Overheating, signs of engine failure

You don't need to be a mechanic to recognize a problem at the engine level, there are always signs to be on alert for. In addition to the coolant indicator light, check the smoke coming out of the exhaust pipe or listen under the hood, the presence of abnormal noise should be taken into consideration. Here's how to recognize them and why they are important.

Coolant sight glass

Your car would certainly send you signals about its condition and problems are given priority from the dashboard. The constantly blinking coolant indicator light means an overheated engine, and the needle is constantly oscillating. The right thing for you to do is to reduce the speed and until you find a safe place to park, turn on the heating. The idea is for the latter to take this heat and send it back to the cabin. On the other hand, if you do not react, your vehicle will eventually stop and by opening the hood after some waiting time, there will be white smoke escaping.

Exhaust smoke

The colour of the smoke coming out of your exhaust also reflects the health of your vehicle. The white marks a problem in the cooling system and with overconsumption, it is specifically the cylinder head gasket to be replaced as soon as possible or the severed cylinder head. As for the blue smoke, the anomaly comes from the intake valve stem or segments. It must also be recognized that the permanent black of the diesel without you having accelerated, a check on the compressions is necessary. For a gasoline engine, the overly rich gasoline that could be the cause. But if the smoke comes out of the hood, the best thing to do is to detect its origin.

Suspect noise

Normally when slowing down, you should not hear any noise, let alone whistling. If this occurs, a possible cause is air escaping from one of the engine cooling system hoses or the radiator cap seal if the noise persists after you shut down the engine. A problem with the belt also causes you to hear squeaks, while the one with the oil tank produces rattles. Being attentive to the sound emitted by your car is thus lifesaving in the sense that it prevents you from having a breakdown, as with the humming of the engine, which should not be too noisy. If this is the case, the quality of compression of the engine cylinders could be in question.