camry overheating problems - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

glad76 · 02-25-2005, 01:29 PM

Hey guys

this winter has been nothing but badluck for my camry. Here goes. The radiator has a hairline crack at the top of it so me and my dad replaced it. We refilled it with coolant and took the airlocks out to the best of our ability. We took it for a test drive and the car still overheated. We looked at the cooling system and saw that the overflow tank was full. We removed some of the coolant from the tank and let the car run for a bit and found the same thing that the overflow tank gets full. Also the heating inside the car is not hot any more. From a few ppl i've asked they think the head might be warped/cracked or the heater core is clogged. The smoke coming out the car is white and there is something dripping from the exhaust which looks like water. Let me know of any idea's or suggestions.

Thanks

Beaver · 02-25-2005, 01:44 PM

Blown head gasket would be my first guess. What engine do you have? I've got a 3vzfe with a blown HG it runs fine but makes a lot of steam out the tail pipe. When run hard it overheats. The block empties of coolant and does not refill from the rad because the rad fills the block off the top and once it gets down a little no more coolant from the rad to the block. I'm checking my coolant daily until I get a new motor dropped in (soon, very soon).

I'd be carefull if I were you not to overheat your engine too much (or at all) if all you have is a blown gasket it is cheaper to fix than a cracked head.

If oyu go to a "stealership" to have them look at it or fix it they will charge large for the gasket set. You can get them outof the states for about 1/6th the price (for the 3vzfe set anyways).

glad76 · 02-25-2005, 01:47 PM

engine is a 5sfe. Yeah i've looked into a few places if thats the case. I haven't been driving it since it happened it's been sitting in my garage i was planning on fixing it once the weather gets warmer

Beaver · 02-25-2005, 01:51 PM

Good idea not to drive it if you plan on fixing it. You don't want to get coolant in your oil. If you do chances are you will need to rebuild the entire engine cause the coolant can fuck your bearings.

rusty9 · 02-25-2005, 07:34 PM

if you have no heat inside...and car get overheat...sounds like thermostat, which you should have replaced when you did the radiator. $10 more for a lot less headaches.

P.S. water is normal in the exhaust. if the smoke is blueish/white that most likely means its burning a bit of oil.

Toysrme · 02-25-2005, 09:08 PM

Ditto - thermostat
But if you havn't blown the head gaskets all ready, I gaurentee you will if you keep driving it like it is.

Whenever you replace the thermostat, drain the radiator, drain the block itself, and flush the entire system.(hose pipe and finish with some coolant system cleaner)

glad76 · 02-26-2005, 12:05 PM

the thermostat was replaced as well when the rad was replaced so i think it's that. i also tested the thermostat before i put it in the car.