Overheating?

You are out on a summer drive.  It might be a vacation, or just cruising to the store in another town to pick up something, and the engine temperature gauge starts to slowly climb to the "H".

#1 Pull over right away and turn off the engine.  Don't wait to do this.

#2 Open the hood(bonnet) and let the engine cool off for 1/2 hour.

#3 Check to see if you have enough coolant in the engine.  Refer to your owner's manual.

#4 If low, add coolant slowly until full. Check for leaking coolant while doing this.

#5 If no leaks were visible(no coolant running onto the ground), start the engine.

#6 Let the engine warm up(A/C off).  If the temperature gauge does not go past the normal mark,
     start driving.

#7 If the temperature starts to rise again, and you turned on the air conditioner, turn it off and see if         the engine temperature stabilizes in the normal range.  If it goes back to normal, you can keep             driving as long as you don't turn the a/c back on.

#8 If the temperature keeps rising, even with the a/c off, turn on the heater to full hot and open the
     windows.  Note: If the temperature stabilizes you can keep driving but watch the gauge.

#9 With the a/c off, and the heater on full, if the temperature of the engine still does not stabilize,
     turn off the car and repeat from #2.  If you have lost a significant amount of coolant again, try
     to limp to a service shop without overheating it, or call a wrecker.

#10 Under no circumstances, do not drive, if the temperature gauge is in the hot zone.  However,
     if you are escaping from East Germany, to West Germany, it is permissible(an interesting
     story from a customer years ago).  Remind me to tell it sometime.