Overheating issue

[doobs]

water out the exhaust is a sure sign of a blown head gasket

Cheers
Jordan

sure is... you should have a teekay test done, along with a compression test

[GZ20_finn]

Damn, thats not a good thing right.. how much does the gasket cost?

[VasH]

Welcome to the forums mate. first question what motor is in your car im assuming its a 1ggte?

Ive had a bhg before and its not cheap unless you can sort it out yourself, for a full top end gasket kit was $470 i could chase up where it came from if you like. i think the mech had to get an after market one from NZ.

but i was unlucky and my head needed to welded/tested and the labor to get the head gasket installed was a bit steep. cost me around 2 grand to get it sorted.

id stop driving the car if i was you until you know exactly whats causing it. you dont want to overheat too many times you might end up with other issues. Get your radiator checked out by natrad as well. Mine was 80% blocked after the bhg issue.

[VasH]

Another thing you can try is have the radiator cap off and start the car see if you can see foaming/bubbles coming up

[CLG]

wather out the exhaust is a sure sign of a blown head gasket

Cheers
Jordan

Water out the exhaust in a cold car is called condensation dude.

You need to keep eliminating possible problems, and yes continue with the easiest thigns first - coolant, thermostat, radiator, ... From my experience the fact that the temp rises and falls, you have a blocked radiator. before you remove the radiator, think about running some form of cooling system cleaner too, to help move any scale within the block and head. I use "Mukitout" by Tectaloy, and always following the recommendations for a "dirty" system. Flush the cooling system with fresh water, then take the radiator out and have it serviced or replaced if the core is past it's use by date. The cause of the blockage could be many things - oil, scale, rust, sealant, ..., rodding the radiator is the only way to effectively clean it out quickly, and once it's done, you can eliminate it as a problem also.

When refilling the newly flushed radiator and cleaned cooling system, I only use deionised/demineralised water and Toyota Red coolant in a 50/50 mix. Ten Litres of good water is around $13, and well worth it in my opinion, especially when considering some of the alloy fittings in your engine.

My other recommendation to you would be to install a radiator filter. you may have some issues finding one over east - I looked for one over there 12 months ago and got alot of bemused looks - obviously they're only a WA thing?! Also in the pic, a infrared Thermometer as mentioned previously - great for locating hotspots!: