Hey everyone! My Automatic 2009 Toyota Corolla LE with 133455 miles on it is overheating. I replaced my thermostat about a couple months ago. Sadly, I didn’t know that all thermostats weren’t made the same at the time and I bought a cheap 12 dollar autozone one. And for a solid two months I had no issues. But now it’s back, maybe about 10 to 15 minutes of driving it will start going towards the H and unless I turn on the heat it start to go back down to optimal temp and up to the H and down. I recently opened the hood after driving and found out my bottom radiator hose is cold even though my top radiator hose is hot. I’m inching towards it being a stuck closed thermostat but I’d like y’all’s opinion. Thank you.
That could be the problem. Replace that thermostat with an OEM one, and while you're at it, drain the whole system and flush the individual parts out to make sure nothing is clogging it up, then put new coolant in. Water should freely flow through the radiator from top to bottom if you spray it in the top hose. If it doesn't, it may have a clog.
