It happens to the best of us, we’re driving around and then the little needle on the dash starts to creep a little closer to the “H” then we’d planned. Yep, your car is running hot. You take it to your repair shop and complain that it’s running hot, but you’re not loosing coolant, you’re engine isn’t running rough and the radiator doesn’t feel too hot. Nothing obvious is wrong with it, but the repair guy seems to think you’re fine. What are you supposed to do?
Well, as radiator experts we’re here to help you. When a customer comes in to J-Mac Radiator with a complaint of their car running hot and we do a visual inspection but can’t find anything obviously wrong, the temperature gauge is often the guilty party. At J-Mac, we can run a diagnostic test for a “bad temperature gauge.”
Now what’s that you ask? Well, it’s when the pesky temperature gauge just doesn’t work right. It reads the temperature in your radiator to be higher than it actually is and then reports to you, that the car is running hot.
Here’s how we test for it…
Step 1: Place a diagnostics strip on the radiator top tank or thermostat housing.
Step 2: Take the car on a “test drive” up a steep grade.
Step 3: Read the temperature gauge and compare it with the diagnostic strip that we placed under the hood.
Here’s how the diagnostic strip is read…
So, if you think you car is running hot, but can’t seem to find the problem, it could just be your temperature gauge. Bring it to J-Mac Radiator and avoid getting the run around from everyone else!