I have a 98 toyota camry that is getting hot when in idle. I took it to a mechanic and he said the lower radiator seal was bad and wanted to charge 369 to fix it. I took the car back and put a whole new radiator in it because my radiator was still under warienty (I can't spell sorry) it was still getting hot. My uncle tried changing the thermostat and it was still getting hot. So my grandma went online and it said to unplug the wire going to the fans and get the fans to come on. I did so and they come on and the temp went down. My uncle checked the fuses and they seemed ok. Then the fans ran without being unplugged car ran good for 2 days. Driving home last night it would get about 3\4 hot then drop back to 1\2 all the way home. Messing with it today one of the hoses was really hot coming from the radiator but the other was not hot at all. I unplugged the fan drove it down the road and it drove fine. Got in the driveway and it started over heating again. The fan run constantly when unplugged and even though they were running it was not bringing the temp back down but now both hoses were hot. Can anyone please tell me y it may be getting hot?

 

Is it going through antifreeze? Could be the waterpump crapping out or headgasket. Hook a pressure tester up and check for any leak. Also could have gotten a defective thermostat I've had that happen a few times

 

I do have to add coolant but only after it gets hot. And as for the gasket there is no smoke or mixture in the oil

 

What exactly are you unplugging which is causing the fans to run?

 

Not sure what its called but it plugs into the middle towards the bottom of the radiator. And the other side runs under the fuse box.