overheating, I'm stumped. Options

[6strngs]

so today, I drive my car home from work. get out of the car and notice a strong coolant smell. I let it cool down for a while, then went out to check it. The radiator was still full with coolant, but the overflow tank was kinda low. so I poured some coolant in (pre-mixed 50/50). anyway, so I go to drive the car again and after a short trip, only a couple miles, I'm hearing this weird whining sound. I glance down and see that the water temp gauge is reading HOT! like, it was all the way into the red! I pull into the closest parking spot and shut off the car. I let it sit for about half an hour and decide to drive it back home. I start the car up, and the temp gauge jumps to 1/2 way. normal. and as I start driving, it starts climbing. it gets to about 3/4 of the way to hot and then very suddenly just drops back down to half. then it stays there the rest of the way home. I pull into my garage, and get to work. I tried my best to track down a leak and decided it appeared to be that the hose that feeds coolant to the throttle body was leaking. so I replaced it. so after a couple hours of work (decided to do some other stuff too since I had everything taken off anyway) I go to drive it again and same thing. the temp gauge reads normal, then it will climb in temperature, then drop back down to normal, then climb again, then normal. anybody have any ideas? thermostat? water pump? malfunctioning sensor and/or gauge?

[95CelicaRacer]

The thermostat could be sticking. That would cause a sudden increase in temperature. I would test to see if it is opening or not. I would let the car sit and idle until it warms up, and see if it begins to overheat. That way you may be able to pinpoint where the problem is at.

[Batman722]

definatly change the thermostat, it's bad at this point. Be careful how much you drive with it overheating like that, you could kill your headgasket.

also, before it overheats, do you drive it hard or just normal (lower RPMs) driving ?

[6strngs]

definatly change the thermostat, it's bad at this point. Be careful how much you drive with it overheating like that, you could kill your headgasket.

also, before it overheats, do you drive it hard or just normal (lower RPMs) driving ?

ok, will change the thermostat asap.

and, the first time, when I drove it home from work I probably drove it a little hard, like revving to 4500 a couple times maybe. after I smelt the coolant I took it easy and shifted at 3000-3300. and after it overheated I took it as easy as I could on it and shifted it at 2700-3000. also, I was told turning on the heater was good for cooling down the engine because you use the heat from the engine to heat the air coming in. I don't know if that's true or not, but after it overheated I turned the heater on full blast. I don't know why, but it would only blow lukewarm air in when the temp climbed above normal, then after it dropped back down to a normal temperature the air coming in would be hot.

[alltracman78]

It sounds more like you have an air pocket somewhere in the coolant.
It certainly won't hurt to replace the therm just in case though.

After you replace the therm, put the front of your car up on jackstands SECURELY so it won't fall [this includes pulling the ebrake] and let it run with the rad cap off. Keep topping off the coolant if it drops. Keep your heat on full the whole time.


Also, just FYI for you guys, overheating doesn't actually damage the HG, what happens is it CAN warp the head. Which then doesn't allow the HG to seal properly. So you get a BHG. But the overheating itself doesn't damage the HG.

[Manny]

definatly change the thermostat, it's bad at this point. Be careful how much you drive with it overheating like that, you could kill your headgasket.

also, before it overheats, do you drive it hard or just normal (lower RPMs) driving ?

I agree... It seems that you found and fixed the leak, but the thermo is toast by now, so try changing out the thermo and see if the car runs normally after.

[jcbass7]

I would change that thermostat and see where that gets you. Mine was acting weird and the car wouldn't pass 140 degrees even under hard driving. Changed the thermo and now she sits around 180.

Could it be that its sticking so therefore the engine heats up, the coolant is not allowed to travel through the radiator etc, and no Hot coolant is sent to the heater core? I guess this could happen if the heater core was part of the loop that went to the radiator.

anywho try the thermo and see where it gets you.

ps: running the heat will cool the engine. (how much, i don't know) but its basic physics where you are transfering the heat from the coolant to the air in the cabin

keep us updated

This post has been edited by jcbass7: Feb 14, 2007 - 2:00 PM

[6strngs]

I went out and bought a thermostat and o-ring gasket. (the guy at the parts store said there were two gaskets, but they only had one...) I doubt I'll have time today to get it in. Valentine's day, you know. maybe late tonight or after work tomorrow. I hate having to drive my car while it's like this, but it's my daily driver and I don't have another car to drive. I'm trying to take it easy. when I went out to get the thermostat, the car started heating up again. so I though, if the thermostat is sticking, maybe I can get it unstuck with a quick jolt of power. so, I was in 2nd at about 2K rpms, I floored it until about 4K rpms, then let off and a couple seconds later everything cooled off... on my way back home, I tried it again but it didn't work... after I got out of the busy part of town and was able to start moving about 35 mph it slowly cooled off though... I will keep you guys updated after I change the thermostat.

