Now that the lawn is cut, the garden is planted and ready to start dazzling all your McHenry neighbors, it’s time to relax in your lawn furniture while dinner sizzles on the grill and you enjoy a tropical drink with a little umbrella. Memorial Day is made for this. Of course, you can relax without worry because you have prepared the coolant in your car, truck or SUV for the summer ahead, right?

What?! You haven’t checked the coolant yet? That is not something you want to neglect until your car, truck or SUV tells you it’s too late. If you discover that your coolant isn’t ready for the hot days ahead, it’s certain to be an inconvenience. It’s also liable to be costly.

Having your coolant checked is generally free. If you need to replace it, the cost is minimal. You may need some hoses, which are still fairly inexpensive. Even if you need a water pump, you’re likely to spend considerably less having that replaced on your time rather than when your vehicle and the weather conspire to strand you on a road somewhere.

Often, when a car, truck or SUV overheats, it’s not only on a hot day, but it’s also on a day when traffic is heavy. When a car is moving steadily down the highway, the air is rushing through the radiator, assisted by the fan that pulls it through from the other side. But, when a car is sitting in traffic, the radiator is fully dependent on the fan to pull air across those coils.

The coolant (hopefully) runs inside the radiator coils. Hopefully because, if the coils are blocked and the coolant can’t flow, you’re going to overheat from that, too.

As the coolant moves through the engine, it carries heat away from the components. When that coolant is then moved into the radiator, the air rushing over the coils carries the heat away leaving the coolant cool again and ready to gather more heat from the engine. But if the coolant isn’t up to par, it won’t perform its job as intended.

When in top-top condition, coolant will resist the urge to boil. When boiling, the coolant is expanding. The pressure inside the cooling system builds. At the same time, the engine isn’t transferring heat to the coolant at the rate that it should. 

When a car overheats, if you have a weak radiator hose, this is when it will rupture. If there’s a weak spot in the radiator, overheating will often find it. Any potential problem with the cooling system is liable to show itself when the vehicle overheats.

Of course, along with having your coolant checked, it pays to have your cooling system checked, too. A qualified auto repair technician can find that problem and fix it at your convenience and before one problem causes another. For instance, if a radiator hose starts to leak, you’ll lose coolant and the engine can overheat.

Anyhow, if you’re reclining by the grill with family, this is not time to worry about your coolant. But, you might want to make a note to have it checked before another McHenry summer arrives in all its splendor.