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#1
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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
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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
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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
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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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