Engine overheating is, no doubt, one of the most common issues that drivers encounter daily. Unfortunately, overheating could be a pretty serious problem, especially if care is not taken to fix the issue on time. This is why it’s advisable to react quickly and find a reliable way to cool your car down when it starts to overheat.
Under normal circumstances, a car engine takes around 30 minutes to cool down to a temperature safe for inspection and about 3 hours to cool down completely. However, if the engine is not able to dissipate heat faster than it produces (usually in hot weather), it can take much longer to cool down.
There are a couple of techniques that you can use to cool down your hot engine quickly. The first method involves switching off the components that put more load on the engine, such as the car AC. Another thing you can do is to turn on the heater to blow excess heat away from the engine.
However, if your car is taking too long to cool down even after trying these two methods, it could be a sign that you need to try other alternatives. Although switching off the AC and turning on the heater is very effective, you need to understand that using these techniques alone might not be enough.
How long does it take for a car to cool down completely? Why exactly does my car take so long to cool down? What is the quickest way to cool down a car engine? You’ll find answers to these burning questions as you read through the rest of this article.
How long does it take for a car to cool down completely?
Car engine overheating is a common problem that requires immediate reaction to prevent serious issues. If you’re currently experiencing this issue, two questions that’ll most likely be looking to get answers to are; what is the best way to cool down the engine and how long does it take to do that?
Let’s face it; you can always make use of several different methods to cool down your vehicle’s extremely hot engine. One of them, as earlier mentioned, is to switch off the components that put loads on the engine. A good example is your car engine.
The AC is one of the components of your car that takes up so much power from the engine. This shouldn’t come as a surprise, as the AC needs enough energy to be able to move heat around. That said, switching off the car AC is one of the most effective ways to cool down an overheated engine.
Another way to cool down an extremely hot engine is by switching on the heater core. In case you don’t know, the heater core is like a small radiator. It works alongside the cooling system of a car. The primary function of the heater core is to transfer heat from your car engine’s hot coolant to produce warm air to the inside of the car.
By switching on your car’s heater, you’ll be able to transfer excess heat from the engine to your car’s interior. This way, you’ll be able to cool down your car engine quickly.
However, you need to understand that none of the methods listed above is as effective as parking your vehicle in a safe place and opening the hood to cool down the engine. This is by far the most effective way of cooling the engine, it involves allowing fresh air to blow on the hot engine for some time. This brings us to the question of how long does it take to completely cool down an overheated engine?
Here’s how long it takes to cool down the engine
It’s worth noting that knowing exactly the amount of time it takes to cool down the engine completely is a pretty difficult thing to do. That’s because the time it takes to do that depends on a couple of factors, including the inside and outside temperatures of the engine.
Under normal circumstances, cooling, by just opening your car hood for air to blow on the hot engine, could take at least 30 minutes. However, keep in mind that 30 minutes isn’t enough to cool down the engine completely.
Here’s the thing; after 30 minutes, the engine would have cooled down enough for you to inspect it and find out the possible cause of the overheating. Cooling down the engine completely will most likely take you a couple of hours (at least 3.5 hours).
Why does my car take so long to cool down?
Car engines generally take so much time to cool down completely. The most effective way to cool your engine down completely involves stopping the engine and opening the hood for air to blow on the engine. And as you already know, this could take several hours to completely cool down or at least 30 minutes to cool down slightly.
However, stopping the engine and opening the car hood isn’t the quickest way to cool down the engine. The quickest but not the most effective way to bring down the temperature of your engine is to switch off the AC and put on the heater – you already know why. If this is the approach you’re using, this may be the reason why your engine isn’t cooling down faster.
Don’t get it twisted; switching off the AC and turning on the heater is the quickest way to cool down your car engine. But you need to understand that the technique isn’t effective for all overheating conditions. Which explains why the cooling down of the engine is taking longer than expected.
What is the fastest way to cool down a car engine?
The quickest way to cool down your car engine is by switching off the AC and turning on the heater to remove excess heat from the engine. However, if that doesn’t help, you’ll have to park your car in a safe place, open its hood, and wait for at least 30 minutes for the engine to cool down.
