How to Check a Car's Heating System

Video Transcript

"Hello I'm Mark Blocker from Expert Village. In this segment we're going to cover starting the vehicle up, letting it warm up to operating temperature, and checking the vehicle for leaks. Now this particular vehicle at this time for training purposes, we're not going to start it up because we're in a closed environment. Normally you just start the vehicle up and then come out. You want to let it warm up for about 10 or 15 minutes to make sure it reaches operating temperature. And then what you want to do is visually inspect for leaks. It can be very hard to determine if there's a leak in the engine compartment because of light and accessibility. So sometimes it's also good to check under the vehicle and look for fresh drips or evidence of drips on the vehicle. If you see any just go straight up from where those drips are forming and that's a good indication where to start looking. I like to use a little head lamp system that just kind of clips onto your head and this gives me the ability to keep my hands free so I can pull hoses or cables out of the way and give me a better visual on my connections. Now that the engines warmed up, I just want to make sure that the hose I just replaced are not leaking. Wiggle them around and look for leaks or evidence of leaks and just basically quickly look the system over and make sure that everything is not leaking and ok and you didn't damage anything else while you were doing the hose repair. And then wait a few more minutes. Take the vehicle out for a short test drive, come back and after the vehicle cools you'll want to make sure and check your fluid levels one more time to make sure that the radiator's still full and over full bottle and everything being satisfactory. Top off to the necessary levels. And you've successfully replaced a hose in your automobile. Thank you for watching and please continue to watch our other training videos on automotive systems."