Hello,


I took the car today for the 60K service. it actually has 70K on it.
Anyway, everything went well. they flushed the fluids out the engine and all the other stuff recommended by toyota.
After picking up, I drove for maybe 15min at a medium speed ( 35 to 40) and it started heating up. the needle was going up and down but still rather high then it got on the red ( all fo this lasted 4min. In 8 years, I never had this problem!!! Never!!!
I heard a strange faint noise and luckily I was just 1/4 mile away from the mechanic. They let it run for maybe 20min and put the AC on high and the temperature came back to normal very fast. They checked the fluid levels and they were all fine. The mechanic told me that when he first open the hood, it smells as if the fluids were dried up.
His explination: the car had to readjust to the flushing and he thinks that the person who worked on it did not let it run after finishing the flushing.
I took it to NTB and they are usually reliable. It has been 2h now and it's fine.
But the fuel is kinda near E ( empty) and needle was dancing a bit too much ( more then usual). I took it back and they could not explain that.
This car has no history of radiator or engine problems. I am afraid of driving the darn thing now. What if it heats up on me again????
Anyway, is there explination logical? Regarding the noise, I can't really describe it because it wa so brief. anyway it stopped.

Any insight would be very helpful,

Thanks in advance for your help.
Leila

"His explination: the car had to readjust to the flushing and he thinks that the person who worked on it did not let it run after finishing the flushing"

No, this does not sound like a logical explaination. Cars do not readjust to flushing. Cars overheat for a reason. There could be air bubbles left in the cooling system that were not properly bled out of the system. The thermostat could have stuck in the closed position. The electric cooling fans(s) may not have been working for a number of reasons. There may have been some form of a blockage in front of the radiator that prohibited air from circulating through it. There may have been coolant spilled on the belt that turns the waterpump (during the work performed) causing the belt to slip.

Take it back to whoever did the work and get it checked out. Overheating is a serious problem today. It's not like it was 25 years ago, where if your car overheated, you would just wait until it cooled down to drive it again with no damage occuring. Today, overheating can cause serious damage. Engines today are made with aluminum components. Aluminum melts and warps at a lot lower temperature than the cast iron components of engines of years ago.

Mike

Thanks Mike for your fast response.
My gut feeling told me that the mechanic was not giving a good reason.
I am hesitating between 2 options:
1) going back to NTB tomorrow morning and telling them that the heating episode happen again ( that is not true)so they will take it seriously and investigate the cause.

2) take the car to the dealership tomorrow morning and tell them that them about the heating episode without mentioning that I just got the car serviced for the 60K. Woudl they be able to notice that everything was flushed recently?

I know that I might sound weird by asking your opinion but I trust your judgement. You have responded to all of my questions for the past year and you were always right.

Thanks,
Leila

"readjust" is crap, but there is truth to having to let it run after replacing coolant. The best sense I can make of what he said:
"When you replace coolant, you have to let the car run so that the coolant circulates through and you can top it off with more coolant. My idiot mechanic didn't know that, and we wanted him to learn the hard way. Sorry that your car was "the hard way""

Did they put more coolant in it when you took it back?

If so, and the needle went all the way to red before it started cooling down...I'm sorry, but they might have just f'd you over pretty good. And I'm not sure there is anything you can do about it.

Overheating can cause leaks and breaks far far down the road, and the consequences are random enough that you can't say "well, that's cuz it overheated last year". But at the same time, it might not do anything at all depending on how long/hot it was.

as far as the option you mentioned, neither is a good idea.
1) its hard enough diagnosing problems. diagnosing problems without knowing the correct symptoms, they might end up causing more problems, or costing you a lot of $$.
2)Same as one. Plus, they would pick that up in an instant (new coolant), I would.

"readjust" is crap, but there is truth to having to let it run after replacing coolant. The best sense I can make of what he said:
"When you replace coolant, you have to let the car run so that the coolant circulates through and you can top it off with more coolant. My idiot mechanic didn't know that, and we wanted him to learn the hard way. Sorry that your car was "the hard way""

Did they put more coolant in it when you took it back?

If so, and the needle went all the way to red before it started cooling down...I'm sorry, but they might have just f'd you over pretty good. And I'm not sure there is anything you can do about it.

Overheating can cause leaks and breaks far far down the road, and the consequences are random enough that you can't say "well, that's cuz it overheated last year". But at the same time, it might not do anything at all depending on how long/hot it was.

as far as the option you mentioned, neither is a good idea.
1) its hard enough diagnosing problems. diagnosing problems without knowing the correct symptoms, they might end up causing more problems, or costing you a lot of $$.
2)Same as one. Plus, they would pick that up in an instant (new coolant), I would.


I would have to agree with this, but I think you now have no choice but to take it back to whoever did the work and tell them what has happened. This would at least get you on record with them as having a problem, possibly related to the work they did.

Rereading your first post, it is possible that they could have spilled some coolant on the belts while they were working on it and that the belt driving the water pump was slipping. I'm guessing the noise you heard could have been a slight screech as the belt was slipping on the pulleys. As the belt dried out from the friction of rotating over the pulleys, the problem went away. I know I'm grasping a bit here, but it is the only thing I can think of that would explain both the momentary overheating and the noise you heard.

Anyway, I would take it back to whoever did the work and talk to them about what has occurred and see what they say.

Mike