Red coolant light in dash on 2000 Toyota Echo

[netsomnia]

A few questions to resolve overheating problem on 2000 Toyota Echo, 236,000 miles on odometer:

The red coolant light is on after driving about 20 miles or after running the air conditioner for 10 miles.

Where is the engine coolant sensor located? Is this one next to the upper radiator hose on the block? By the way, the thermostat is on the lower radiator hose.

What tests can I run on the electric fan? After driving about 50 miles yesterday, the radiator fan did not come on unless I turned on the air conditioning. I know I have seen some tests and sensor locations on TN Forums but I could not find one specifically for the Echo.

I want to run through the fan tests before I jump to the water pump again. I replaced the water pump about 100K miles ago but it was very obvious that the water pump was leaking fluid along the shaft and the bearing was noisy last time. This time the engine purrs along quietly and the red light is the only clue that I have that the engine is overheating.

I need to know if I need something more this time - nothing obvious and I replaced the thermostat and belt that drives the water pump this week and drained the radiator fluid twice.

The red light returns!

I am still stumped on this one...

I replaced the water pump because the old one had over 100, 000 miles on it. The red light comes on again while climbing a hill with the air conditioning on. The radiator fan does not seem to come on as strong when the air conditioner turns on compared to when the heater turns on. In fact, I am using the heater to cool the car down with the red light comes on.

[Avalon52]

http://www.2carpros.com/questions/to...erature-sensor
might try this link for the diagrams


We just started having the flashing red coolant light coming on too which brought me to this forum as well as to the link above.

The only thing w/ ours is as i was putting a new battery in today started hooking the terminals up wrong and it blew the alternator in line fuse which i replaced then as i was driving the car after awhile the flashing temp sensor light started coming on. Wondering if we might have burned out the coolant temp switch circuit (as suggested on another forum).

So anyway will be following your thread to see if i can learn more about the problem we are having.

Hope those links work for you. We also have a 2000 echo which has about 135k miles and has run trouble free up to now

[denman]

My experience has demonstrated that a high mileage car and overheating = change-the-rad. It is nearly always the answer and if not the rad would crap out soon anyway. Just my two cents.

[Avalon52]

Originally Posted by denman

My experience has demonstrated that a high mileage car and overheating = change-the-rad. It is nearly always the answer and if not the rad would crap out soon anyway. Just my two cents.

This is a good point about the miles and the radiator.

We have 135k on our Echo and literally haven't had a single problem w/ this car. In fact because it gets such good gas mileage ITS EASY TO FORGET EVEN TO CHECK THE GAS - many times we have gone and gone and gone then realized we were almost out of gas. The little flashing light is not in my opinion very visible and really should be more of a red flashing light to make it more apparent.

Now that the mileage is higher we need to start looking out for issues such as the radiator needing to be flushed etc.

Thanks for the reminder!

[netsomnia]

Originally Posted by Avalon52

This is a good point about the miles and the radiator.

We have 135k on our Echo and literally haven't had a single problem w/ this car. In fact because it gets such good gas mileage ITS EASY TO FORGET EVEN TO CHECK THE GAS - many times we have gone and gone and gone then realized we were almost out of gas. The little flashing light is not in my opinion very visible and really should be more of a red flashing light to make it more apparent.

Now that the mileage is higher we need to start looking out for issues such as the radiator needing to be flushed etc.

Thanks for the reminder!

I might have to replace the radiator. This engine seems to cool down fine when running down the highway when the outside air is 90 degrees and below.

I replaced the water pump and the thermostat w/jiggle vavle because they were due at over 100,000 on the old ones. I have over 240,000 on my car now. This seems to cool down the car but I still had the red engine temp light coming on after running the air conditioning on big hills or sitting at a stop light - these are typical symptoms when the axillary fan isn't coming on when it should.

I am looking forward to hearing the fan come on when I am ordering fast food without the air conditioning on again or sitting in front of my garage when I arrive home from work. That would be a great relief!

Next, I drained the radiator and replace the auxillary fan switch (a.k.a. water temp switch). I am considering the engine coolant temp switch too but only after I see that red light again. So far I have only seen it once after replacing the water temp switch and refilling the radiator. I'll give it another day or two before I replace the engine temp switch. I went through this procedure the last time I replaced the water pump and the fan finally just started coming on. This time it is being really stubborn - I am still shooting for the minor stuff before I replace the radiator and perhaps a fan too. I know the original fan is working because it comes on with the heater and air conditioner, as well as, when I short the connectors that go to the water temp switch.

Lastly, I want to restate that the #1 and #2 heater and air conditioner relays tested good according to the factory service manual - that was a simple procedure to do with a 12v battery source and an ohm meter.

I will not give up on this problem.

[netsomnia]

Although I still do not think the overheating problem is fixed, I want to log the status at 78 degree air temp. for future reference. No overheating with air conditioning on for 41 miles. I still need to figure out why the auxillary fan is not coming on when it's hot out. The heater fan and air conditioning fan work.