89 LE overheating issue!!! HELP Please

[snowy23]

"If the engine were running so hot as to overpower the cooling system I would expect the coolant would overflow the reservoir and that you would need to add coolant back regularly".
I found this statement by nitrous3sfe in a thread from 2008 regarding overheating issue.
This wasn't happening to the guy in question but it is happening to me.
A little backround: just got a 89 le 3sfe with electronic climate controls and a/c. The car is in great shape overall, just the issue of overheating. It drives quite well for a while, then starts losing coolant from the reservoir as if it stops circulating, overheats and starts sputtering loosing power etc. Both fans are working great and I get pretty good heat. Need to observe the heat a bit more to see if it's as hot as it should with the temp at midpoint on guage. I'm about to replace the tstat, flush the radiator, and if that doesn't work was going to try and bypass the heater to see if the heater core is the culprit. Not quite sure which hoses to "T" togehter to bypass the heater. Don't smell any heavy coolant anywhere and no leaks I can see from water pump or heater core. Car sat for a year+, but seems to be gently used with about 154k on it, so I'm trying to bring it back to life. Any help would be appreciated. Also any threads with heater core replacement would be helpful if I get that far.
btw; great to be back in toyo land. Had a similar car a while back.

[Jimnist]

Blown head gasket, leaking radiator or cracked head?

Those are some things i'd look at.

[snowy23]

what is best way to check head gasket or cracked head?
Thanks for the help!

[fupkid1]

Just look for coolent leaking around head.Does it smoke pretty bad?

[typesix]

Why would you bypass the heater core to see whether that's causing the overheating? This has a valve modulating the coolant flow thru the heater core depending on the position of the temperature slider. If you get close to overheating, you can turn the heat on high temperature to help cool the coolant till you find the fix. On a hot day with AC on, the heat valve would normally be closed and no coolant would flow to the heater. But if you want to play with it, the heater hoses are on driver's side near the brake booster, along with control valve.

[Doctor J]

first make sure that radiator cap is not leaking and it is holding pressure
second make sure that it is sitting correctly on the radiator.
The small leak of HG is detected by "sniffing" the coolant vapors with exhaust gas analyzer and look for CH reading; also you may use block tester kit from NAPA ($45)

[fredk]

The headgasket on my blue one has been blown for 5 years now, it gets warm and fills up the overflow jug when I come up the mountain, mostly because the motor is worn out, it goes about 30mph for about 9 miles and it gets a workout, now my white one slows to about 50mph and doesnt even think about getting warm

[white90dx]

Do the t-stat and radiator cap first. Get OEM Toyota parts. Its worth the extra few bucks in this case.

A radiator drain/refill can't hurt too...

-Charlie

[snowy23]

Thanks for all the help folks. I really appreciate the community here.

So far I replaced the spark plug wires and dist cap with a junkyard find, all in one unit that was in good shape. (Trying to spend money on cooling system related parts only). I destroyed the plug wires getting to the plugs to check condition. The replacement made the low speed stutter go away, go figure! Acceleration now is great! Drove around for about 1/2 hour on back roads as no new tabs yet. Car heats up ok, only went over halfway on guage when reving engine past 3k rpm(passing gear). Will be using additive in coolant that checks for hydrocarbons. It turns colors if they are present indicating leaking headgasket. Have yet to go back on freeway to testl there. Will post back with results tomorrow.

[The Camry Man]

When I go to Buy a car I always take off the radiator cap and tape up a funnell so it fits snug into the top of the radiator then let the engine idle and watch for air bubbles in the coolant in the funnell.
Sometimes I get no air bubbles (Great) at all ,,,

while other times you would not believe how much air was coming from the headgasket. In the bad ones there was NOT any white smoke from the tail pipe .. just through the cooling system. The guy was very upset that I found out what he was trying to hide.
Normally the cars will do fine on daily short trips but, as soon as you go on a longer trip the hot air overwelms the ability for the radiator and fans to cool it and IT OVERHEATS and starts blasting back pressure out the only escape route (though the overflow resivoir).

I have seen people drive for long perods of time with just adding water or sometimes taking out the thermostat which takes a lot longer to overwelm the cooling system.

Wierd as the last 3 cars in a row I looked at had blown head gaskets and what happened was the customer noticed it getting hotter on trips before finally having a mechanic diagnos it. They put it up for sale to try to dump it on someone . You had to really take it for a LONG test or do the funnell trick or CH test to not get burned (Pun Intended).

OK that is my 2 cents

[ohgood]

Originally Posted by The Camry Man

When I go to Buy a car I always take off the radiator cap and tape up a funnell so it fits snug into the top of the radiator then let the engine idle and watch for air bubbles in the coolant in the funnell.
Sometimes I get no air bubbles (Great) at all ,,,

while other times you would not believe how much air was coming from the headgasket. In the bad ones there was NOT any white smoke from the tail pipe .. just through the cooling system. The guy was very upset that I found out what he was trying to hide.
Normally the cars will do fine on daily short trips but, as soon as you go on a longer trip the hot air overwelms the ability for the radiator and fans to cool it and IT OVERHEATS and starts blasting back pressure out the only escape route (though the overflow resivoir).

I have seen people drive for long perods of time with just adding water or sometimes taking out the thermostat which takes a lot longer to overwelm the cooling system.

Wierd as the last 3 cars in a row I looked at had blown head gaskets and what happened was the customer noticed it getting hotter on trips before finally having a mechanic diagnos it. They put it up for sale to try to dump it on someone . You had to really take it for a LONG test or do the funnell trick or CH test to not get burned (Pun Intended).

OK that is my 2 cents

you friend, are a good one. thanks for that tid bit. i'll file it under "things i should have learned in school had i been paying attention, economics 101"

excellent