AE82 4AGE thermostat problem

[GTi Gaz]

Hi All.

I recently purchased the car and I am starting to go through and do all maintenance work that appears to have been neglected for a while and one of the things I did last weekend was replace the coolant and thermostat as the car refused to come up to running temperature on the drive to work.

It still does not come up to temperature! Curiously though if I do 90km/h instead of 100km/h on the freeway it is fine...

Its getting cold in the mornings and I would like the heater to work!!!

Any help would be much appreciated.

Cheers

Gaz.

[jondee86]

If the engine is slooow to come up to temperature, fails to reach temperature, or drops in temperature while driving, the thermostst is not doing its job. It would seem that yours is stuck partially open. It is not unknown for thermostats to be bad straight out of the box, but before buying a new one, test the one you have. Simple enough... just get a pot of water near boiling (90-100 deg) on the stove, tie a thin piece of wire to the thermostat and suspend it in the water.

The thing should go from fully closed to wide open in 20 or 30 seconds. If it doesn't close fully it is bad. If it doesn't move at all... it is very bad

Cheers... jondee86

[trdee]

it could also not be sealing around the housing properly and the coolant is just bypassing it?

toyota genuine thermos seem to be the only way to go with 4As. i have always had issues with non-genuine thermostats in the past.

[GTi Gaz]

Thanks guys, I will grab a genuine item and let you know how that goes.

Cheers.