Joe333

Hello yotatech forums. I have a 97 camry, that has a check engine light on(yeah I bought that car and had it three years without realizing the check engine light bulb, and airbag light bulb was taken out of dash). Whenever pressing the gas, the thermostat reading climbs high, close to the red overheating zone. For some reason whenever I stop at a stop light, or whenever pressing the brake, the engine cools down. I have checked the thermostat to see if it opens while hot, the coolant is circulating.

Also, I see no leaks from the water pump from the timing cover. There are no whining noises from the timing belt nor in that general area(I have had the timing belt snap on me at a red light, and everything cut off on me). While taking off the housing for the stat, I noticed coolant leaking out from the bottom pipe that leads back to the engine. These are the two pipes that are to the right of the water pump, also to the right of the thermostat housing. That is the only time have seen it leak coolant from opening the stat housing. From all the times I have looked under the hood, it never so much as dripped until yesterday.

One of those two lines under the manifold leads back to the engine. The top line takes an o ring, while the bottom takes a gasket that resembles that of the stat housing.

The problem is, when taking off the housing for the stat the first time, I noticed that there was no gasket seal, nor a gasket on the stat, but the car drove with the needle in the middle, also the old stat didnt even have a jiggle valve. I noticed after tightening the stat housing, the car drove way better with response, but still with the therm needle climbing and staying near the red zone.

The in cab hot air works meaning the heater core is functional, and water pump is circulating. However, I am not ruling out that the heater core could be clogged limiting coolant flow. The heater core could be going out sooner or later, since I have smelled coolant in cab, and seen the windshield and other door windows mysteriously fog up. I have taken the carpet out to see if there were any leaks, when I needed to get to the hose of the ac(it was lodged inside the car and was clogged leading to liquid leaking under the carpet on both driver and passenger side. I am not entirely sure a leaking heater core would cause the needle of the therm reading to climb close to overheating. I need to know if a clogged heater core could cause over heating as well.

The run down of what I notice about the coolant. I have seen no leaks other than the two pipe lines to the right of the stat housing. Every time I look into the radiator, the coolant stays level and full. However, I do see that the coolant level in reservoir tank fills a bit over full, but not drastically. I never see bubbles in the reservoir at all. Upon starting the car, it never becomes a problem to do so. It seems normal when at idle and driving. The exhaust blows smoke but only for cold starting in the morning, and it is not excessive, like a blown head gasket.

Another problem I am having is, cooling fan relay 1 and 2 are not working when pushed in all the way. For the second fan relay, having it in halfway, turns on the left fan on passenger side. However, fan relay 1 doesn't respond unless It barely touches the relay receptacle. Could this be a short, or in this case, loose wiring connections under the fuse relay box? The fans obviously work when unplugging the wiring leading to the radiator cooling fan switch located at bottom of the radiator.

Shoot me with the rounds from your answers.