Your car’s thermostat has the important job of releasing the coolant once the engine reaches a certain temperature. The average lifespan of a car thermostat is 10 years. If you’re driving an older automobile that has a lot of miles on it, chances are your thermostat could go bad at any moment. Pit Shop Auto Repair can replace your thermostat when it needs it. We are going to talk about the signs of a failing thermostat below so you know what to look for. The sooner you get your automobile to us for repair the less risk you have of causing further damage to your engine. Keep reading to find out why.
Coolant Is Leaking
One of the signs of a bad thermostat is it will get stuck in the closed position. When this happens, the engine coolant has nowhere to go. Consequently, it will pool around the thermostat housing and create a corroded mess. If you pop the hood and inspect your engine regularly, make it a point to check your thermostat housing, too. This gives you the opportunity to see if there is any corrosion around the housing. You may also end up with coolant leaking onto your garage floor if the thermostat gets stuck in the open position or otherwise develops a leak through the radiator hoses.
Frequent Engine Temperature Changes
It’s also possible that your thermostat isn’t opening up completely. When this happens, you may notice that your engine’s temperature goes up and down dramatically. This is a sign that the thermostat is not providing the engine with the proper amount of coolant when it needs it. Unfortunately, the erratic temperatures can affect how well your engine performs, and when too hot, these temperatures can actually damage your engine. You may continue to experience the erratic temperature changes until you replace the malfunctioning thermostat in your engine.
Your Engine Is Overheating
Finally, if your engine starts to overheat quickly, this is a sign that the thermostat is not working. If the engine gets too hot within the first 15 minutes of you driving your automobile, the thermostat has not released coolant into the engine and it will overheat. As we said above, having the problem resolved sooner rather than later avoids serious engine damage. An engine that is allowed to run too hot can crack crucial components such as the exhaust manifold, the head gasket, or the engine block.
Call Pit Shop Auto Repair in Libertyville, IL, today if you believe your vehicle’s thermostat has gone bad.
