Serious Help Please!!-

[ToyotaRulez]

Good Morning!
.. I have a 92 V6 Camry.. And i was driving it to my girlfriend's house when the temperature gage was reading over hot, so i pull over..let it cool down.. and drove it home..I changed the thermostat, which "sorta" solved the problem. BUT I wake up this morning and take the car on the highway, still overheats!!! I have a very small crack on the top of the radiator ( which i was going to cold weld today ) But i don't think that has anything to do with the car overheating. I need to know VERY badly how to fix this problem
Anyone have any idea's?? Thank you VERY much.

[dcbc991]

That crack could have everything to do with your overheating issue. Are you losing coolant from that crack? Cooling systems require pressure to effectively cool. If you are losing coolant from that crack, then you are obviously losing pressure too. If not, I would replace the radiator cap as you might be losing pressure there too.

[Cyorke]

It could be several things.

Clogged radiator, fell to make sure the temperature of the radiator is even all acroos it.

AIr in teh cooling system, when you replaced the thermostat did you make sure all air was out of the cooling system. THis is usually accomplished by letting the car run until the thermostat opens without the radiator cap on it.

you say there is a crack int eh radiator. Is it possible you are loosing enough coolant here for it to run low and cause the overheating.

Fans not working correctly. This is sorta hard to test since the V6 uses a hydraulic fan setup. The fan is run by the power steering on those cars. So you can not test it electircally to make sure you are getting power to it.

Blown headgasket, are you noticing any excessive steam coming fromt he tail pipe or is the car running rough. If it has either of these symptons you could have a blown headgasket. The coolant is getting into the cylinder and then being blown out as steam. THis will be excessive amounts of steam and have a sweet smell to it. You could also be loosing coolant into the oil. Check your oil level to make sure it is not over ufll. If it is there is possibly coolant making its way into the oil. You can tell because the dipstick will have what looks like water on it. If you are using green coolant in the car then you may even see green on the dipstick.

Water pump shot. It is possible that the fins on the water pump are gone and therefore not allowing the coolant to circulate through the engine. THis one is sorta hard to tell because the water pump fins are in the engine block and the only way to tell if they are damaged is to take it off. Do you notice any noises coming from the engine around where the alternator and A/C compressor are located. This could be a sign of a bad water pump also. IF the bearing in the pump goes out it does not allow the pump to circulate the water sufficiently also.


Bad radiator cap. The cap is intended to hold pressure and therefor increase pressure in the system. As pressur inthe system builds it will raise the boiling point of the coolant. If it can not hold pressure then it can cause overheating problems. This can be tested with pressure testers that you can probably rent from autozone.

These are several different things it could be. If you are not mechaniclaly inclined or dont ahve someone that can help you, you may want to take it to someone with more knowledge that you trust. Things like this are hard to diagnose over the internet. All we can really do is point in different directions to look for problems.

[ToyotaRulez]

WOW! Thanks for the information guys!. The crack is on top of the rad, and its narrow.. about 2 inches wide and its sweating out little antifreeze .. could that still cause the car to over heat? The strange thing is, after i fixed the thermostat, i drove the car whole day and it was driving normal..i take it out on the highway and it started rising again. I think either the rad is clogged or i have air in the system ( OR the leak in the rad ). You guys were VERY helpful, thank you!.
This car is VERY reliable and its the only problem i've had in 5 months.
I BOW DOWN TO TOYOTA!
* Fans are working, Head Gasket is Good, And no strange noises from the Engine *
* And i have a new cap *

[DFBonnett]

Originally Posted by ToyotaRulez

The crack is on top of the rad, and its narrow.. about 2 inches wide and its sweating out little antifreeze ...

If you see it leaking a little with the hood open, I guarantee it is leaking a lot more when really hot and under more pressure. The only cure is to deal with the rad. A good radiator shop may be able to repair yours. If not you'll need to replace it. Leaks like that only get worse. Do not try to fix it with sealer.

[Gary_602Z]

Great post by Chris! I don't think many people have had any luck trying to repair a radiator. Probably looking for a new one.

Gary

[Luckynumber5]

I just replaced mine yesterday because it had a crack that started small, plastic weld does not work, the pressure will break the seal at a very bad time (trust me). I bought a new STI (brand, not the car) Radiator at Auto Zone for $170, installation is a pain on our cars though...

[ToyotaRulez]

Ah thanks!.. Is there anyway i could get around replacing it?.. solidering... etc?
* The crack got bigger *

*** Also.. what do u mean installation is a pain?.. how long would it take?.. i have the tools. Can i do it by myself?...It's a 92 Camry.. the rad looks pretty accessible.

