So one of my biggest beefs with my corolla is the insane warm up time.
My parents camry will literally be all the way up to operating temperature by the time my car's temp needle even starts to move. Usually takes about 4-5km of driving for my car to reach is proper temperature. And that is with the temp setting set to cold. If I have the heat on it sometimes never goes up to where it should be.
Why do I say this.....??
I was at a local junker and someone working there told me to swap a camry radiator into my corolla. She claimed that it gave her an insane jump in gas mileage. It made no sense to me at the time as to how it might possibly help. But knowing a lot more than I once did it would make sense if the camry rad somehow allowed the corolla to warm up quicker thus entering closed loop mode much sooner and saving you a ton of gas.
But that really doesn't make sense. A camry's rad would be bigger. And should take even longer to warm up.......???Right
Is my car the only one warming up slow?? Is the camry's radiator somehow superior? Tell me what you think and know
Cheers,
Andrew
P.S. I changed my thermostat once already thinking it was shot and that made no difference
Last edited by JesusJones; 04-23-2011 at 01:24 AM.
Warm-up time will make a difference in fuel consumption if the car is driven exclusively on short distances. Thus making the time when engine operates cold a significant part of the total time.
4-5km to reach operating temp is about how mine behaves as well. And I have the shorter radiator. I guess in order to make room for the AC compressor.
Radiator will make no difference to warm-up times at all, as the whole radiator system is bypassed when the engine is cold - it is only when the thermostat opens that the radiator is involved in cooling the engine.
This is why it is unadvisable to remove the thermostat, as it means that the radiator is always in use and won't properly allow the system to get up to and regulate temperature.
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P.S. I changed my thermostat once already thinking it was shot and that made no difference
Thermostat quality these days is VERY poor, along with many other parts. The thermostat is the only thing that can kill warm-up time. If you have any doubts about your part boil it. You can see it open and close AND confirm that it does that fully. Usually a slow warmer is stuck partially open.
Thank you for all your replies. Seems like my car is probably behaving normally and a slow warm up time is probably due to the small 1.6 liter engine.
Eventually I will pull out the thermostat and check to see it's working right. I'm not overly concerned in any way. Just wondering if it really might be worth my time to do the swap. Clearly it really wouldn't be.
Anyways I might as well ask this, it's a little off topic but still about gas mileage and car health.
The pick up coil in the distributor is my concern. For the 96-97 model 4afe and 7afe engines the manual seems to have a mistake, or my pick coil is bad
All the models before 96-97 have G+ G- and NE+ NE- testing terminals from the ditributor pick up coils clearly marked in the manual.
But for 96-97 they show you the g+ and g- terminals and leave the bottom two connections blank. Instructions still say to test both G+ G- AND NE+ NE- terminals. I assume NE+ and NE- were the two left blank. When I test these two I get .5 ohms. The manual says there should be closer to 2k ohms there.
Unless you are an electrical techhie and have a REALLY good meter, I would accept that value as being good. That coil doesnt have much resistance so its hard to measure. The real test is if its SHORTED or OPEN.
Like mentioned try changing thermostat first. REAL easy job on side of motor 2 bolts. New T-stat comes with new new gasket/seal (it has a groove and stays on T-stat) so no other gasket material is needed. 10 minute job max, longest time getting tools and cleaning up. I think mine was like $12.
My 1.8 always took a while to warm up even when new. Years later it would take longer and longer than finally winter hit with NO HEAT. Most new T-stats fail in the open position which is better than warped head from overheat and yes it can fail partially open adding to longer warm up.
Some people have issues also if coolant gets low as it creates steam in motor then opens as not enough coolant to contact tstat all the time.
Thank you for all your replies. Seems like my car is probably behaving normally and a slow warm up time is probably due to the small 1.6 liter engine.
One repair shop tech said the same thing about my Prizm. It has a small engine and it does not go up to that temp. etc.
But 2 years ago the needle used to settle around mid point on the gauge. Now driving on highway it is at quarter level. Only when I stop and idle the car for a while it comes close to mid level, but still lower than the middle.
Yesterday I bought a thermostat for my car. Kuzeh brand, hopefully made in Japan. It was one of the most expensive thermostats, being sold for 17-22 dollars a piece. Since I did not know if it came with the seal, I order Ishino seal for it. Domestic brands do not come with the seal, I know that.
I am intending to replace it myself but I have not done it before.
Do I need to drain the coolant? Hopefully there is a way without draining it and getting messy.
Last edited by blumonster; 04-30-2011 at 12:14 PM.
Reason: Spelling
Blumonster, there's a pretty good write-up in the DIY section on TStat replacement. I followed it this weekend to replace mine, which was also stuck open. Almost exact same situation as you describe. Car warms up no problem now, and idling is much smoother.
To answer your question yes you'll have to drain the coolant or else it'll come spilling out of the engine block once you remove the housing. With regards to the gasket, the old one in mine was rubber and still in perfect shape, so I just used it again. Just make sure it's properly seated. While you're at it you might as well replace the coolant if it's old.
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The Following User Says Thank You to wei For This Useful Post:
Blumonster, there's a pretty good write-up in the DIY section on TStat replacement. I followed it this weekend to replace mine, which was also stuck open. Almost exact same situation as you describe. Car warms up no problem now, and idling is much smoother.
To answer your question yes you'll have to drain the coolant or else it'll come spilling out of the engine block once you remove the housing. With regards to the gasket, the old one in mine was rubber and still in perfect shape, so I just used it again. Just make sure it's properly seated. While you're at it you might as well replace the coolant if it's old.
Thank you for the answer, Wei. Now I have a way bigger problem.Fuel lines are rusted and leaking fuel.
Just wanted to fill you guys in on how I finally got this problem worked out enough to keep me happy and then some.....
It was really easy. I just took some cardboard and completely blocked the cars lower front rad vent and then shortly after (liking the results so much) I blocked the top vent too
Yes this fix kinda sounds stupid (+ it looks stupid) but it's really not
It wasn't even my main goal. I was reading up about making your car more aerodynamic. It said that up to 20% of your total air drag was from air flowing through your engines cooling system and bay. Not only is it a lot of drag but all this air ends up forced under your car where it causes even more problems. So both of mine are now blocked after some testing. And now the car warms up light years faster (4 minutes roughly), which saves you gas since your in closed loop mode faster. So that was a win.
And my car coasts on the highway like never before. Normally if I hit the clutch I would loose speed so fast that it really wasn't worth the effort of trying to coast to save some gas. Now I can actually GAIN speed when coasting down medium slopes! I also swear it handles a lot better.
Anyways... that's what I did. I'll post up a picture later of my awesome cardboard cover......although I'm sure you can imagine.....
keep a close eye on the coolant temp as summer heat rolls in bud, you might want to design a slatted metal grate to cover. cut narrow slots in some sheet aluminum and then twist them to about a 45 angle. that way the cooling fan can still pull air through and you still get a little air flow through as well which it does need on hot days.
did you ever replace the thermostat? my gauge hit 1/2 in about 1 mile on cool mornings, starting at -30F I would have half gauge in about 2 miles. I used a genuine toyota thermostat btw.
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