Toyota Avalon over heating
Asked by Ellz131 Feb 16, 2017 at 06:59 PM about the 2000 Toyota Avalon XL
Question type: Maintenance & Repair
I have a Toyota Avalon 2000, with 200,000 miles. I
have never had an issue with over heating, car is
maintained up to date. A few days ago I drove to
work just fine, but when I was driving home my
brakes felt like they were almost catching. A few
days previous to this my ABS, VSC, and VSC off
light continued to come on and stay on until the
car was turned off and restarted. Anyways, my
brakes felt weird but it was driving okay, drove
about 30 min. I let the car sit awhile then started
driving again, it was at driving temp and staying
like normal, I checked the temp and it was fine,
about a minute later I smelled coolant and the car
was almost at the red it was so hot ( extremely
quick.) The radiator was old and blew because of
the heat (plastic radiator) I assumed my radiator
was cracked, so I replaced it thinking that's why it
was over heating. When the car idles it does not
over heat, you can idle it for as long as 30 min and
the temp won't change, AS SOON as you start
driving within a block it's almost red hot. The water
pump seems to be working, from what I can tell, so
I replaced the thermostat thinking it was bad and
not letting the coolant flow. The car still over heats.
I noticed my radiator fans werent turning on
correctly, when I turn AC on they barely try to turn
or one will turn but the other doesnt. I replaced the
radiator fan sensor thinking that was the issue but
of course it was not. So now I have replaced
almost the whole cooling system, but I'm still
having problems. Any ideas on anything else it
could be besides a water pump? Or any
confirmation that it is the water pump? I didn't have
any overheating issues before, and I didn't notice
any leaks (like the water pump) the only reason I
think water pump is the heater core hoses aren't
getting hot but the radiator/engine is. But then
again, my car only overy heats when driving.
Please help me I am desperate to figure it out I
thought it was going to be an easy fix.
16 Answers
You need to purge the air out of the cooling system. And the water pump impeller could be bad. Try purging the air out first. Check this out on how too.....https://youtu.be/gcCkGiaWN-I
I just hope you have not damaged the head gasket.
It's a V6 engine, I was told I have to use a vacuum pump to purge the air out? Nothing is leaking so I hope the gasket is okay too. :/
There are some vehicles that are hard to bleed air from, and there are some sort of machine some garages have to do this. One thing nobody mentions when doing this is to have the front end up on an incline or raised up since the air bubbles float, the air finds it way out easier.
I'll try to bleed it out, I'll tell you what happens. Any ideas on the radiator fans?
Never the less your heater hoses are cool which tells me there is air in the cooling system.
Wow, you make sense. This is like the only thing that has actually made sense, and has all the problems linked.
The fans, it may be because of the air in the cooling system is messing with the engine temperature sensor, or possible relay.
I replaced the sensor, that wasn't it unless the air in the system is screwing it up. Checked the fuses, they seem okay.
If there is not a continuous flow of coolant across the temp. sensor, it reads incorrectly. Thus the air in the cooling system. When bleeding out the cooling system make sure the heater is set on hot also.
Question. My Toyata Avalon XLS 2000 with about 150000 Miles Get over Heat after Driving Few Miles,Coolant Evaporates,My repair shop says needs new Radiator
There must be a small leak in the radiator due to it being ripe, or plugged up. It must be obvious to the repair shop to see that the radiator should be replaced. If the engine had ben overheating, there would be concerns of a bad head gasket also. You would notice white smoke from the exhaust with a sweet smell to it, or coolant getting into the engine oil if it where a head gasket. One could do a compression test on the engine to determine if there where a problem with the head gasket.
mechanicnewbe answered 6 years ago
I am having the SAME issue with MY 06 Toyota Avalon!!! The car came with a NEW radiator and a new water pump. It drove great for around 3 months and then bam... the heat stopped blowing hot and it over heated. Put a new thermostat: NOPE. took it to oreillys to have pulled up he said my coolant smelled contaminated, so I went and had it flushed. when i got it back the VSC and CEL were on and i asked the mechanic who flushed it why and he pulled it up to his machine and a cylinder 2 misfire code popped up. but he said that it wasnt a pending code (what does that mean even) and reset it so the lights were gone. the flush didnt work either (for about 20 minutes it drove with no overheating but it over heated after i cant my heat off and on again), Idling it stays cool the moment I put it in gear and drive it, the car over heats. So i take it back to the machanic and say just tell me what is wrong with it. he calls me back 2 hours later and tells me my radiator fans are bad. I replace the ENTIRE ASSEMBLY. Drive it for around 8 miles bam runs hot....... Another machanic friend of mine says he will flush the heating coil just to make sure.....but is now telling me that I have a head gasket thats bad and possibly a warpped block......Everything ive read doesnt indicate that that is whats happening. Here is the real kicker....Other than the car running hot IT DRIVES GREAT. I dont know alot about cars but if he had a cracked head gasket my car would drive like shit and i would feel it misfiring. But it literally drives AWESOME other than I cant get far in it without having to stop HELP my money tree is getting slim and I just want my car back. Please
garage in Tracy (Advance Auto) did diagnosis $85.00 said it was thermostat... replaced it in Jan. still over heating . I asked them to let me buy a new Toyota Avalon 2003 thermostat and for them to replace it again..They would not.. insisted the thermostat was Toyota brand..(they can be put in wrong) took car to dealer.. told them thermostat was replaced.. so they said a fan was not working..replaced it... still overheating.. took back to first garage ... they say they can not get it to overheat. Car still overheating..sitting in a parking lot with engine running balancing check book, about 10 min... car started fluttering... and died...would not restart.. called tow truck to take car back to original repair garage, they did another diagnosis, by now, the head gasket blew and head warped.. They charged me near $2000.00 to fix what they did not know enough to fix the first time.took them a month to fix.car does NOT run the same but does not over heat FINALLY took from Jan to July 2017 Had a 5 day hospital stay that March...probably due to the stress of it all... going to small claims ... in July 2018
Please l need your help. I just bought the car avalvon 2001.change engine but when the car is cool in the morning it can run well but when in the afternoon when the sun is on the speed reduced .even when you are climbing mountain it cannot climb at all.
I had the same issue with a 01 maxima it turned out to be a stopped up catalyst converter.