[ToyotaRulez]

Thanks.. i'm very scared to drive the car in general now. I drove to hamilton-from toronto ( 1 hr 30min drive ).. and the car overheated.. the mistake i made was opening the cap and it blew up in my face.. LUCKLY i moved my face in time. So i hit the highway to come to toronto, right there the car overheated. So i figured i could drive the car with the hood 5% open ( stupid i know ).. and the hood flies up in my face. So i had to have the car towed back to toronto which costed $200. Wow..... Whatta day....

** ALSO my dad says theres some kinda killer switch.. when the engine reaches a certain temp, it shuts off.. is this true ?

[Tercel GTS]

No that's not a switch. It's called a warped head and loss of compression. Honestly I think your's is warped already also. It overheats on the highway because as soon as you throttle up the compression is leaking into the cooling system. A fast way to prove this is you don't want this info anyway. If the head is warped continuing to drive it will mix antifreeze into the oil. Once that happens you can junk the whole engine.

[ToyotaRulez]

SHUT UP.. its not a blown head gasket or anything like that.. Because when i patched it with the weld.. the car " magicly " stopped over heating.

Plus wouldn't the car overheat ALL the damn time if the head's / gasket were warped gasket. Man its people like you that give bad information.. and makes people wanna shoot you in the head.

[nodrogkam]

woah easy there. A simple sorry thats not the correct information would have sufficed. We're just people trying to help others.

My buddy has a gen 3 with a simliar problem. I should say HAD a similar problem. After dishing out a couple hundred bucks he replaced the radiator and some hoses and he was up and running once again.

Good Luck.

[Tercel GTS]

Yeah, you're right. It's nothing like a gasket problem, what was I thinking? Have a great life and don't expect further 'ideas' from me.

[CCCP]

Is it true? If car overheats on highway it's better to pullover and leave the engine running with a heater turned on to the max. I always did that with my older cars and it worked much faster then just sitting and waiting for it to cool off. Well i'm talking about hot summer days.

[Luckynumber5]

Enough bickering people, he needs a new radiator.

The 1992-1993 v6 engine is a 3vz-fe, the radiator fan utilizes a hydrolic motor driven by the power steering, this is what makes it a little painful but its simple to work with. Also be sure to buy new upper and lower radiator hoses *very important they usually go soon after the radiator*

Before you start you will need a 12 mm socket and a 10 mm socket, as well as something to hold some clamps open with (pliars or vice grips work well.) You WILL need some power steering fluid (and maybe a little automatic transmission fluid (dextron 2))as you will end up looking some in this process.

First you need to drain the system, facing the engine looking at the bottom of the radiator there is a little thing that looks like a wing nut, this is the drain spigot, looking under the radiator at the plastic shielding under the car you will see a hole under the spigot, place something there to catch a LOT of antifreeze and open the spigot (take the cap off too) or just pop the hoses off and spill antifreeze everywhere either way works.

There are 5 hoses you need to disconnect from the radiator to remove it, start with the obvious the upper and lower hoses, fluid will spill be WARNED antifreeze is highly poisonous to us and animals, they like the sweet smell and will drink it. once the upper and lower hoses are disconnected from the block (leave the lower on the radiator its a pain to get the the connector that holds it on).

Next we remove the fan shroud, it is held on by four 10mm bolts, 3 at the top and one at the bottom (look at the fan its at the bottom left corner) once these are removed remove the small black hose that is going into a small black box that goes into the fan motor (dont remove the one thats held on with a bolt, the one you are after only has a small clamp holding it) this is a power steering line and it will leak so have rags handy

Now you should be able to take the shroud off the radiator, set it on top of the engine as its still connected to the power steering line feeding the fan.

Now look at the bottom of the radiator, youll see two lines going in and out, you need to remove these (its the transmission cooler) they are a pain because of the location and they will leak transmission fluid so have rags handy, once those are off we may now remove the radiator.

Take the 12mm socket and remove the two stays at the top of the radiator, now muscle that piece of junk out, since youve come this far installation is the reverse of removal remember to bolt the shroud back onto the new radiator! Then fill with whatever mix of antifreeze/water you normally use (please dont run 100% antifreeze).


Remember to clamp the new hoses poperly and youre off! start it and let it warm up, it may steam a little from spilled fluid, let it idle a bit and make sure you dont smell any antifreeze.

have fun