Posted: 07/01/2025
Summer’s great until your vehicle overheats or your A/C gives out in bumper-to-bumper traffic. High temps don’t just make driving miserable; they push every system in your vehicle to the edge.
Radiators, brakes, batteries, they all take a beating when the mercury climbs. That’s why summer repairs aren’t optional. They’re the difference between a smooth ride and an expensive roadside breakdown. Whether you’re hauling gear, heading out for a weekend trip, or just trying to get to work without sweating through your seat, these five repairs should be on your radar before the heat really hits.
Engines run hot year-round, but summer pushes them into danger zones, especially if you’re towing, idling in traffic, or climbing hills with the A/C on full blast. Coolant that should be protecting your engine slowly turns acidic over time. It stops fighting corrosion and starts eating away at metal from the inside out. You’ll see it in the radiator first. Fins get blocked with road grime and bugs, plastic end tanks split, and pinhole leaks show up in the worst spots.
Rubber hoses swell or soften, and old thermostats stick shut when you need them most. Water pumps that seemed fine in spring might suddenly start weeping coolant or develop bearing noise once the temperatures spike.
Start with a full flush. Drain the old fluid completely, refill with fresh coolant that meets spec, and bleed the system to get air pockets out. Then move on to a pressure test. You’re looking for leaks that don’t show up until the system is hot and under pressure. That cheap plastic radiator cap might be the reason your truck overheats every time the trailer’s hooked up.
A few hours spent here can save you a weekend stuck on the side of the road staring at steam.
When the cab turns into a sauna, don’t assume you’re just low on refrigerant. Most of the time, there’s a reason it leaked out in the first place, and slapping in another can of R-134a is just kicking the can down the road.
Start simple: check for greasy spots on A/C lines. That’s where refrigerant oil leaks along with the gas. O-rings dry out, especially after winter, and they’re cheap to replace. Clutch coils on the compressor go out, too. No click, no cold. Condensers clog with road junk and bugs, choking off airflow and sending pressures sky-high.
Recharge kits with gauges are fine in a pinch, but don’t turn them into a subscription service. If it’s blowing warm again in a week, you’re bleeding refrigerant somewhere. A proper vacuum-and-recharge with dye or a sniffer tool will tell you what’s really going on.
Swapping a blown compressor or leaky accumulator isn’t just about staying cool, it’s about protecting the rest of the system from grenading itself. And if you’ve ever driven an old truck in August with no A/C, you already know this isn’t a comfort issue…it’s survival.
Everyone blames cold weather for dead batteries, but summer’s the real killer. Heat evaporates the electrolyte inside, cooks the internals, and leaves you stranded in a hot parking lot.
Pop the hood and take a look. White or green fuzz on the terminals signals corrosion that strangles current flow and can make a healthy battery act dead. A quick scrub with a terminal brush and some baking soda water can bring the spark back. Don’t forget to rinse it off and dry it. Water sitting under the terminal is just asking for trouble later.
Grab a load tester or have your local auto parts store run a check. Voltage alone isn’t the full story; you want to see how it holds under a real draw. Look for bulging sides, cracked cases, or low fluid levels if it’s not sealed. Those are all signs it’s on the way out.
Battery issues feel random until they aren’t. One click, no start, and you’ll be wishing you spent 10 minutes under the hood earlier in the week.
Hot pavement eats bad tires for breakfast. It’s not unusual for road temps to hit 120°F or more, and underinflated tires get soft and are prone to blowouts. Add in dry rot from winter storage or age, and you’ve got a recipe for shredded sidewalls.
Check PSI when the tires are cold, not after a drive. Heat makes pressure climb, and you’ll get a false read if you check mid-trip. While you're down there, look for cracks in the sidewalls, bulges, or uneven wear. Cupping, feathering, or exposed cords mean it’s time to rotate or replace.
Rotation isn’t just about evening out the wear. It also gives you a chance to spot alignment issues or suspension wear before things get expensive.
Check the spare. Most folks forget about it until they need it, only to find it’s just as flat as the one they’re replacing. No fun changing tires in a heatwave just to discover your backup’s a dud.
All that spring rain does more than flood basements. It also leaves your rotors covered in surface rust, especially if the vehicle sat for a bit. That thin orange layer usually scrubs off after a few drives, but sometimes it goes deeper. Mix in a little road salt or mud, and things can turn ugly.
Grinding, squealing, or pulsing when you hit the brakes is your warning. It could be glazed pads that hardened from moisture and heat. Could be rotors wearing unevenly or rust pitting deep enough to mess with stopping power.
Summer driving means more heat, more traffic, and more downhill braking. Let the pads get too thin, and they’ll cook the fluid or score the rotors. Either way, it gets expensive fast. A quick pad swap now beats replacing calipers or cooking seals later.
And don’t just glance through the wheel spokes. Pull the tire if you need to. It's the only way to really see what you’re working with.
Heat cooks everything. Fluids thin out, rubber gets brittle, and that “tiny leak” you were ignoring becomes a full-blown breakdown in the middle of a holiday weekend.
Most summer issues don’t come out of nowhere. They start small (think low coolant, weak battery, dry belt) and snowball because no one caught them in time. All it takes is one missed sign, and suddenly you're pulled over on the shoulder, hood up, steam everywhere.
Spend a weekend under the hood. Knock out the basics. You’ll thank yourself when the A/C still blows cold, the brakes bite hard, and your truck fires right up on that 100° day.
Arnold Motor Supply has been a leading supplier of auto parts since 1927. Founded and based in Iowa, we have auto parts stores all over the Midwest. Buy car parts online, and you'll be notified via email once your purchase is ready for pickup at your local Arnold Motor Supply.
