Triangle Radiator & Auto Service – Lakeview Radiator Repair – 773-539-5858 – Serving Chicago Neighborhoods Since 1966

Vehicle radiators are among the most frequent cause of breakdowns for Chicago motorists, and yet they are quite cost effective to maintain. As an engine is running, its pistons move up and down the engine’s bores very rapidly, which naturally creates friction and heat. The way to keep the pistons sufficiently cool is to keep water flowing through the openings inside the engine block and into the radiator.

Lakeview Radiator Repair

It’s the radiator’s task to keep your vehicle’s engine cool, so it’s essential to take good care of it. Signs that something is wrong with the radiator typically begin with the vehicle’s water temperature gauge. For most vehicles, the water temperature should run between 195 to about 220 degrees. If your temperature gauge indicates a higher temperature, you should probably bring it in to Triangle for expert Lakeview Radiator Repair. Other obvious signs of radiator malfunction are burning odors and steam flowing out from under the hood.

A few of the most common causes of an over-heating radiator are:

Note: DO NOT open your vehicle’s radiator cap when the engine is still hot. Like with any kind of auto maintenance, always use caution.

Low coolant levels. A blend of antifreeze and water, coolant is a fluid that circulates around your vehicle’s engine to keep it cool along with assistance from the radiator. The purpose of antifreeze is to keep the water inside the radiator from freezing in the winter and from boiling over during the summer.
A coolant level that’s too low in the radiator is among the most common causes of overheating in vehicles. A drop in coolant levels can be on account of many different reasons such as a leak in the head gasket or a leak at the heater core. It’s recommended that motorists check their coolant level once per month. If you notice that the coolant level has dropped suddenly, top it off with water and call Triangle Radiator and Auto Service for affordable Lakeview Radiator Repair.

Get Started with Lakeview Radiator Repair

A clogged radiator. Frequent causes of a clogged radiator are debris, dirt, dead bugs and small stones. These materials can obstruct correct airflow and result in the radiator overheating. If your vehicle is overheating but you’re not seeing a lot of dirt and debris externally, there could be a clog internally.
Open the radiator cap when the vehicle is cool and check the coolant level and the radiator unit for any brownish discoloration or dirt floating in the coolant.

Heat exchanger materials. Historically, radiators were manufactured with copper and brass cores. But as research evolved, radiators were manufactured with lighter and cost-effective aluminum cores. One of the reasons for this switch is that aluminum radiators cool more efficiently than copper and brass radiators. However, if you have an older model vehicle with a copper and brass core radiator, our expert Lakeview Radiator Repair experts can still service it!

The radiator cap. A faulty radiator cap can cause a radiator to overheat. Also, if the cap is not screwed on properly, coolant could leak out and cause overheating. The cap also serves to help maintain the proper water pressure. If the cap isn’t in correct position, the pressure may be compromised.

Thermostat. A primary component of a vehicle’s radiator, the thermostat is basically a valve. If the thermostat gets stuck is the closed position, the hot water inside the system is unable to move back in to the radiator for cooling and could result in overheating. Our technicians can replace your thermostat quickly if this is the cause of your vehicle overheating – just bring it in to our shop on North Elston Avenue for affordable Lakeview Radiator Repair.

Broken radiator fan. If your vehicle is made with an electric radiator fan, you might not even be able to hear it in the event it breaks. This is usually because the fan might just stay switched off. If this occurs, you’ll soon know there’s something malfunctioning when your vehicle’s temperature gauge begins to rise quickly into the “red” zone – which is a sure sign of the need for Lakeview Radiator Repair. If your vehicle is an older model and is equipped with a fan, you’ll probably hear a rattling sound if the fan does break.

Triangle Radiator & Auto Service – Lakeview Radiator Repairs – 773-539-5858 – Full Auto & Truck Service for Chicago’s Neighborhoods – Serving Zip Codes 60618, 60641 and 60647

A Few Basics About Radiators

Radiators are a form of heat exchanger that are designed to transfer heat from the coolant fluid that circulates through it to the air that circulates through directed by a fan. Most contemporary cars are manufactured with aluminum radiators. In these units the coolant moves from an inlet to an outlet through a series of tubes. The unit’s fins conduct heat from these tubes and transfer it directly to the air that flows through the radiator. Radiators typically are equipped with a tank on both sides, with a transmission cooler inside the tanks. The transmission cooler can be viewed as a sort of “radiator within a radiator,” but rather than exchanging heat with the airflow, it is oil that exchanges heat with the coolant fluid contained in the radiator.

Radiator caps – simple yet very important – actually raise the boiling point of your engine’s coolant by about 45 degrees. This happens similar to the way a pressure cooker raises the boiling temperature of water. The radiator cap serves as a form of pressure release valve. When coolant fluid in the cooling system is heated, it naturally expands and causes the pressure to accumulate. The radiator cap is the only opening where this building pressure can escape through, so the setting of the cap’s spring is what determines the maximum pressure within the cooling system. When the pressure gets to about 15 psi, it pushes a valve open, which allows the coolant to move out of the cooling system through an overflow tube and then into the bottom of an overflow tank. This design is what keeps air out of the cooling system. When the radiator eventually cools down again, a vacuum develops within the cooling system that pushes open another valve, drawing water back in from the overflow tank to replace water that’s been expelled.

The main task of the thermostat is to permit the vehicle’s to heat up rapidly and then to maintain the engine’s temperature at a constant. It accomplishes this by managing how much water moves through the radiator. At lower temperatures, for example, the radiator’s outlet is blocked so the coolant gets redirected back through the engine. Just like the thermostat, the cooling fan must be regulated so the engine maintains a steady temperature.

Most motorists have probably heard that if your vehicle starts to overheat, you should open the windows and switch on the heater with the fan going at top speed. This works because a vehicle’s interior heating system is similar to the main cooling system. The heater core – located in the dashboard of your vehicle – is actually a small radiator. A fan blows air through the heater core and into your car’s interior.

For all your Lakeview Radiator Repair needs bring your car, SUV or small, medium or heavy duty truck to Triangle Radiator & Auto Service at 4060 North Elston Avenue.