Car overheating

GABRIELLE GOLDEN JOHNSON

MEMBER
2008 MERCURY BOBCAT
4 CYL
4WD
AUTOMATIC
81,000 MILES

I have been having some issues with my car and the coolant reservoir, I believe. So when I am driving my car is fine, but if I am sitting in traffic for too long with my car running, after a while my car will start to smoke white smoke. I look and see that the coolant is gone. I have used water in the mean time but from calculating my drive from home to work which is about forty five minutes today, after filling the reservoir before leaving home, once I got to work it was half full. I am so confused as to what the problem is. Of course once my car starts to smoke the thermostat shows "H". Please help with some information I can use to find out something to do. I am not sure if it is a leak or what. I did come across the product Blue Devil Radiator and Block Sealer. I am not sure if that would be for my situation or not but if able to give info on it I really would appreciate it.

2 Replies

HMAC300

MECHANIC
48,601 POSTS

Have the coolant system pressure checked for a head gasket leak some of these additives work others do not. Try the ones that have copper in them they seem to work better.

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Friday, November 4th, 2016 AT 9:36 AM

JIS001

MECHANIC
3,411 POSTS

I have tried blue devil on a customers car just to get him by. It only lasted about a year before it got worse but by then he had saved up some money for another car.

And as HMAC300 stated earlier, have a mechanic do a block test to see if you have blown a head gasket first. Also verify there are no other leaks by pressure testing cooling system and verify the fans are coming on. If there is an issue with the fans, that would cause your overheating while sitting in traffic.