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89 Camry - Temperature gauge spikes for a minute and then goes back down



 
 
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  #1  
Old January 31st 05, 10:45 PM
mino
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Default 89 Camry - Temperature gauge spikes for a minute and then goes back down

So about a year ago the temperature gauge on my dash started spiking up
and then would go down real quick. Sometimes it stays up for a while
and sometimes it's just up for a quick second. Sometimes it just jumps
a little and sometimes it goes all the way into the red. It happens in
cold and hot weather, with the AC on or off and with the Heat on or
off. It happens at high speeds and in traffic. On a hot summer day it
happened two seconds after I turned on the car.

I recently had my heater core replaced since it was leaking. This
temperature gauge problem was happening a year before the heater core
broke. During that visit the mechanic also replaced the Thermostat and
flushed & refilled the coolant. I was hoping that one of these things
would solve the problem but it did not.

So this is two shops that have looked at the car and haven't had any
idea. It's also hard for them to test since it happens randomly.

I've tried a ton of things to get it to go back down such as turning
off the heat or turning it way up. Nothing I do seems to help. Knowing
little about cars I've been thinking that perhaps its the fan in the
engine that it's always turning on all the time, and then just kicks
in. And yes there is oil and coolant in the car.

Well I'm posting again about my 89 Camry since I received such good
information last time. Thanks in advance.

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  #2  
Old February 1st 05, 02:20 AM
Steve B.
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On 31 Jan 2005 13:45:01 -0800, "mino" > wrote:

> It happens at high speeds and in traffic. On a hot summer day it
>happened two seconds after I turned on the car.


Thats a big clue. If the temp gauge pegged out seconds after starting
the car the engine wasn't actaully hot. I would suspect you have a
flakey temp sender or a wiring issue.

Steve B.
  #3  
Old February 1st 05, 04:41 PM
mino
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That's what I thought. No way the engine could be that hot after a
minute. So would that eliminate the fan idea?

Also what is a temp sender? Is that the official name I should use with
a mechanic?

  #4  
Old February 2nd 05, 05:00 AM
Steve B.
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On 1 Feb 2005 07:41:25 -0800, "mino" > wrote:

>That's what I thought. No way the engine could be that hot after a
>minute. So would that eliminate the fan idea?
>
>Also what is a temp sender? Is that the official name I should use with
>a mechanic?


Coolant temperature sensor is the exact name. Many cars have two.
One for the dash gauge and one for the fans. I am not familiar with
your particular vehicle so I can't tell you how many or where they
are.

Yes this would pretty much eliminate the fan idea. No matter what was
wrong with the engine it would take a few minutes to get hot enough to
overheat. A temp sender is basically a variable resistor that changes
resistance on a scale with the coolant temp.

You could also have a problem with the wiring running from the sensor
to the gauge but the sensors are generally pretty cheap and a good
place to start.

Steve B.
 




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