Clogged Radiator or Pin Hole In Head Gasket?

[WardyTN]

Helloooo TN! Long time lurker - my first actual thread. After MUCH searching on the forums, I'm still stumped. Here's the background...

'94 Camry LE - 2.2/Auto - 199K Miles. New TB, Water Pump, etc. @ 179K. Radiator is a Koyo (plastic tops) at around 150K

Last month I experienced an overheating issue, but immediately pulled over and let it cool down, etc. Turned out to be the 'ECM Sensor' on the upper hose inlet had broken and wasn't letting the fans run. During that time, I replaced the following: ECM Temp Sensor, Temp Switch (bottom of radiator), Thermostat (Non-OEM but I did drill a 1/8th inch hole in place of the Jiggle Valve), Flush and replace Coolant. I did notice when I took off the old Rad. Cap, there was brown sludge all over it and around the neck of the radiator...which smelled like the "beads" of a stopleak product. At any rate, I flushed the system and began driving as usual.

The car does not overheat, smoke, oil color is normal - (can't really tell if the coolant smells like exhaust). The only problem it does have is bubbling or boiling of coolant in the overflow. It doesn't purge onto the ground...just bubles in the tank. I also noticed my heater isn't quite as hot as it should be in Mid June. Trying to decide if my Head Gasket may be heating up my coolant (although the gauge is in the 'normal' region) or my rad is clogged.


Any help is greatly appreciated.

[Eye8Pussies]

I'd go with the bad rad first...easy way to check- take it out and see how much it weighs...it should only weigh about 5lbs or so, give or take. if it weighs a lot more than that or it's no evenly balanced, then there's a lot of gunk in there

[Chris Crash]

The bubbling/boiling factor could just be a bad mix of too much water/not enough coolant. Or too much sludge and dirt in the system. Like, eye8 said, take it out and see what you find. It's not hard to remove the radiator.

[WardyTN]

Coolant is a 50/50 pre-mix...

I'll pull the radiator and check it out....

I just pulled the plugs (about a month old) and they had rust deposits/scales on them....could that also be a clue to a head gasket?

[WardyTN]

Just drove the car on a 90 mile round trip today with no over-heating, no smoke from the exhaust, A/C on and cruise on 65 MPH. Car idles fine and seems to be getting excellent MPG.


I'M STUMPED!


Any more ideas?

[Kep]

A mechanic can test the coolant to see if it has been exposed to exhaust gasses. Or you can buy the kit from an auto parts store for probably $40 - $50 for the tester and the fluid it uses. That would establish if the head gasket is leaking or not. Did you pull the radiator and see if it had any buildup like eye8pussies suggested?

Kep

[msm15]

I have a similar problem and I checked my radiator - its stuffed up like crazy and its only 3k miles old whats the deal ? why did it get so clogged ?