Confused about heating ....

[jets1934]

I own a 93 camry v6 XLE. I have been having this heating issue that I cannot directly pinpoint. Now thats its cold here in the northeast I would love to fix this problem. When I warm up my car, In about 3 minutes the temp. gauge goes from cold to normal operating temp. which is about half way up the gauge. No heat. If I drive maybe 5 more minutes the heat will come on. decent but no hot. If I stop moving the heat fades to cool,but the faster the engine revs the hotter the heat. I checked the the water pump is working I can see the antifreeze move by looking at the top of the radiator with the cap removed. The upper radiator hose is hot while the lover one is still cold. But I do get heat..somewhat ..car never overheats..settings and dials works perfect..Is is a bad or wrong thermostat or something else...

[flyeri]

I would replace the thermostat. Sounds like it is not functioning correctly.

[ghettosled]

when was the last time you flushed the cooling system? wondering if the heater core is partially blocked.

[hill8570]

If the engine temp comes up normally and stays there, it's real unlikely to be the thermostat.

Water valve (up near the firewall) may not be opening well. The water valve is what shunts hot water to the heater core. See if the cable that turns the valve off/on is moving freely. If you're not sure, a good diagnostic would be to bypass the valve with fitting (home depot or an auto parts store would have them), and see if your heat works with the valve bypassed. Off chance that the heater core is clogged, but that's pretty rare on Toyotas -- check that valve (and the cable that operates it) first.

[Luckynumber5]

x2 on the heater core being blocked, the engine you have is an iron block engine and over the years tons of rust and crap end up clogging hte radiator and heater core. You will probably need to replace the core but I would only do that after you flush the cooling system very well.