1988 Toyota Camry Temperature gage needle goes past the red quickly. What's Wrong?

[vrg_athlete26]

my temperature needle goes pas the red very fast. Just after I turn my car on? I have check the antifreeze, checked the water pump and replaced the thermostat but it continues to up fast. What else could be wrong?

 

[Frankie]

How about your radiator fan(s)? Is it cycling ok. If so, and you had all the other work you mentioned done, It's probably an air pocket in your cooling system. There should be a bleeder screw on the thermostat housing. DO THE FOLLOWING WITH ENGINE COOL AND NOT RUNNING. To bleed air off, loosen and remove the bleeder screw and pour water into you radiator until water runs out of the bleeder hole, then replace the screw. Hope this helps. Good luck.

 

[Terry]

hmm, it could be a radiator problem, i had this similar issue with my car awhile back, and it seemed my radiator was cracked, but the big problem didnt come till a few days later. so get that checked out. =) cheers

 

[bubba]

you may have air in the system, on some of those cars there is a bleed screw on the top around the thermostat housing, to let all the air out of the system,i would make sure it was not that before i change the transmission ( Is this a standard or automatic?). When you drive down the road does it cool down, and them get hot when you stop. make sure the cooling fans are working as well. you may just have a bad Coolant temp switch. my wife's would run hot sitting still but when you went down the road it was cool, and it was only about 1/2 gallon low of coolant. i bleed the air out of the system and filled it no worries now.

 

[Andrew1]

I had the same problem. There's probably something wrong with your transmission. I'd bring it in to get checked. You may need to replace the transmission, but seeing as its an 88 Camry(mine was the same), I'd reccommend getting a different car.

 

[troy]

How exactly did you "check" the water pump? About the only thing to do is check for excessive play at the pulley. Just because it isn't loose, does not mean the water pump isn't bad. The pump would be my first guess as to what the problem is. Check to make sure there is no water in the oil or oil in the water to rule out a head gasket leaking.

 

[JohnnyA]

Well if you have antifreeze, then you don't have a hole in your radiator. The thermostat was changed, so it should Gage the temperature correctly. The only other thing that could be wrong is the water pump. That's from my own experience. Check to see if the engine is extremely hot. After just a few minutes of warming up. You can also try having your radiator flushed. If that doesn't work then it's probably your water pump.

 

[spot]

Do not drive. You risk blowing the head gasket or worse cracking the head.
Replace thermostat its stuck in the closed position.

Afterward Change oil & filter.
If red line continues check to see if fan is turning on.

Check radiator should get warm.
If not get coolant sensor & fan relay checked.

Check top radiator hose - should get hot after a few minutes hot top hose while bottom hose lightly warm.
If not water pump needs replacing.

 

[DonR]

The electric fan isn't working. Switch the #1 fan relay and #2 fan relays in the fuse box under the hood. If the fan comes on when the engine warms up, the #1 fan relay was bad and putting the #2 relay there proves the fan works. Try the airconditioner. If the fan doesn't turn on that shows you the #1 relay ( in the #2 position for this test) was no good. Get a new relay and replace the bad one. Do not drive this car with the engine overheated, the engine will be seriously damaged. If I'm wrong about this, youmay need a water pump. That pump isin a very bad place. You need to takeoff the cam belt to get to it. Take it to a shop for this. It will cost about $200, plus the cost of the water pump- and you might as well get a new cam belt put on after all the trouble it takes to get the old one off.

 

[bandit_60]

if it,s not overheating then it,s probably a bad temperature sending unit.

 

[ceyops]

it could just be that your gague is bad. or that you need to bleed the cooling system after changing the thermostat, if there is an air pocket in your engine it could cause your gage to malfunction

 

[SophieB]

If it's not blowing coolant into the catchtank, and the radiator isn't red hot....most likely the temperature sensor (that controls the gauge) is bad....

 

[bonehead]

your radiator core is probably toast. time for a new radiator. also, avoid overheating your engine since this damages the gasgets and seals and shortens the life of your motor dramatically.