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Thursday, Janaury 27, 2011 • HERITAGE MEDIA/WESTERN REGION
ASK DR. CRANKSHAFT
When car idles, temperature gauge goes up to redline Q: My PT Cruiser suddenly overheated and I stopped along the road to let it cool down. Looking at the engine, I saw steam coming from under the radiator cap. Once I got it home, I found that the coolant was low, so I filled the radiator and side tank and the car drove fine. But now when it idles for a few minutes, the temperature gauge goes up to the red line. Did something happen to the engine or is something else wrong?
The coolant level is going down a little each day and there’s still steam (bubbling) coming from under the radiator cap. — Cathleen in Plattsburg, NY A: Several things could be happening here, but the first thing you need to check is the radiator cap’s functionality. It’s spring-loaded to hold at least 15 psi pressure in the cooling system. If the spring fatigues, the coolant can leak or bubble out from underneath as you
describe, but usually it goes to the surge tank (is there a rubber line leading from the top of the radiator to the tank? If not, you’ll lose coolant over time.) The next thing to check is whether there’s trapped air in the cooling system. If you didn’t run the engine for a couple minutes while filling the radiator (engine cold), there could be trapped air that’s causing localized boiling of the coolant and overheating while idling. Q: My LED tail light flick-
ers. It never completely stops working but it flickers a lot and people behind me think I’m using the turn signal. I tried to reconnect the wires to the back of the assembly but there’s no effect. Can this be a loose bulb (LED, whatever) that I can replace? — Jeff in Houston, Texas A: If the LED is flickering, I’m afraid there’s little or nothing you can do about it other than replace the unit. Loose connections can certainly
cause flickering, but if all the wires are tightly connected, then the LED circuit board is faulty. If you’re lucky, you can remove the board from the inside of the tail light fixture and find a replacement. If the LED board is sealed inside a plastic housing, the only recourse is to replace the entire thing, which can be quite expensive in some vehicles. If that’s the case, you should have the local salvage yard do a search for a used assembly. Dr. Crankshaft is automotive
writer, radio host and restorer Les Jackson. In addition to writing for newspapers, he’s editorin-chief of www.secondchancegarage.com, the web’s first allrestoration subscription site, and co-host of “Cruise Control,” heard Saturdays from 10-noon EST on the USA, National and Cable Radio networks. You can also listen live at www.cruisecontrolradio.com or download podcasts from iTunes. Send your questions to Dr. Crankshaft at DrCrankshaft@AutoWritersInk. com; please include your name and a location.