car troubles

[bobsaccord]

ok my cars messed up, every 10 minutes the temp needle goes almost fully up, 2nd to last line... why is it heating up so much like this? every 10 minutes or so it will sky rocket, i put my heat on high so it would cool down a bit but it doesnt work very well, when im goin 50+ it cools down a litttttle bit i guess cuz the wind but why does it do this, i put new anti freeze in, im thinking its the radiator, how do you flush this? mabe even the theremostat?

[natedawgydawg]

make sure there is no coolant leak, water pump leak

yeah its probably the rad though, a buddy of mine has an 85 camry in which he dunkd the rad in CLR, and it seemed to work really good, big chunks of grime and whatever came out

new rads are expensive, deifnitely flush it, CLR it or whatever, directions are usually on the bottle (ex: prestone super flush)

[bullard123]

I think you need a new thremostat!!!!!!! My car did the same thing for a while. When I was sitting at a red light (engine idling) my car would heat up fast. It used to get so hot to where antifreeze would overflow out of the radiator. But as soon as I start driving it would cool down until it idles again. I'm almost 100% that's your problem.

[zero.counter]

Check if;
1. Your fans are engaging. The temp switch is notorious for going.

2. While the car is warmed up, feel the rad hoses and if one is still cool to the touch, you may have either a bad pump, thermostat, or some clogging.

3. Check for excess debris between the condenser and radiator

4. Is there excess overflow in the overflow tank and if so, is it boiling with bubbles?

5. Any obvious leaks?

[88accordhb]

my dad's 85 camry had the same problem, think it's eather the radiator/ radiator fan or the thermostat. didn't bother to fix it, just junked it.

[k-roy]

Feel free to peruse through the HOWTO secton of the board. I have a thread in there for the thermostat and water pump replacement, it also covers flushing and bleeding the air out of the system.