Within our role as your go-to automotive service provider in Winchester, we frequently get questions from conscientious customers looking to take care of their vehicles. Things like, “When should I replace my timing belt?” or “Is there something wrong with my suspension?” or “How can I prevent a transmission repair?” These are just the kind of questions we love to answer, because a little attention and preventive maintenance can significantly prolong the life of your car, and save you money. Which brings us to this one: Can I drive my car with a leaking radiator?
For more information, please visit Is It Safe To Drive With A Bad Radiator.
First of all, a warning: Never touch a hot radiator! Absolutely never try to remove the cap of one. When your radiator overheats, pressure builds up. The resulting rush of steam and hot coolant can cause third degree burns and permanent scarring.
Now, the short answer to the question is: Yes. But there are very real dangers to driving with a leaking radiator, both to you and your vehicle.
Driving with a radiator leak is a dangerous operation, as it will very likely cause your engine to overheat. If you are driving down the road and notice your engine is overheating, we recommend you pull over immediately and let the vehicle cool down. While it’s cooling, call us to schedule an appointment. We can quickly pressure test your system, identify the issue, and repair it.
Depending on how bad your radiator leak is, stopping might be the only safe option. If you must drive there are a couple of tricks you can use in order to prevent further damage to your car. These aren’t a replacement for fixing your radiator–these are just emergency measures to buy you a little extra time and help you move short distances.
The heater in your vehicle cycles coolant through a heater core to blow warm air through the cabin. The heater core is a heater exchanger, so by turning on the heat in the car you allow the remaining coolant to work more efficiently.
Basically, the coolant that’s left can work better at cooling your engine down by shedding excess heat faster. It can buy you a little more time if your leak isn’t too severe.
Before driving, check your coolant levels and fill up your coolant if needed. If you have coolant with you, make sure it’s a coolant mixture, such as 50/50 antifreeze and water. Antifreeze alone can damage your cooling system.
If you can’t find any coolant, distilled water will work in a pinch. Places like Walmart have distilled water. If you’re really in a jam, just regular water will do, but it can carry contaminates that may cause damage later on. It’s also important to know that water alone won’t cool your engine as efficiently, so this option is a short term, emergency solution only.
Just remember, don’t try to add coolant if your radiator is steaming! Remember the warning NOT to touch a hot radiator. Your radiator must be completely cool before you can open the cap and add coolant.
If you have to drive with a leak, keep the drive as short as possible, preferably to a safe location where you can diagnose and assess the severity.
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I assumed that since the in car heater was working during my return home, this meant there is still sufficient coolant in the system. As far as I'm aware if coolant becomes low the in car heater would have given cold air.
Depends on the exact car but generally yes this is correct - at the very least it indicates that there is enough coolant in the system to have some passing through the heater matrix. It doesn't always mean there is sufficient to provide adequate cooling for the engine though.
I also drove slowly(under 3000 rpm). I assumed even if coolant is not there, so long as you drive 2000-3000 the engine won't overheat, its only if you rev higher.
Not quite - what generates heat in the engine is when it is under load (which is not always the same thing as high revs), and driving slowly can actually be counter productive as this will significantly reduce airflow to the radiator and engine bay which is badly needed to cool the engine when you are marginal on cooling. This can be seen when cars that have cooling system issues overheat in slow traffic or stationary. Ideally you want to travel as fast as you can with as little application of throttle as possible - lift and coast as much as you can!
I kept my eye on the temperature gauge and assumed that so long as it doesn't show overheating into the red area, which it didnt, i should be safe.
Not always - the "temperature gauge" in most cars is actually a measureing the temperature of the coolant at a certain point in the cooling system. If there's no coolant, or if there is an airlock you could see an artifically low reading that doesn't reflect the reality of what the engine is experiencing. If there's still coolant in the system and you're seeing a "normal" reading that's encouraging but not cast iron.
Were my assumptions correct, if not please explain why. Also could head gasket now be gone or would that only happen if your temperature gauge goes to the red region?
It's possible that the head gasket could have gone but in my experience this would be unlikely from one short period of low coolant - although it very much depends on the engine in question as some are less robust than others. My old car (S6 with a V8 engine) had a thermostat failure and I limped some 20+ miles (with multiple stops to cool down and top the boiled off coolant) and the headgasket was absolutely fine - try that in something with a K-series engine and the results would likely have been a headgasket failure.
Besdt course of action now is to avoid driving the car (if possible) and get the leak tracked down and fixed. Once that's done get the system emptied, filled with fresh coolant, bled and watch it like a hawk for a week or two. Keep an eye out for any of the classic signs of headgasket failure:
And if you see any of these get it checked out as soon as possible.
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