ST. LOUIS – A growing number of overheated cars and tire troubles are leading to an increase in responses from MoDOT emergency response operators.
A spokesperson for the agency said preventative car maintenance is the best way to avoid some of the troubles area mechanics are seeing right now.
“We’re seeing tons of AC problems right now,” Rob Terranova, one of the owners of West County Auto Body, said.
Other problems have involved batteries, belts, hoses, and tires.
“If you look at the side of a lot of tires out there, they’ll have little weather cracks or rotting,” Terranova said. “When it’s extremely hot like this, they fail a lot faster.”
Terranova advises anyone experiencing an overheated car engine warning to pull over instead of pressing their luck.
“It’s a lot cheaper for a tow truck than replacing an engine or head gaskets,” he said.
One question that comes up routinely from customers involves the recirculation button.
“We’ve had a lot of people come and say it doesn’t seem to be working,” said Terranova.
In some cases, the button is working but recirculating extremely hot air inside a car won’t help. He recommends opening the windows and running the AC before engaging the recirculation function.
“If you just get the hot air out and then start recirculating, you’re good to go,” Terranova said.
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