What to do, to get better/stronger heat?

[mystickid]

My car has 74K and runs great and smooth.

However, it takes a good fifteen minutes of driving to get the heat "Hot enough".

I ride in many of my friends cars, even old ones that give off really HOT heat in just five minutes.

Is there anything I can do to make my car give better/hotter heat quicker?

[nodrogkam]

do you have a v6 or i4?

[Mike Gerber]

Change the thermostat. It's probably opening up a bit early or is stuck slightly open. Use a Toyota OEM thermostat. They are around $15.

Mike

[SKYravefever]

Mike's right. Thermostat's beginning to fail. Any symptom of it would be the temp gauge reading cold when on the freeway

[nodrogkam]

do both your camry's heat up fast?

say i leave on a cold night about 35F, it takes about 10 minutes for the heat to get pretty warm and 15 to reach its max heat (depending on if i drive city or go right on the highway).
This is the same with my 98 camry and our 05 HL both v6.

however i take our little 01 i4 corolla out and its fully warmed in 10 minutes or less. What gives? Smaller radiator?
Temp readings work fine on all 3 cars.

[geoff5093]

It takes about 5 minutes for my heat to come out warm in my car, and its around 5-25F here during the day.

[ghettosled]

i need to look into doing something as well. i have a 40 minute commute in the morning and since i listen to the radio, i rarely use turn the fan to 3 and never to 4. so at the 2 setting, my car never gets really warm (unlike mt previous vehicles) by the time i get to work.

[timebuilder]

I allow a minimum of three minutes of running before driving. I also keep the heater set to "cold" to keep all heat in the block to warm the engine faster. Don't have any AC fans running either, that may have a chance at cooling the radiator in some configurations.

Good move on the thermostat, too. Genuine toyota. An open 'stat will keep the engine from warming up, and you will use more fuel.

[marc780]

The old timers used to block the radiator with a thin piece of wood or cardboard in cold weather to make the engine heat up faster. But of course you'd want to remember to pull out the cardboard on a long drive though.