I have a japanese Corolla with 2E (12 valve, 1.3 petrol) engine, manufactured in 1990 - it's EE90 model.
Recently, maybe a month ago, my temperature gauge started to show little higher engine temperatures when I am in the stop - and - go traffic. The radiator fan will allways kick on when needle goes above halway on gauge, but, needle will rise a little more and then stop. Radiator fan will work all the time - and when I start to move (drive), needle will go back (not too fast) on the centre position on gauge and the fan will stop. Now, it didn't use to do that. Only in summer I would have a little higher temp (but not like this), but now is november, it's cold outside. Sometimes, but ONLY in stop-go traffic needle will come close to a 3/4 mark on temp. gauge (but it's a still far away from redline). It never went above, and the fan always works and needle will drop back - sometimes on centre, sometimes little above. And then, after a minute, temperature is rising again, fan is kicking on again, and temp. falls back down to centre. Now, this is not happening when I am driving - either on highway, either in the city - temp. gauge needle is hard rock stable in the center of the gauge - and it never moves higher. Only in stop-go traffic, it will rise fast (in a minute or two), and when I start to drive it falls back.
Is it a thermostat? I have no leaks, no coolant loss, coolant is clean, oil is clean, there is no white smoke, no bubbles in coolant, it does not steam or bubbling, compression is OK, just temperature goes higher than usual and faster then usual, only in stop-go traffic. I didn't change coolant for almost three years, maybe coolant is losing efficinecy, or blocking some coolant passages?
Upper hose is hot, lower hose is hot, I feel the pressure, radiator is hot when thermostat is open, fan is kicking on, water pump was changed two years ago, radiator is not cloged, cap is OK.
Is it thermostat starting to fail - mechanic said that is failing and it is not opening on time - i.e. it is opening later than usual?
Strange, because in every other driving condition (even driving on hard uphills, or with car full of people and baggage, or in every hard drive conditions) temp. is always normal. It just started to rise higher and faster than usual on red lights, stop and go traffic. Looks like some gremlins inside!
So the coolant mix is ok, might be a clogged radiator.
Take a flashlight and check if the fins are filled with dirt, if they are, flush the radiator from the engine side with a gardenhose. See if that helps.
Originally posted by Flashmn So the coolant mix is ok, might be a clogged radiator.
Take a flashlight and check if the fins are filled with dirt, if they are, flush the radiator from the engine side with a gardenhose. See if that helps.
I've checked... it's not clogged... bah! My friend had similar issue years ago, his case was - thermostat. It was not opening fully - or it was opening too late. But I think that radiator is not the problem, cooling fan will always drop back the needle to the center, and if it was clogged radiator I will have problems in high speed driving, also.
Thanks for your reply, I will change the coolant in a few days, and I will flush the system, wash the radiator, just to be troublefree!
Just had to ask I hope that nothing will happen to the engine, because I do not have too much traffic when I am driving home-office relations, I am in this high temperature situations only a few minutes - only on longer red lights, or some traffic jam. I think it will be OK for few days till I change the stuff and check with my mechanic.
Originally posted by Flashmn So the coolant mix is ok, might be a clogged radiator.
Take a flashlight and check if the fins are filled with dirt, if they are, flush the radiator from the engine side with a gardenhose. See if that helps.
One thing I forgot: when I am not driving the car, i.e. when I start the car in the morning and just seat and wait for engine to reach normal operating temperature, and for a fan to kick-on everything is normal! Temp. goes only a little bit above center on the gauge (very,very little above center), fan is working about a minute till the temp. is in the center - it works normally. It just goes crazy in traffic jams and stop and go drivig. Strange.
Definitely sounds to me like it is your thermostat. and it definitely wouldn't hurt to change it. it is an in expensive repair and will definitely save future expenses. you should be ok for a few days but if the temp. comes up close to the red line stop and let it cool down you don't want to pay for an engine job.
If your going to replace your thermostat and coolent yourself make sure to check if your cooling system needs to be "bled" meaning some cars have a bleeder screw up on top near the gooseneck..If you don't bleed the air out while your replacing the coolent the air could cause a blockage and your coolent won't circulate, don't know if your car has/needs this but it happened to me on my 97 grand prix and I blew the head gasket out before I could get it home...best way is to check with your toyota sevice, there always glad to help....Raddman
Originally posted by XRS_JAY Definitely sounds to me like it is your thermostat. and it definitely wouldn't hurt to change it. it is an in expensive repair and will definitely save future expenses. you should be ok for a few days but if the temp. comes up close to the red line stop and let it cool down you don't want to pay for an engine job.
I think so... but it's OK for now - it never went close to the redline. It is higher than I used to, but still far from redline. I was alarmed, because it is winter time almost, and the temp is rising faster and higher than usual in traffic jams, it's higher than it was in the summer, and the fan is kicking on very frequent in stop and go traffic (more than in a summer time). Constant driving is OK - always on the middle in the gauge.
Mechanic says that there is two things: thermostat starting to open and close slower than usual, and maybe there is some air in the system, so on low speeds cooland isn't circulatint good.
So, thermostat and coolant, with a flush and air bleed... I think that it is enough.
In auto parts shops they offered me two kinds of thermostat, one is opening on 82 deg. celzius (180F), and the other one on 88 deg. celzius (190 F). I will stick to the colder one
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Overheating? Or not?
I hope that nothing will happen to the engine, because I do not have too much traffic when I am driving home-office relations, I am in this high temperature situations only a few minutes - only on longer red lights, or some traffic jam. I think it will be OK for few days till I change the stuff and check with my mechanic.
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