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Reasons Why Vintage Cars Overheat

Depending on how vintage your vintage car is, it might overheat because it wasn’t designed to operate in today’s driving conditions. Long road trips, speeds higher than 45 miles-per-hour, and stop-and-go traffic are all things that weren’t around when many vintage cars were manufactured. Trinity Auto Care services and repairs classic cars, and we can find out why your vintage automobile keeps overheating each time you try to drive it. Here are some possible reasons why the engine is getting too hot.

Worn Belts and Hoses

Your classic automobile could have a mess underneath the hood if the belts and hoses are original or just very old. Loose and/or frayed belts and leaking hoses can make your classic overheat easily, especially if there is coolant leaking from the engine through a cracked hose.

Radiator Problems

A very common cause of overheating classic cars is rust in the radiator. The rust could be mixing with the coolant and contaminating it, or the radiator may have rusted through and coolant is leaking out of the bottom. Your radiator vent can also be clogged by dead bugs and grime.

System Seals

Another cause of coolant leaks – yep, you’re seeing a theme – are worn or broken seals. If your vintage car wasn’t driven a lot or wasn’t maintained well, the cooling system seals have likely dried up and cracked. You’ve probably got coolant leaking out of them.

Bad Thermostat

An old thermostat could be malfunctioning and is not releasing the engine coolant when it should. Depending on how much grime it has on it, it could also be stuck closed, which means there isn’t any coolant making its way through the engine.

Blown Head Gasket

This overheating cause is bad. Depending on the age of your vintage car, you might have a blown head gasket that has been cracked for years. This will spray coolant throughout the engine and make it overheat. A cracked heater core will also leak coolant.

Radiator Fan

Coolant absorbs heat as it circulates through the engine and then returns to the radiator to cool down. The radiator fan and vent help speed up the coolant’s temperature reduction. If the radiator fan is broken, hot coolant will circulate through the engine.

Engine Trouble

Finally, oil leaks, excess wear and tear, a cracked engine block, or a cracked exhaust manifold will all make your older car overheat and can be common. An automobile’s engine will only last so long, and these problems are often due to age.

Call Trinity Auto Care in White Bear Lake, MN, to schedule an appointment for your vintage car. We’ll find out why it overheats and let you know how we can fix it.

Photo by gimesiattila from Canva Pro
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