How to Keep Your Car Running In Summer Heat
Posted onTo keep your car running through summer, check your AC, coolant, battery, and tire pressure before temperatures peak. Augusta averages more than 100 days each year with temperatures above 90°F, putting extra stress on nearly every system in your vehicle. These conditions put extra strain on your cooling system, battery, tires, engine oil, and air conditioning. Preparing your vehicle before peak summer can reduce the risk of overheating, battery failure, tire blowouts, and expensive repairs.
Why Summers are Brutal on Vehicles
Summers are genuinely hard on cars, especially in Georgia. Temperatures regularly climb well above 95°F, and city road traffic means a lot of idling with the AC running full blast. That combination stresses your engine, cooling system, battery, and tires all at once.
Heat accelerates wear on rubber components and pushes fluids past their effective range. Additionally, stop-and-go driving limits airflow to the engine, which makes cooling systems work much harder. As a result, problems that might take years to develop in a milder climate can show up in a single summer.
There are 3 main reasons summers are especially tough:
- Ambient temperatures regularly exceed 90°F from June through September
- Heavy road traffic increases idle time and engine heat
- High humidity accelerates corrosion on battery terminals and rubber seals
AC Check Before the Real Heat Hits
Your AC is not just a comfort feature in Augusta. On a 95-degree afternoon, it is a safety necessity, especially for families with children or elderly passengers.
Start by running your AC on max and checking that it blows consistently cold air. If it blows lukewarm air, cycles on and off, smells funny, or makes noise when it kicks on, those are warning signs. Common causes include low refrigerant, a worn compressor, or a clogged cabin air filter.
Catching AC problems before peak summer is significantly cheaper than an emergency repair in July. Butler Automotive offers four locations for your convenience. Schedule a check now so you are not stuck in August heat waiting on a repair.
Coolant and Cooling System
The cooling system is the single most important system protecting your engine during Georgia summers. Over time, coolant degrades and loses its ability to transfer heat effectively. It can also become acidic, which causes internal corrosion.
For most vehicles, coolant should be flushed and replaced every 30,000 miles or every two to three years. If you are unsure when yours was last serviced, a quick inspection can reveal the fluid condition and catch any leaks before they become a roadside emergency.
Signs your cooling system needs attention:
- Temperature gauge running higher than normal
- Sweet smell coming from under the hood
- Visible coolant leaks under the car after parking
- Low coolant level at the reservoir
Our technicians commonly see cooling system failures increase after the first prolonged heat wave each summer, especially in vehicles with aging coolant or neglected maintenance.
| Technician Tip! |
|---|
| If your temperature gauge begins creeping upward while you’re stopped in traffic with the AC on, turn the AC off and switch the heater to full hot until you can safely pull over. This reduces engine heat and may help prevent severe overheating. |
Why Does Summer Heat Kill Car Batteries?
Most people associate dead batteries with cold weather, but summer heat is equally hard on them. High temperatures accelerate the chemical reactions inside a battery, which causes it to discharge faster and shortens its overall lifespan.
A battery that is 3 years or older is worth testing before summer peaks. Furthermore, the combination of heat and a heavy AC electrical load can push a weakened battery past its limit on a day when you least expect it.
Butler Automotive offers battery inspection at all of our locations. A load test takes a few minutes and gives you a clear picture of where your battery stands.
How Does Summer Heat Affect Tire Pressure?
Tire pressure increases as temperatures rise. For every 10 degrees of temperature gain, tire pressure goes up roughly one PSI. On a hot afternoon, your tires can be running significantly over their recommended pressure compared to where they were on a cool morning.
Overinflated tires wear unevenly in the center of the tread and reduce the contact patch with the road, which affects braking and handling. Check your tire pressure when the tires are cold, before you have driven more than a mile or two. Your recommended pressure is on the sticker inside the driver’s door jamb, not on the tire sidewall.
If your tires are showing uneven wear, cracking on the sidewalls, or are approaching the tread wear indicators, summer is the wrong time to put off replacing them. Butler Automotive handles tire repair and replacement at all four locations: Downtown Augusta, Martinez, West Augusta, and Evans.
Quick Summer Checklist for Drivers
Before the peak of summer, run through these:
- AC system: Blowing cold, no unusual noises or cycling
- Coolant: Full, clean, no leaks under the car
- Battery: Tested if 3 years or older, terminals clean
- Tire pressure: Checked cold, set to door jamb spec
- Tire condition: No cracking, wear even across the tread
- Engine oil: Current on interval, consider synthetic for better heat resistance
- Wiper blades: Summer storms hit fast; make sure yours clear the windshield cleanly
Get Your Car Ready for Summer at Butler Automotive
The team at Butler Automotive has seen what Augusta summers do to vehicles that weren’t prepared. If you want to run through the checklist above with a certified technician, you can visit any of our four locations.
All repairs come backed by our 24-month / 24,000-mile parts and labor warranty across all four Butler Automotive locations.
Frequently Asked Questions
Most engines are designed to operate between 195 and 220 degrees Fahrenheit. When the coolant temperature exceeds that range, the engine is overheating. If your temperature gauge climbs into the red or you see a warning light, pull over safely and turn the engine off. Continuing to drive an overheating engine can cause serious damage including a warped cylinder head or blown head gasket.
A quick visual check of the coolant reservoir every few weeks is reasonable during summer months. If the level is dropping consistently, that points to a leak somewhere in the system that needs to be diagnosed. For a full coolant condition check, most shops can test it in a few minutes during any routine service visit.
Yes. Prolonged exposure to high heat accelerates the breakdown of rubber compounds, which leads to cracking on the sidewalls and reduced structural integrity over time. Hot pavement also increases the risk of a blowout on tires that are already worn or overinflated. Check pressure regularly and inspect sidewalls for cracking, especially on tires that are several years old.
On extremely hot days, your AC system has to work much harder to bring cabin temperature down to a comfortable level, and it may not fully keep up when outside temperatures are very high. If the system is low on refrigerant or the compressor is not operating at full capacity, the drop in performance becomes much more noticeable. A system that struggles on a 95-degree day but seemed fine in spring likely has an underlying issue worth having inspected.
Heat speeds up the internal chemical reactions in a lead-acid battery, which causes it to lose charge faster and degrade more quickly over time. A battery that tested fine last fall may not have the capacity to handle summer heat plus the heavy electrical load of running AC constantly. Batteries older than three years should be load-tested before summer peaks so you are not caught off guard.
You can find Butler Automotive at one of our four locations: Downtown Augusta, West Augusta, Martinez, and Evans. Find the location nearest to you.
Reviewed by an ASE Certified Technician at Butler Automotive.