Camry overheating with new head gasket

[louef]

Hi all,

I bought a 1994 Camry 4 cylinders 2.2L 318k a month ago and since I have it, it is overheating.

Here what I have done:

-Head gasket (didn’t do pressure test or planning but was hoping it was just
the gasket, I was so old and everything was white)
-New cooling fan switch (was also bad)
-New Thermostat from the dealer (didn’t have any)
-New radiator (the upper plastic tank exploded on idle test after head
gasket)
-Rad flush + new coolant

Here what it does:
- Overheat really fast, the thermostat doesn’t open easily and bottom of the rad is not so hot.
- Without the thermostat: still overheat, fans turns on for 20 sec when close to red and the temp. stays the same.
- Without thermostat with fans always on: temp stay below half and doesn’t overheat.
- No heat from heater
- No bubbles from the radiator cap opened when cold but when hot it overflows
- No white smoke or coolant in oil, coolant level appears to stay the same
- Doesn’t overflow from overflow bottle but I can see some bubbles

I am about to do the water pump or buy a rebuilt cylinder head

Please Help

[new echo owner]

Have you check to see if the coolant is actually circulating? It maybe a circulation problem that you are having.

N.E.O.

[louef]

Originally Posted by new echo owner

Have you check to see if the coolant is actually circulating? It maybe a circulation problem that you are having.

N.E.O.

I see it circulating in the radiator without the thermostat but hard to tell if the circulation is good or not

[Hajoca]

boil test the Tstat in a pan to see if you got a bad one.

Did you install thermostat the right way with jiggle pin up?

[louef]

Originally Posted by Hajoca

boil test the Tstat in a pan to see if you got a bad one.

Did you install thermostat the right way with jiggle pin up?

Tstat is good and jiggle pin up
thanks any other ideas

[uraverageyota]

circulation problem, waterpump impeller may be slipping on shaft or corroded away. Did you bleed all the air out of the cooling system? sometimes they can be a problem make sure upper hose is held down a bit while filling radiator

[louef]

Originally Posted by uraverageyota

circulation problem, waterpump impeller may be slipping on shaft or corroded away. Did you bleed all the air out of the cooling system? sometimes they can be a problem make sure upper hose is held down a bit while filling radiator

That is my guess, I will remove it tomorrow thanks

[new echo owner]

If I remember correctly you might be able to see the impeller of the water pump with the thermostat out, but I am not 100% sure. Either way, it beats taking the water pump off to find out it is something else.

N.E.O.

[proftomda]

I agree. If your thermostat checks good you either have air in the system or your water pump is defective.

If able, do a compression test on the engine to verify a good cylinder head to block bond. Was the head surface machined or was a new gasket simply installed? the goal of the compression test is to see even numbers across all cylinders, thereby telling you that you have a good seal between head and block.

[louef]

Originally Posted by new echo owner

If I remember correctly you might be able to see the impeller of the water pump with the thermostat out, but I am not 100% sure. Either way, it beats taking the water pump off to find out it is something else.

N.E.O.

You are right N.E.O. we can see the impeller from the T-stat hole
and it was definetely bad



Thanks ALL

[new echo owner]

That is definitely a BAD one.

Glad you found your problem.

N.E.O.