There are a lot of places to look for a radiator leak. Here are some of the reasons that your coolant may run low: Low coolant is a symptom of a cooling system leak of some kind. Low coolant is the most common reason that your Sonic will overheat. If it is full, you can rule out low coolant or a coolant leak, and skip the next section. The first thing that you need to do is check your Sonic’s overflow container. Shutting down before it overheats, or as soon as you see that it is overheating will usually prevent this from happening. Bad head gasket symptoms include white smoke coming from the tail pipe, rough idle, and oil in the coolant. If your Sonic is run for too long of a period while overheating, the head gasket may blow. It does this to relieve the pressure on the cooling system before lasting damage can be done to it. If your Sonic’s engine gets hot enough, the coolant will begin to boil over and manifest itself as steam coming up from under the hood. Driving while overheating can cause long term engine damage. If this light does come on, make sure that you get off the road quickly and safely. The most common symptom of overheating is the temperature light coming on. Your Sonic will be equipped with a temperature warning light and/or a temperature gauge.

Here are the most common symptoms of a vehicle overheating. If any part of this system fails, your Sonic will eventually overheat.

The thermostat opens up once the engine reaches operating temperature and allows coolant in. The water pump pushes the water through the entire system. Your Sonic’s cooling system works by cycling the engine coolant from the engine through the radiator. A blow head gasket or a cracked head/block are much more expensive to repair than a thermostat or water pump. Overheating can cause a lot of expensive damage to the engine. Common symptoms of overheating include smoke coming from under the hood, a pegged temperature gauge, and a blown head gasket. One of the worst problems that can happen to your Chevy Sonic is overheating.

Coolant in chevy sonic engine