Miller Brothers Auto Repair can help if your car needs a new thermostat. If you’ve got between 100,000 miles and 150,000 miles on the odometer, it’s probably time to replace the factory thermostat. Your automobile and the thermostat itself will give you signs that the thermostat is going bad. Let’s talk about the signs below so you know what they are and how they will affect your car, truck, or utility vehicle. Bring your vehicle to our shop as soon as possible if you suspect the thermostat is bad.
Rusty Thermostat
One of the things you can do if you are concerned about the thermostat is pop the hood and take a good look at it. Your owner’s manual will have an illustration of your engine in the front of it. This illustration should show you where the thermostat is. The top radiator hose is connected directly to the thermostat, so the thermostat is usually toward the front of the engine. If you see rust on the thermostat when you find it, it needs to be replaced because it has a slow leak.
Leaking Coolant
The slow leak generally comes from the coolant valve in the thermostat. As the coolant corrodes the thermostat housing, it will develop a larger leak that will leave you with coolant on the garage floor. We caution you that driving your vehicle with leaking coolant can lead to an overheating engine and engine damage. It’s a better idea to have your vehicle brought to our shop on a tow truck. If the coolant leak is severe, you may not have coolant in the engine at all.
Weird Temperatures
You may also see your temperature gauge needle moving up and down because the thermostat is malfunctioning. When this happens, you end up with strange and erratic engine temperatures and temperature changes. The thermostat keeps track of the engine’s temperature so it knows when to release the coolant into the water pump for circulation. When it malfunctions, it may release the coolant at strange times or not at all.
Constant Overheating
The latter will cause your engine to overheat constantly because there is no coolant to keep the temperature below 220 degrees Fahrenheit. In fact, a clear sign that the thermostat needs to be replaced is your engine overheating quickly after you start it.
Call Miller Brothers Auto Repair in Somerset, WI, today to set up a service visit for a thermostat test. We will replace your thermostat if it fails it.