[lagos]

keep the heater on full blast when you see it over heat. it will definetly help.
but try not to drive the car. you could really damage something.

thermostat is an easy thing to try, just to rule it out. but when was the last time you had your water pump changed? how many miles are on the car?

you should also check your coolant and your oil. check to see if there is anything in there that looks like coffee with milk.

[jcbass7]

check to see if there is anything in there that looks like coffee with milk.

Welcome to my world^ ^ ^

[6strngs]

keep the heater on full blast when you see it over heat. it will definetly help.
but try not to drive the car. you could really damage something.

thermostat is an easy thing to try, just to rule it out. but when was the last time you had your water pump changed? how many miles are on the car?

you should also check your coolant and your oil. check to see if there is anything in there that looks like coffee with milk.

car has 154K miles. and I really have no idea when/if the water pump was changed. I bought the car at 144K and have done a ton of maintenance work to it since then, but no water pump. according to carfax, it had a major service done by a mechanic every 30K. so, if a waterpump was due at 120K, then I would guess it was done... but I can't be sure. I really hope it's not the water pump, I really can't afford to fix that. anyway, I'm off to change the thermostat right now, so I'll give an update after that's changed and a test drive.

[Manny]

keep the heater on full blast when you see it over heat. it will definetly help.
but try not to drive the car. you could really damage something.

thermostat is an easy thing to try, just to rule it out. but when was the last time you had your water pump changed? how many miles are on the car?

you should also check your coolant and your oil. check to see if there is anything in there that looks like coffee with milk.

car has 154K miles. and I really have no idea when/if the water pump was changed. I bought the car at 144K and have done a ton of maintenance work to it since then, but no water pump. according to carfax, it had a major service done by a mechanic every 30K. so, if a waterpump was due at 120K, then I would guess it was done... but I can't be sure. I really hope it's not the water pump, I really can't afford to fix that. anyway, I'm off to change the thermostat right now, so I'll give an update after that's changed and a test drive.

If it is the water pump.... you might as well get the timing belt changed as well..... since the belt will be accesible at the time... and since it has high miles... the belt can go whenever.....

I hope its not though man..... that will suck.... and since its a newer japanese car... the job will be more difficult and expensive..... i remember when my old dart had a bad water pump.... it only cost 25 for the part and about 45mins of my time to swap it. I wouldnt even attempt to do that to my celi......

If u need any help with anything... let me know.....

[94GT]

Sorry, I'm not trying to insult or anything, but the only time I've seen mine do that was when the coolant was low. Are you sure you got everything topped off right after you fixed the leaking hose? It still sounds to me like there is air in there, which would explain the lukewarm heat while it was overheating (air transfers heat way worse than liquid) and the rapidly changing engine temps. If you were filling the reservoir and not the radiator itself, that would be the cause.

[6strngs]

alrighty. so I get out there, drain the coolant (after spilling a bunch all over myself and the floor) pull the hose off the thermostat housing, pull one nut off the housing, and cannot for the life of me get the other nut off! in my hayne's manual it says in some fine print "on 5sfe engines the retaining nuts may be difficult to access" wow, now that's an understatement! I tried every tool imagineable to get it off, nothing worked, until finally I found an extremely small wrench that fits in there after I removed the oil filter. of course, after trying all the other tools the corners of the nut are now mostly rounded off and I cannot get a grip on it at all. so basically I'm stuck.

btw, when I pulled the radiator cap off I noticed it was NOT full with coolant. I checked it yesterday and I'm pretty sure that it was full.

another problem. all across the bottom of my radiator is traces of leaks. I can't say for sure, but my brand new-ish koyo radiator may have a poor weld across the bottom.

I'm tired of having something break on this car every few days. aren't toyota's supposed to be reliable?

[alltracman78]

If your Koyo radiator is what's leaking, you can't blame that on Toyota.

[Manny]

alrighty. so I get out there, drain the coolant (after spilling a bunch all over myself and the floor) pull the hose off the thermostat housing, pull one nut off the housing, and cannot for the life of me get the other nut off! in my hayne's manual it says in some fine print "on 5sfe engines the retaining nuts may be difficult to access" wow, now that's an understatement! I tried every tool imagineable to get it off, nothing worked, until finally I found an extremely small wrench that fits in there after I removed the oil filter. of course, after trying all the other tools the corners of the nut are now mostly rounded off and I cannot get a grip on it at all. so basically I'm stuck.

btw, when I pulled the radiator cap off I noticed it was NOT full with coolant. I checked it yesterday and I'm pretty sure that it was full.

another problem. all across the bottom of my radiator is traces of leaks. I can't say for sure, but my brand new-ish koyo radiator may have a poor weld across the bottom.

