There May Be Trouble Ahead

[TOYMOTA]

On my way home from work this evening I was in a traffic jam and I looked at my temp gauge. It was on the red.

I thought, why the hell has that happend. I have the radiator fan on all the time cos the switch doesn't work properly, so it's not because that didn't kick in.

I pulled over, opened the bonnet and nothing seemed wrong (no steam or anything). Got back in and the temp needle was at the half way mark.

So I carried on driving home. I got about a hundred yards further down the road and the needle zoomed up to the red again (like the rev counter almost), stayed there for 30 secs or so, and then went flying back down again. It kept doing this the whole way home.

WHY???????

There's no water in the oil, so the head gasket aint gone. There was water in the radiator when I took the cap off too.

The car however, did seem to have a hesitant spot at 4500rpm on the way to work this morning, when I was accelarating from 2000rpm. It almost seemed like a mini misfire, but you wouldn't notice it unless you drove the car every day.

I'm puzzled as to what it is. Any ideas peeps????

Thanks

[TOYMOTA]

Anyone???

[Fidgits]

does your car have a twin fan system?

if so, i would say the main fan has stopped working.. but the second one (which cuts in to prevent overheating) is still working..

[TOYMOTA]

does your car have a twin fan system?

if so, i would say the main fan has stopped working.. but the second one (which cuts in to prevent overheating) is still working..

There's only the one fan on it. I've removed the sensor from the conection on the coolant pipe so it stays on all the time.

That wouldn't explain why the dash dial was going up and down like a yoyo though would it??

[martenj76]

I think there would be a electrical problem with the meter. The temperature of the water shouldn't be able to rise and lower that fast or am i wrong? That could explain why you don't see any steam or any indication of that the engine is hot beacuse it isn't, it's mabye just the meter that fools you.

[Unity Jon]

probably just a dodgy earth to the guages or the connector is full of crud creating a short every now and then.

[TOYMOTA]

Update:

Went out to the car this morning, and it won't start. It's turning over but won't fire up. There's petrol in it, so I ain't got a clue what it could be now.

Has the head gasket gone??? But as I said in my first post, there doesn't appear to be any water on the cap or the dipstick.

[Saltrampen]

May not help in your case, but some suggestions..

Possible suggestion:

Seized water Pump?, Sometimes they work erratically sending pulses of hotter water to the temp sensor, remember that it is only 5-10 degrees or so from the middle of the gauge to the red. Even when this is the case, at high speed it takes

10's of seconds to go up to the red on a car I had with this problem.

If you can get to it, take any belts off and try turning pump it by hand.

Otherwise its check for oil level / quality, spark and fuel, compression and timing.

I have had a head gasket go on a non Toyota, it still fired up, but lacked power

and lost coolant etc...However carry on too long like this and the oil turns to sludge

..then it will not start!

S.

[TOYMOTA]

Cheers for that Saltrampen.

Update:

I've managed to get it started. I took the plugs out, and they all looked OK. Put them back in, the I deliberatly flooded the engine. 2 or 3 mins later it started with a splutter. The temp gauge hasn't moved out of the norm today while driving it, and it doesn't feel like there's any power loss.

Wierd!!!!

[Twincam.GTi]

I have been reading about your problems and of possible rectification ideas from different members.

I have a couple of suggestions (and I emphasize suggestions only!).

The first one (and it happened to mine in 1996) is that the core plugs between the spark plug holes (you can just see that there is two of them when you peek down the plastic panel between the cam covers spark plug lead holes) can weep a tiny bit of coolant every so often. This leak usually drys up from the engine heat but sometimes a bit of coolant can reach the spark plug and cause tracking. The core plugs are screw in (it's a large allen type head) and its a case of just resealing with an approved gasket type sealant. As I said earlier it will probably be dry from engine heat so look for tell tale signs of coolant staining.

The second idea (but have never had it happen myself!) is the distributor, which protrudes forward from the front of the engine is driven internally by one of the cams. At is base there is a sealwasher which can sometimes weep down the front of the engine; slight oil leaks is not a problem on an old engine. However if the rubber seal has really gone it can end up spiraling oil up inside the distributor. British Leyland cars could sometimes suffer this problem in the 1960's and '70's. If you have your misfiring or starting problem again it might be worth taking the distributor cap off and having a look to see if oil is on the inside of the cap. Replacing the distributor seal will mean taking the distributor off, then setting up timing etc. afterwards and so on, so think very carefully before this conclusion is jumped to.

As I said... It's only a couple of ideas!

Hope everything gets sorted out