Over heating issue

mine typically goes from 187 while driving to 193-194 when idling when its hot out. i attribute this to lack of airflow on the radiator. it's normal as long as it doesn't go over 200 or so.

edit: sounds like it's going up above 200 if you are seeing your temp gauge actually move. i would change out the coolant. also an obd reader would be helpful to see the actual engine temp.

 

Myra l

As far as I know, the entire engine bay is stock. There was only one previous owner but they only had it for a year and nothing seems to be different than it should be. What I meant was I can see and hear the fan going when the temperature is rising. I’ve lifted the hood before to check and nothing seemed out of the ordinary

 

I have not and you my knowledge neither has service anytime I’ve taken it in

 

Yes I’ve been seeing multiple people mention that as well. I’ve been looking into getting an ultra gauge so I can see what it’s getting up to exactly. My buddy has one on his first gen and it works great. However regardless of the numbers it shouldn’t be going to redline.

 

Honestly it just gets loud. I can just hear it working. I don’t know how else to put that haha.

 

Is it really overheating or just goes up when in idle?

 

Work on cars for a living. It sounds like you either have a air bubble in the cooling system or are low on coolant. if not than the belt driven fan clutch could be bad. Havent seen to many toyotas with that mileage have cooling system problems. (I.E. waterpump, thermostat) try turning the heat on and see if you have plenty of hot air. A air bubble will cause low temp output from vents. You are probably out of warrenty due to mileage, but its not good to overheat or run those motors hot. Let us know the outcome.

 

Also there is no electric fan in front of condensor for the a/c. If the coolant gets hot, the freon cant get cooled so the a/c temp out the vents will start to get warmer. To hot and a/c will shut off.

 

Yeah, if it’s really loud woooshing sound, you’re probably right, they’re definitely noticeable.
As mentioned, I’d check coolant level and for air. Checking heat is a good idea, low or air, the heat will usually cool off momentarily.

 

No it actually starts to over heat beyond normal limits

 

Well my heat works fine so I assume we can rule out an air bubble? No my warranty is still good. That’s why I’ve just been taking it in rather than trying to fix it myself. If I were low on coolant, wouldn’t the overheating issue be less random? I can always double check it, I’m pretty sure it’s still good though.

 

Agree, but at 40K miles, the radiator cap should have never even been off at this point and a bubble should have worked it's way to the top by now. And since it would have been their since day one, why is this problem relatively new?

One thing I saw (on a Sienna) when I was at the dealer....as I was putting the 2nd radiator in it, I noticed the overflow bottle full right to the line of perfect red coolant....which seemed odd, since our dealer put green coolant in everything and we'd already changed one radiator. I dove deeper and found the inlet to the overflow bottle molded shut, which overpressurized the radiator during heatsoak after shutdown...and it could only take that so many times before the radiator blew up. OP might have a similar situation but a resulting in a leak that doesn't start until he's away from the vehicle and evaporates before he gets back to it.

 

The "randomness" make me think water pump impeller spinning on the shaft intermittently under slightly different conditions

 

Have you off loaded recently in some mud? If so did you remember to rinse the radiator fins. They get clogged up when playing in the goo.

 

Two trips to the dealer and the best they could do is plug it in to check the thermostat? Is that even possible, does the thermostat have a sensor attached to it? I doubt it.

Since you're still under power train warranty, and only because you're still under power train warranty bring it back and ask them to look into it a little deeper.

Or, and this is my fav advice here. Find a local honest reputable shop and ask them to check it out. If you are *gasp* using a dealer for your routine service, stop! Go to said local honest reputable shop for your service and build a relationship with them. They'll be happy to have a new customer and you'll be happy knowing your vehicle(s) is/are in good hands. And best of all you wont be paying dealership prices.

Good luck!

 

I would just do a radiator flush. At least mark that off the list of potential issues with air inside tubes. I would think that’s the easiest and also be common maintenance anyways.

 

I mean yea that’s fair too

 

Idk what exactly they checked. That’s just what I was told. I’m sure they’re barely trying. Like I said though I only go to them because warranty makes it free and god forbid somethin does happen at least they have track record of it to cma

 

Not in a while actually but when I used to I always made sure to clean all the fins thouroughly without collapsing them

 

Someone else thought that as well. Not sure how to go about askin the dealership to check all these things though