Changed radiator water pump and thermostat still overheating

You haven't changed the radiator cap? Would;ve been the first thing i;ve done since it's the easiest and cheapest. As you've said, make sure you've fully bled the system. Air pockets can do damage.

Set the cabin air temp lever to full red (fully opening the heater core), fill slowly, start the car and let it idle with the cap off. You'll see bubbles coming out and keep doing so until it stops while watching the temp gauge - huge spike indicates big air pocket somewhere.

After it settles, drive it and let it sit for a bit. Top up.

For this I would recommend obtaining a [ame]http://www.amazon.com/Lisle-22150-Spill-Free-Funnel/dp/B0002SR6WK[/ame] as it makes filling with coolant super easy with no mess and it is cheap and reusable for many makes and models. When you are filling yes bubbles coming up are normal. however at some point the bubbles should stop. General rule of thumb is to attach the funnel with the car off. Fill it till the bubbles stop coming up then fill the funnel half way. Start the car and let it idle until the rad fans come on. Meanwhile keeping the funnel full.

Now if non stop bubbles keep coming up then you might have a problem. Start with a good fill though to eliminate problems. If the pump and thermostat are new, that really only leaves rad cap, plugged rad, or a few other small things.

Are your fans coming on while it over heats?

Replacing the old radiator new one here.....

Thanks guys as I said new water pump, timing belt replaced few months ago. New thermostat, and now the new radiator came in today. Got one on Ebay for $50 shipped and really can't tell the difference between it and the factory one. Going to do the funnel thing have one of the flexible funnels and some of the real good mesa mining tape to secure it with. Will do as you said on the filling it up then starting the car and letting the fans come on. And yes fans are working will let you guys know from here what is going on and appreciate immensely the help...........BiLL:clap:

still over heating.....help please

Well replaced the all of the above plus radiator ....STILL OVER HEATING....have it down to this see what some of the real toyota heads think. Narrowed to maybe NEW thermostat not good, engine possibly stopped up or the worst the head gasket is gone or going is there any good thing to put in it to stop the head gasket from leaking without going into that big job???? Any help appreciated.......BiLL

Did you ever replace the radiator cap as mentioned above? You have replaced just about every other component in the cooling system; you might as well replace the cheapest part before looking at the head gasket.

If that doesn't solve the issue then there is a cheap test for a blown head gasket. There is a bottle of liquid that you poor in to the cooling system. It will change color if there are any combustion gases present in the coolant; indicating a bad head gasket. The stuff runs about $25. Most auto parts stores should carry it.

MIke

Remove the thermostat and run without it and see if it works.

Fans kicking in? New rad hoses when you replaced radiator? (Hose could theoretically collapse internally)

Pretty sure its the head gasket....

Well after reading here a bit I am pretty sure it is the head gasket from the white smoke and sweet smell. Also drained the recent antifreeze in it and when poured in a jar it has a black oil base. Pretty sure its the head just hope its not warped anyway does anybody have any quick links to removal and installation of the head gasket......ready to tear into it......and yes the fans do cut on and after replacing all of the above I just hope the head isn't warped....thanks any help appreciated......BiLL

I have a 1987 Toyota pickup, I have replaced the Thermostat, radiator cap, water pump, and fixed a pin hole leak in the radiator. now it overheats at highway speeds but much better in traffic.
I have heard that there may be air trapped in cooling system since I removed the radiator to fix it.
Does my old truck have a purge valve to try and bleed the air out?
if not what is best method to remove trapped air?

Wow...thread brought back from the dead! :lol:

On my 3rd gen pickup there is no purge valve, not sure about the 2nd gen pickups.

On my pickup I raise the vehicle front-end on a jack/jack stands, turn the heater on (so the coolant will flow through the heater core - where air tends to be trapped), fill the reservoir to the full mark, put a large funnel in the radiator top (wrap electrical tape around the end so it becomes a very snug fit into the radiator) and fill with coolant, turn the engine on and heater fan blowing, as it warms up you should start seeing the coolant rise into the funnel and air bubbles bubbling out. You can also grab the throttle linkage and rev the engine a bit and slowly squeeze the top radiator hose to help facilitate pushing the air out. When no more air bubbles are coming out turn the engine off, wait for the coolant to back down from the funnel, cap the radiator, and then walk away for about 30 minutes. During this time the system will suck any needed fluid from the reservoir tank, so keep the reservoir full. You should be good to go from there.....

If it only overheats at highway speed, maybe the fan clutch?

