engine oil should be at, refer to your owner’s manual if you are unsure about where to look. If the oil levels are too low, top them up before driving it any further.
For the Ultimate Cool Drive
The convertible vehicle is the ultimate way to combat heat-filled vehicles! We know heat rises, well, simply take the roof off completely to rid the car of all heat! To stay ‘cool’ in more ways than one, consider the legendary FIAT 500C, boasting desirable, trendy looks with the removable roof we all crave! Take a look at some of the offers available at Richard Hardie FIAT, which include a range of limited supply pre-registered FIAT 500C models.
