I have to admit I don't know much about cars. Since the last few days, I have noticed that the engine temperature gage in my 88 camry peaks after a few minutes of city driving. The first day it happened( 3 days ago), I stopped and checked under the hood, there were no leaks or steam off the radiator, but the radiator fan wasn't working even when my engine was running(idling). I drive about 3 highway miles to and back from work everyday..the gage shows normal temp during these commutes. The fan probably doesn't work even during these commutes.

I know it may not be a good idea to drive the car with the fan not working while the engine on; I am just wondering if anyone can hint me a few things that I can possibly do/check by myself before I go to a service station and incur the heavy costs of repair.

Two things come to mind: The thermostat and the fan switch. What either one of these would cost to replace at today's prices, I have no clue. Of course your friendly Toyota dealer would be more than happy to sell you stuff.

I took my car to the repair shop today..and after taking a look, the service person told me that the fan needs to be replaced..and just when he was about to close the hood, we saw the fan starting to kick and has been on and off since then. I thought there was no 'real' problem and drove back..but this evening after about 9-10 miles of driving, when I got off the highway and drove in the city streets, I noticed the temp gage go high again. Both the fan still go on and off occasionally (I am certain now that it isn't the fan).

Does this give any other clues towards what the problem might be? Could it be that the temp gage in the dash is wrong? Any other ideas?

Thanks!

check your connections at the fan relay and the fuse for the fan and for the fans electrical harness

Try TAP Recycling for the fan. I got one from them for my V6 2 years ago, and it's still working good.

http://www.taprecycling.com

If it's the fan relay, just get that new.

Good luck,

There are some simple steps to follow.
1) Go to any autostore and get a thermostat (summer if possible) replace the one that is in your car. $5-8
2) Simply jumper the fan, and test it, or run a jumper on the sensor that sits right where you can see it on the aluminum IN-SPOUT.
3) If the fan does not come on, and stay on, after this replace it.
4) What condition is your rad in?
5) Buy some simple cooling system flush and run it through then dump and refill with new coolant $20-30.

Ok some tech hints......feel the temp of both hoses are they even?
When the car heats up is the over flow bucket bubbling out?

Finally....after all of this, the fan should only come on when you are sitting idling for prolonged periods. (like when at the drive thru)
Good Luck and feel free to ask anymore.

Sidler.
http://community.webshots.com/user/offroadaction
http://www.offroadaction.8k.com/

Okay,

The fan still works fine. I had done a coolant flush a few weeks back and that took care of the gage for sometime. But now again, I notice the temp gage going up in city driving. However, when I run the heater fan inside at max HOT (not cold or AC), the temp gage comes down to normal. Does this hint anything? what would be a good guess for the next thing to be replaced? ( I still haven't replaced the themrostat; the only thing I did was flushed the coolant a few weeks back.. again, the fan runs fine).

I think it's time to fulfill your New Year's resolution and go out and buy a new thermostat. It should be really inexpensive and easy to install. If it solves your hot gauge problem then great. If not, then at least you will have eliminated that variable from the equation. Give it a try and happy motoring!

Bossman, thanks for the encouragement...I changed the thermostat and the problem seems to have gone!

Thanks!!

Koho,
That's fantastic news! I'm really happy to hear this solved the problem. Happy 2004 and many miles of trouble-free motoring.

hmm i've been having similar problems with my 1990 camry but i've got NFI when it comes to under the bonnet.

does anyone know where the thermostat is?
3s-fe sv21 1990 camry

or if u have a pic of the engine i can work off that :)

thanks in advance if someone can help :)

It is on the right side of the engine.......under the exhaust where the coolant spout exits the motor. There will also be two small tubes runnign toward it from the right side of the engine below the exhaust.

everyone,

everything was working fine for the last 2 and half months after I changed the thermostat, but now there is the same problem again. The temp gage shows higher than normal and sometimes it even goes all the way up (to the red mark) while driving. I noticed one of the hoses is hotter than the other other one..does this give any hint?

Also, i drove about 200 miles yesterday (with the temp problem) and also noticed the transmission giving me unsmooth changes..the camry has only 163K..isn't it a bit too soon for a camry to have transmission problems?

Any ideas if the two problems might be related?

i had my camry looked at (not fixed as yet no $$ :( )
autoelec said the dash doesnt appear to be sending the right signals to the car. .. does your speedo work fine? etc ..

my camry is well on its way to 300k :O so i'm not over worried at this point .. b ut i would definately get yours checked out and working :) its got years of life left in her yet :)

everything on my dash works fine..it's just the temp gage shooting up..

All this while i thought the two hoses had to be equally hot while the car is running (stupid me!). The car 'runs' normal, except the temp gage shooting up which scares me. The AC/fan/heater work well. The level of the coolant was normal when i checked it an hour ago. All other fluids seemed to be OK too. I doubt it's the thermostat coz i had it changed recently. What are some other possibilities?

Oh I forgot to post...the problem was the radiator !! Replaced it ($200) and everything's fine...drove 3000 miles already since the change!! Toyota rocks!

Thanks everyone.

just thought i'd let everyone know...the problem is solved ..it was the radiator that I had to replace($200)..and everything works fine now...already drove 4000 miles after the replacement ;)

Thanks everyone.

oops..didn't know i had posted already...

excitement eh ! ;)

Don't automatically rule out the thermostat as the problem. These things ain't perfect. Pull it out and get one of your wife or girl friends pans, fill it with water and put it on the stove. Boil the water and check its action. You may find it stuck closed. It should fully open before the water boils. Even better, put a thermometer in with it and you can tell exactly when it opens, hopefully around 180 degrees. I have repaced alot of thermostats on my car in 289,000 miles, believe me! :2cents:

JJ

I doubt it's the thermostat coz i had it changed recently. What are some other possibilities?

if you didn't buy a Toyota thermostat when you replaced it a few months ago, the thermostat you installed could be the problem again. i recommend replacing it with the Toyota part.