Yes.

 

Are they a pain to change? I am off to find a how to...

 

The are very straightforward to change. Follow the bottom radiator hose to the engine and where it connects is the thermostat housing.

A couple of things to be aware of:
- Get a new gasket with the thermostat.
- Be aware of mixed quality thermostats out there. Sometimes they are bad right out of the box. Safest bet is going to be OEM but there are several users here with aftermarket thermostats that work great. But I've seen it here where they've been defective right out of the box too.
- Obviously get the right temperature opening. Can't recall what that is
- Bleed the system with the radiator cap off and heater on full blast.

 

Thanks. I will do some looking online for an OEM one.

 

Looks like 180 is stock

 

Wait - I re-read your first post. You're saying the needle is touching the bottom of the icon in the middle - so it's sitting pretty much at the 9 o'clock position?

If it sits there and doesn't fluctuate once warmed up it's not the thermostat.

Sorry I thought you were saying the needle was at the bottom of the gauge.

Sounds more like a gummed up heater core. A reverse flush with radiator cleaner and fresh coolant should do the trick.

 

Correct. Its sitting at the 9 o'clock position.

 

I've heard that CLR is good for cleaning out heater cores.

 

Check the inlet hose to the heater core to make sure it is nice and hot. It could be the inlet mix door not working or out of adjustment.

 

Good point. The cable shifting the valve on and off is sitting on top of the valve in a relatively flimsy fashion too and could have popped off.

 

One end connects to the slider you use to regulate hot/cold air inside the cabin.

The other end connects to the valve sitting on the firewall. You'll see the cable hooked on top, and two coolant hoses connected to it. One hose goes to the heater core connector on the firewall, the other hose to the engine.

 

Turn your heat fully on when the car is warm and turn on your blower motor. After a while touch both hoses at the firewall that go into the heater core. You might have a blockage in the core itself.

Does the knob to switch temps have resistance to it or is it loose?

 

Ill try this tomorrow.

The lever moves like it always has, feels like the others. The air temp gets cooler when I move it to the cold side.

 

Turn your heat fully on when the car is warm and turn on your blower motor. After a while touch both hoses at the firewall that go into the heater core. You might have a blockage in the core itself.

Does the knob to switch temps have resistance to it or is it loose?

 

In this case, the cold butt gets the warmth!

 

Nah, that's 94RollaDad. He's the only one with heated seats.

 

If so, he should drive over and share his warm seats with the OP! :grin::grin:

 

In a sense I already have - with all of you: http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/showthread.php?t=954569

 

Here is what I found with pics. I got the car up to temp

I checked the engine temp on the upper radiator hose:

Temp at the thermostat:

Temp at junction by firewall:

The junction box moves fine. No binding in cable.

 

Yeah seems like you have restrictions in the heater core and need to (reverse) flush the system. You can flush the heater core separately (several YouTube videos on how to) but know that it's a real pain to get the hoses off the heater core brass lines in the firewall.

 

Yes, be very careful removing the firewall heater hoses. The brass lines that the hoses are on are soft, don't want to mangle them.

 

Ok Ill try and find a video.

 

Can you take a picture of the water control valve?

 

160.4º sounds a little low to me. Shouldn't it be closer to 185º or 190º? I had a car into which I put a 160º thermostat, and that car had hardly any heat. Maybe the 'stat is in the beginning stages of sticking open, and that particular 20º doesn't produce much sweep on the gauge?

 

160.4º sounds a little low to me. Shouldn't it be closer to 185º or 190º? I had a car into which I put a 160º thermostat, and that car had hardly any heat. Maybe the 'stat is in the beginning stages of sticking open, and that particular 20º doesn't produce much sweep on the gauge?

That is true. I was just assuming there was some insulating capacity in the hose but what do I know. Now that I think about it the gauge temp pic also shows SLIGHTLY low. Not bad. But slightly low.

I still think the main issue is circulation. But if you go through the effort of a full flush you might as well throw a new thermostat in there given the slight variation.

 

to 100% make sure the thermostat is working, check to see if the cooling fans are comming on. its winter, and so they wont stay on for long, but they will come on as long as engine is up to operating temp, no matter how cold. the heater core may be gummed up on the inside, or there could be physical debris blocking airflow on the heater core itself. like someone else said, a blend door on the inside could be malfunctioning. but if theyre getting up to at least 160 on the temp gun then you should at least be feeling comfortable with the heat on. it may not burn you like your truck, but thats pleanty to produce an 80* cab temp

 

160F is a bit on the low side; however, we don't know his outside temperature is and how long the car ran and idle. Not sure how long he had the car, locally here there were some car came with 160 degree thermostats. I am just curious why there is close to 30 degree difference between the engine and the heater core inlet hose, it should be relatively close since the coolant just came out of the engine. It is as if there is not enough coolant flow through the coolant flow control valve; maybe the valve is not fully open or the heater core is restricted enough that it restrict more coolant from entering.

 

I am just curious why there is close to 30 degree difference between the engine and the heater core inlet hose, it should be relatively close since the coolant just came out of the engine.

The engine might've been cold when he started it, and it hadn't run long enough to warm everything completely up, when he snapped the pic. That would also explain the 160ishº temps at the thermostat housing, in light of the nearly normal position of the gauge needle.