Well the only thing left is,
1) the coolant temp sensor or gauge
2). Was the thermostat put in correctly. That is the orientation of the hole at a certain "clock" position so the air bubbles bleed past the thermostat? My camry requires that the hole in the thermo be around the 1 oclock position.
Is the thermostat the correct temperature rating? 170, 180, 195......degrees.
3). remote possibility is that the hose clamps are a little loose such that they suck air into the system when a vacuum is created inside the cooling system.
4). rad fluid at the 50/50 mix.
5). Did you or the previous owner dump alot of stop leak in the cooling system.
6). Was the correct rad fluid type put in? I.E. did one put in a biodegradable rad fluid, or dexcool and try to mix it with the green rad fluid? If so the two aren't compatible and will create a thick mud in the cooling system.

2). Was the thermostat put in correctly. That is the orientation of the hole at a certain "clock" position so the air bubbles bleed past the thermostat? My camry requires that the hole in the thermo be around the 1 oclock position.

Good thought on that, but with a 87' pickup he must have a 22R or RE so they are on top so orientation of the jiggle valve doesn't matter. For future problems and FYI, some guys drill a 1/16" hold next to it because there is a common problem with the 22R and 22RE engine, "...when the coolant goes through the heater core it can get cooled off enough that when it gets dumped back in on top of the t-stat it shuts..." it closed so you get a spike in temp. Another solution is to use a dual stage thermostat (I use it, but more expensive).

Good article for you to keep bookmarked, he is very well respected by the 4x4 community. http://www.4crawler.com/4x4/CheapTricks/index.shtml#Thermostat

I guess when you say overheat do you mean the temp goes to half hot,3/4 hot or 90%-redline?
Some people think normal temp is 1/4-under 1/2 hot and think everything at or slightly above 1/2 hot is to hot. However, if the A/C is turned on in the summer, the engine could go to 3/4 hot and when it does this the compressor shuts off as an engine safety mechanism to prevent engine overheating.

A few years back when i was going thru Arizona and New Mexico in the July to August timeframe and the temp were at 90-110F my A/C would shut off due to my engine gauge showing around 3/4 hot. when I got back east in the summer the temp was around 1/4 hot and worked ok. I replaced the temp sensor switch in the rad, but this didn't fix the problem. I then replaced the radiator and next summer when I went out west I didn't have a problem. The reason is because the temp sensor switch in the 1992 corrolla is at the bottom of the radiator which turns on the fans. Since it was probably plugged in the lower half of the rad where the temp sensor switch was, and it was not getting hot enough in the lower rad in desert temps to turn on the fans resulting in the upper temp sensor located where the rad fluid comes out of the engine block showing 3/4 hot which turned off the A/C compressor. In the east, the engine temp sensor didn't get hot enough to shut the A/C off in spite of the rad temp sensor switch not getting activated properly due to the partial plugged up rad.

Thanks everyone for your input,

The truck has always leaked water/coolant since I have owned it. I have solved the two leaking problems as of last few months. One was two bolts missing out of some kind of cap at the top of the engine block close to the firewall, and the other was a seam leak in the radiator right at the fan shroud , which made it so difficult to find. It was spraying water right into the fan which just evaporated.
I took the radiator off and had that repaired. now that the leaks are fixed ( the truck is running hotter than it used to. the temp gauge does not actually go into the red area but very close on the highway, it runs a little cooler in traffic but still far hotter than it used to before I fixed the radiator,.

I can hear boiling water and steam in the overflow tank after I turn engine off after driving

The Thermostat is functioning and installed properly. (confirmed) )
water pump working correctly
No more external leaking after being parked
I am now most suspect of water being trapped in system, seems most logical at this point, especially after removing the radiator. Just not sure how to get are out without a purge valve. I will try the suggestion by Grego 92

I am not as suspect of the fan clutch right now, the truck is running the hottest at highway speeds when more air is getting to the radiator and cooler in traffic.
my current problem just started after removing the radiator and fixing the radiator leaks.

thanks for your help.

In the meantime, I will keep a few gallons of water in the bed to get me where I'm going.

The other suspect is head gasket. That will cause boiling of coolant at higher engine speeds when on the highway

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^ So will a partially clogged radiator. Was the radiator flow tested while it was out of the car?

Mike

Hey just replaced the water pump, thermostat and she is still over heating when you poor antifreeze in, it sits there and then starts bubbling over. Possibly air pockets. The way it shoots out my mechanic thinks its warped head....what about it guys 4 cyl. 2.0 89 4 dr camry. I am kinda leaning toward the radiator cap or airpockets. The radiator cap is letting the water out into the overflow so maybe defective cap?????

put the car on an incline, get the radiator above the heater coil,, rmove radiator cap and let idle ,, this will clear air in the system