Camry overheating. Replaced thermostat and it ran fine for a month; no overheating, no issues at all. Started to overheat again. Replaced water pump, still overheating.
Issues:
- Engine temp gauge high
- No heat in the cabin
- Secondary reservoir boils over
- Following day, reservoir is empty
- No visible fluid on ground
- No white exhaust smoke
- No visual or smell of oil contamination
- Engine fans not running with engine idling
- No OBD codes
Based on self research, things I've considered... Blown head gasket, warped head, new thermostat failed, electric cooling fans bad or not receiving power, or a combination of any.
Suggestions? Thank you in advance.
Toyota Camry SE
2010
Automatic
2.5L 4 cylinder
172k miles
Before you start worrying about a blown head gasket or a warped head, you need to figure out if your cooling fans are working. If they don't kick on when they're supposed to, you'll overheat.
Start the car and let it idle. Turn on the AC to make it work harder. Your fans should kick on before you overheat. If they don't, you've found the problem
Thank you, will check with A/C running.
If your cooling fans are not turning on AT ALL, then that will definitely overheat your engine while sitting in traffic or in park. Does the overheating happen on the highway or in normal city driving? City driving will not provide sufficient airflow for the radiator to cooldown the coolant, which is why the fan is there. The fan provides airflow for the radiator during low speed driving or during a stop. Turn on your AC and see if the cooling fans turn on...they should otherwise something is wrong with the relay/module.
Now if the engine is overheating while driving on a highway, then there is something wrong with the thermostat again OR the water pump is failing again. But it seems as though you were having overheating problems before, and changing the thermostat and water pump helped for a while until it started again. So either your thermostat is failing again (cheap quality) or the water pump is failing again (cheap quality).
Did you bleed the cooling system properly after installing the thermostat and water pump? Trapped air can cause the engine to overheat and even cause the heater core (cabin heat) to not work as well.
The last issue may be the head gasket as you said. You said the engine overheated before...when an engine overheats it can compromise the head gasket big time.
I suggest you FIRST do a leak-down test first to see if it's the head gasket. A leak-down test is perfect to see if there is good compression in all the cylinders, but if there is a "leak down" somewhere, you will be able to see or hear what the issue is. If you start seeing air bubbles in the coolant reservoir when you perform the test, then that's a clear sign the head gasket is blown.
Hope you solve your problem.
Thank you for the suggestions.
Regarding burping the system. The method I used was to remove the rad cap, start engine, fill reservoir and rad if needed. When doing this, I noticed neither dropped fluid level, so thought the system was okay. As I look back at this, sounds like the system may be clogged, or could it be the thermostat is stuck closed?
Follow all the steps in Scotty’s video & report back - https://youtu.be/evpaTW2WJ5Y
1. Combustion test: would coolant test strips work the same?
I agree with Razmig, probably air trapped in the system. A proper "burp" might solve the problem.
