Over-Heating/leaking Radiator Corolla 2002

August 15, 2012

Hi,
I wonder why the garages / mechanics you are taking the car to do not offer what would seem very obvious advice, and that you are having to use the forum to locate the problem ?
I'm only a diyer and sure a professional like Steven 252 will correct me, but surely your garage / mechanics should be advising you to have a cooling system pressure test and now a cylinder block pressure test to identify the cause of the problem ?
Spot on :)
Id have the coolant system pressure checked and "sniff" tested to see if exhaust gasses are present in the coolant system. The engine then needs to be compression tested to see if coolant is getting into the cylinders. Is it losing water?
Another thing that has not been checked is wether you are getting water flow, it is possible that one of the pipes has blocked and therefore stopping the water from traveling around. When it overheats are the pipes going rock solid so that you can not "squish" them? Also after the car has gone cold when you release the radiator cap do you get alot of pressure? (there will be some but not alot at cold)
Is your mechanic confident that the cooling system has been bleed correctly. Even with a new rad/thermo/waterpump with a airlock present the car will still overheat.
The unfortunate thing is, if a car is constantly over heated then the likely hood of the head gasket failing is greatly increased.

Hi,
I wonder why the garages / mechanics you are taking the car to do not offer what would seem very obvious advice, and that you are having to use the forum to locate the problem ?
I'm only a diyer and sure a professional like Steven 252 will correct me, but surely your garage / mechanics should be advising you to have a cooling system pressure test and now a cylinder block pressure test to identify the cause of the problem ?

Hi,

Well I am using the forum as a second opinion. The mechanic did suggest a pressure test after the water pump didn't work, and he is pretty certain it is the head gasket which he says is going to cost more than what the car is worth and I have already spent £200 with the rad/stat & pump, so I have to weight up whether it is worth repairing or not. If not then I don't know really what else I can do.

He did suggest taking the stat out all together so that the car is still driveable as this will let the water flow and not over heat, but obviously in the winter this means I will have no heating.

He is confident it has been bled properly and has no air locks. I didn't see any blocks in either of the pipes when I took them off the other week.

To be honest... I'm really confused now with what to do because it does sound like the head gasket which is going to cost me an arm and a leg more than what the car is worth. So I'm wondering if my best option is to just P/X it for a new car and just accept whatever I get for it.

August 15, 2012

Hi,

Fair enough, it did make us wonder who you were using to repair the car and their abilities.

How much would he charge for the pressure test - and which test is he talking about ?

How much does he say a new head gasket would cost, your car is only 2002 so its still worth a fair bit if its in decent condition.

Its a very long time since I replaced a ch gasket, but it was just a straight forwards mechanical job and a ch / top end gasket kit with for our cars cost around £75

Sure Steven will be able to give you a more up to date opinion, though would suggest you get a price for the job from another garage or two.

August 16, 2012

It is sounding more like the head gasket :(

A gasket set is cheep but tbh its alot of work and you have to be very contempt to change one, especially on these engines as there chain driven which makes it alot trickier than a belt engine. I wouldnt recomend anyone attacking one without having someone whos done one before being present otherwise youll end up with an engine with bent valves or will fall appart once warm.

If you feel that its not worth the £400 a garage will charge for a head gasket change, i would remove the stat altogether and px the car for something else. Sorry i cant give any more advice than that :(