15th December 2006.
Very shortly, even though the Great White North is experiencing a really nice run of warm weather at the moment, the
temperatures are going to plunge to well below freezing.

When that happens, the engine cooling system and its' inherit protection against freezing are going to be severely tested.

The anti freeze in the radiator, colloquially known as "Prestone" by all and sundry is going to turn to mush if the quantity of the
green (or orange) stuff is below a ratio of 50% of the total fluid. The other half is, of course, water and hopefully that half is
distilled water, especially if you are still using Dexcool.

Once the mush develops, circulation is restricted and engine over heating rapidly develops.

Equally, all the synthetic rubber hoses that feed coolant around the system are challenged by constant expansion and
contraction, due to being very cold or very hot.

These hoses in this day and age, are severely impacted upon by all the electronic gizmos that are plugged into an engine
and although they LOOK OK from the outside, the interior of them can be an absolute horror show.

This condition is mostly induced by electro magnetic forces that flow ever more strongly through the engines of today.

Of course, there are other less common ways of losing all your coolant, including a radiator that just lets go, or a water
pump whose impeller comes loose on its' shaft, or a water pump driving belt breaks.

In all cases, the end result is a large cloud of water vapour, known by less scientific car owners as "steam".

Steam is a gas actually and is completely invisible.

Nevertheless,  clouds of "steam" indicate an engine that has boiled over.

Do NOT, under any circumstances try to drive to a parking lot, or a garage, or to the nearest exit off the throughway.

This will absolutely guarantee the need for a new engine.

In the old days, an American cast iron engine MIGHT have been able to withstand such abuse, but today an aluminium
engine will just up and die, the moment that it overheats.

Honda, for instance, makes wonderful engines, but in the instant that one of their cylinder heads is devoid of coolant, it will curl
up like a defensive caterpillar and the consequent damage is ugly.

So, let me repeat.

If you are unfortunate enough to have an engine overheat, turn it off, right there and then and grab a cab, call a friend,
find a tow truck, but under no circumstances should you drive even another one hundred yards, or in Canada, another
one hundred metres.