I'm tired of having something break on this car every few days. aren't toyota's supposed to be reliable?

Did you notice the traces of coolant on the radiator after you spilled coolant? it might just be dripping down the sides and collecting on te bottom. I think 94GT might be right though... make sure its topped off.... fill it up and wait for the level to go down then do the same thing over again.

[6strngs]

alrighty. so I get out there, drain the coolant (after spilling a bunch all over myself and the floor) pull the hose off the thermostat housing, pull one nut off the housing, and cannot for the life of me get the other nut off! in my hayne's manual it says in some fine print "on 5sfe engines the retaining nuts may be difficult to access" wow, now that's an understatement! I tried every tool imagineable to get it off, nothing worked, until finally I found an extremely small wrench that fits in there after I removed the oil filter. of course, after trying all the other tools the corners of the nut are now mostly rounded off and I cannot get a grip on it at all. so basically I'm stuck.

btw, when I pulled the radiator cap off I noticed it was NOT full with coolant. I checked it yesterday and I'm pretty sure that it was full.

another problem. all across the bottom of my radiator is traces of leaks. I can't say for sure, but my brand new-ish koyo radiator may have a poor weld across the bottom.

I'm tired of having something break on this car every few days. aren't toyota's supposed to be reliable?

Did you notice the traces of coolant on the radiator after you spilled coolant? it might just be dripping down the sides and collecting on te bottom. I think 94GT might be right though... make sure its topped off.... fill it up and wait for the level to go down then do the same thing over again.

no, I noticed it before I drained the coolant. all white and crusty so you know it leaked and then baked on.

and no, I can't blame toyota for my koyo radiator leaking, but I can blame toyota for my toyota radiator leaking which is why I bought the koyo radiator to begin with. on top of all the other things that have gone wrong with the car. I dunno. maybe just because the car is 13 years old with 154,000 miles on it...

still, anybody know how to get a stripped nut off?

This post has been edited by 6strngs: Feb 15, 2007 - 2:40 PM

[Manny]

alrighty. so I get out there, drain the coolant (after spilling a bunch all over myself and the floor) pull the hose off the thermostat housing, pull one nut off the housing, and cannot for the life of me get the other nut off! in my hayne's manual it says in some fine print "on 5sfe engines the retaining nuts may be difficult to access" wow, now that's an understatement! I tried every tool imagineable to get it off, nothing worked, until finally I found an extremely small wrench that fits in there after I removed the oil filter. of course, after trying all the other tools the corners of the nut are now mostly rounded off and I cannot get a grip on it at all. so basically I'm stuck.

btw, when I pulled the radiator cap off I noticed it was NOT full with coolant. I checked it yesterday and I'm pretty sure that it was full.

another problem. all across the bottom of my radiator is traces of leaks. I can't say for sure, but my brand new-ish koyo radiator may have a poor weld across the bottom.

I'm tired of having something break on this car every few days. aren't toyota's supposed to be reliable?

Did you notice the traces of coolant on the radiator after you spilled coolant? it might just be dripping down the sides and collecting on te bottom. I think 94GT might be right though... make sure its topped off.... fill it up and wait for the level to go down then do the same thing over again.

no, I noticed it before I drained the coolant. all white and crusty so you know it leaked and then baked on.

and no, I can't blame toyota for my koyo radiator leaking, but I can blame toyota for my toyota radiator leaking which is why I bought the koyo radiator to begin with. on top of all the other things that have gone wrong with the car. I dunno. maybe just because the car is 13 years old with 154,000 miles on it...

still, anybody know how to get a stripped nut off?

There are a couple things u can do..... If you rounded it with a 12 point socket.. try using a 6 point that fits well.
You can try to dremmel or gring a philips notch into the bolt...

Craftsman makes a pretty good 10pc damaged/stripped bolt/nut remover set and theyre only like 30 bucks at sears.

Autozone might have damaged nut removing tools for rent also.. I know they rent all kinds of stuff out.

[jcbass7]

still, anybody know how to get a stripped nut off?

You can try to dremmel or grind a philips notch into the bolt...

Its a nut.. so it won't work

but those things from sears are the ballsss

This post has been edited by jcbass7: Feb 15, 2007 - 3:13 PM

[Manny]

still, anybody know how to get a stripped nut off?

You can try to dremmel or grind a philips notch into the bolt...

Its a nut.. so it won't work

but those things from sears are the ballsss

yea... duh....haha
actually then..... he can just dremmel the nut right off with a cutting disc.... Ive done it before....