Just replaced thermostat and now it overheats

[89SV21]

My 89 camry just recently started running cold to the point where it would get colder the longer i drove with the temp gauge almost touching the C. So after looking on this forum I figured that it was the thermostat which i replaced yesterday. I made sure that the gasket was seated and everything. Now my car is fine for the first 15-20 mins of driving but then the temp starts to rise and i have to turn the heat on full blast in order to keep the engine from overheating. I'm wondering if the overheating could possibly be due to the fact that when i filled up the radiator after replacing the thermostat I used just plain water and not coolant. Could too much water and not enough coolant cause this sudden overheating? Thanks alot for your help

[hooRAH]

No. Water cools better than coolant. I'll let everyone else tell you why running just water is a bad idea.

You've either put the thermostat in backwards or you still have air in the system. Did you bleed the air out after replacing the tstat?

[white90dx]

Water is actually a BETTER conductor of heat than coolant. Race cars run 100% water, not 100% coolant. The coolant adds better temperature stability (raised boiling point and lowered freezing point) and also corrosion protection.

It sounds like its time to pull the thermostat out and test it to make sure you didn't get a dud. You might also check your radiator cap to make sure it still works correctly.

Good luck,
Charlie

[89SV21]

What's the best way to bleed air out of the cooling system? I don't think that the 3sfe has a air bleeder screw like the 2vz-fe does. I'm almost positive the thermostat is in exactly the same way as the old one was. Thanks for your responses

[alltracwagon]

I'm surprised that the car is ok for the first 15/20 minutes and overheats after that. If the thermostat was not opening I would expect it to overheat within 5 minutes from a cold start if you
are driving at speed in traffic.

When the car is dead cold, you might try removing the radiator cap, start the car and let it idle and come up to
temperature. If/when the tstat opens, you should see
obvious signs of water flowing in the radiator.
If you have no flow, the heater feels hot, and the gauge
reads hot, then tstat is probably backwards/bad.

If you see the water in the radiator flows, and you can measure it
with a thermometer, and you get a reasonable value, like 180F, then maybe you did't reconnect the wire to the temperature gauge properly/ sender went bad.

[fe519]

did you remember to put the "jiggle" pin facing UP? Try bleeding the system... for starters, open the radiator cap and squeeze the hose a couple of times... also open the heater to full blast

[88 LE]

1. It is impossible to install the thermostat backwards. The thermostat housing is not deep enough to allow this.

The side with the spring faces towards the engine.




2. Move the temp slider (a/c & heater) all the way to hot, when you bleed the system.

[89SV21]

well guys thanks for all your insights, i get the dumbshit award for the day, and i had put the thermostat in backwards, god i'm a moron. Typical do it yourselfer who did it to myself. At least i'll never forget how to do it again and i got the chance to do a coolant flush/bleed job.

[mspringer]

Originally Posted by 88 LE

1. It is impossible to install the thermostat backwards. The thermostat housing is not deep enough to allow this.

Owned! LOL (just kidding!) Great pic, by the way.

[hooRAH]

88LE,

My bad, I've done so many different cars where it is possible, but haven't done the Camry yet. Just assumed. Good info to know.

89SV21,

Glad to see you got it taken care of, and thanks for posting your results so that it might help someone else someday.