thermostat - fairly general issue

[nz-dude]

Hi guys,

in a couple of days I'll get my 92 Camry to a garage and let them put in new cam belt, water pump etc ... the usual every 100,000km maintenance ...

Since I've bought the car (3 months and 4,000km ago), the water temperature gauge has always been not in the middle. It always has been slightly below the center position. Sorry I don't have a pic right now, but let's say the temp gauge is like the clock from 1 o'clock to 5 o'clock ... 3 being the center, 5 cold, 1 hot .... after a few km the indicator stopped at 3:30 to 3:45 ... so slightly cooler than it's supposed to be ... so this could simply be something with the temperature sensor or the gauge itself...

I didn't have much time to investigate so far as my fuel consumption is for a V6 172hp automatic engine not too bad. 13-14 l/100km for in town ... and 9.5-10.5 l/100km for out of town ... so it doesn't look like an open thermostat ...

So I'm just wondering is the temp. gauge know for being slightly incorrect?

As far as I understood some repairing manuals, the thermostat can be easily changed together with cam belt / timing belt and water pump ... and usually a thermostat shouldn't cost too much.

Any thoughts on that?

Cheers guys

[JohnGD]

Yes, it's easy with the timing belt job. 2 10mm bolts and out it comes. Pop a new one with gasket in. About $15-20USD in parts. The mechanic should also change the oil seals (cam, crank, oil pump seals, pump body o-ring). Well, here is an old list:
5SFE parts prices from rockauto:

GATES TCK199 (shrink-wrapped tray of one timing belt with two pulleys and instruction)
$52.79
GATES Part # K030295 PS belt $4.92
GATES Part # K050435 Alt/AC $12.32
FEL-PRO TCS45641 Cam seal $3.70
FEL-PRO TCS45920 Crank seal $5.60
National/BCA Part # 221820 Oil pump seal $3.47
AISIN WPTK010 (Toyota #16100-09040, 16100-79185-83) water pump $43.79
FEL-PRO VS50304R valve cover gasket set $13.94
(used to include spark plug tube seals, but no longer?)

STANT OE-style thermostat with jiggle valve Part # 48278 $10.96
FEL-PRO Thermostat Gasket Part # 35292 $1.54
Radiator Cap STANT Part # 10241 $5.48

(no need to change the rad hoses if Toyota recently did them)
Upper radiator hose GATES Part # 21963 $10.47
Lower radiator hose GATES Part # 22271 $8.60

NGK Part # 3764 IX-Series Iridium #3540, BKR6EIX11, BKR6EVX11 $6.40 x4
(NGK catalog shows this as approved for the Gen 4 waste-spark application, but not the Laser Iridium plug with a platinum ground pad).

[nz-dude]

cheers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[fenixus]

JohnGD listed quite a reputable aftermarket parts set, you shouldn't have any trouble getting those in Oz.

but I see that your car is a 2.5L V6? 4VZ-FE engine? I have never heard of that model ... You will need of course different parts for that than for 2.2L 4cylinder 5S-FE application.

don't worry about the temp gauge staying on fully warmed up engine slightly below (like between 3 and 4 o'clock position) the half mark. it's normal on all Toyotas.

i think this gauge has some inertia compensating "mechanism" built in, so it doesn't even react to any coolant temperature change between 185-215F (dead spot on gauge).

it also means that if you can observe movement of the needle on dash gauge while driving/idling etc then the coolant temperature fluctuation is seriously big (going up and down by at least 20-30F)

if you'd like to monitor coolant temperature more closely and precisely you could order a cheap ELM327 clone device (OBD2 compatible) for reading live data on running car, like those from Hong Kong ~$20-40 USD shipped:

http://shop.ebay.com/i.html?_nkw=elm....c0.m270.l1313

those are to be connected via cable to any free USB port on a PC laptop/netbook. they work very good with ScanMaster software.
there are also wireless Bluetooth versions of those devices as well, but I haven't used one.

as per fuel consumption, I always refer to updated EPA at www.fueleconomy.gov but your 2.5L V6 is not listed there as camry (no such thing in US market).

any short distance (like trips below 3Km) driving involved will drop MPG badly.

[nz-dude]

ODB2 and a 1992 Camry Prominent? Are you sure that they already had that?

The connector of my toyota also looks quite different to the ODB2 of my 2000 Volkswagen ...

[fenixus]

Originally Posted by nz-dude

ODB2 and a 1992 Camry Prominent? Are you sure that they already had that?

The connector of my toyota also looks quite different to the ODB2 of my 2000 Volkswagen ...

ah sorry, I don't know what I was thinking about
of course your car is OBD1 ... my bad, forget it.

time to go to bed in eastern US

Toyota started implementing OBD2 on V6 models as early as in 1994, but yeah 1992 is a tad too early model for that.

[JohnGD]

The old list I pulled was from an old 5SFE discussion. But there are similar parts needed for the 4VZ (but not the same part numbers). I can only see 3VZ in the US. So pardon me there too!

[nz-dude]

Originally Posted by fenixus

but I see that your car is a 2.5L V6? 4VZ-FE engine? I have never heard of that model ... You will need of course different parts for that than for 2.2L 4cylinder 5S-FE application.

It's a japanese import, not very common, wikipedia says:

The 4VZ-FE is a 2.5 L (2496 cc) version. Bore is 87.5 mm (3.4 in) and stroke is ever so slightly lower from the 2VZ-FE at 69.2 mm (2.7 in). Output is 173 hp (129 kW) at 6000 rpm. Compression ratio of this engine was raised from 9.0:1 to 9.6:1. In production from 1992 until 1996, it was built to replace the 2VZ-FE as Toyota's 2.5 L V6. Engine was only sold with JDM vehicles.
Applications: JDM

• 1992–1996 JDM Toyota Camry Prominent
• 1993–1996 Toyota Windom VCV11