Mine is a petrol Townage 1993.

When I bought it a few months ago the temperature gauge was just the hot side of the middle. On the trip up the motorway I noticed the needle had gone off the scale. I stopped a few times to let it cool but it hardly moved again. The coolant was at the low marker on the expansion bottle.

The dealer had told me he had topped the coolant up with distilled water and it needed more proper coolant.

However, it did eventually fall to a normal level. I then noticed that what the needle would do was waver at about 60% then suddenly jump to maximum, being then jammed beyond red. If you watched the needle you could see it jerking erratically up and down in a very un-natural way before doing this.

The coolant in the expansion tank was not hot(should it be?), and the engine seemed to be fine, nothing was steaming, so I prayed it was a faulty sender or similar and got home OK. The van ran fine, but the temperature gauge went straight to hot as soon as you turned the ignition.

I had the coolant changed at a Toyota dealer (Rochdale) and this seemed to fix the problem. The gauge showed just above half way most of the time.

Now the jerking is happening again and the gauge goes beyond hot as soon as the ignition is turned on. I panicked and topped up the expansion tank with pure antifreeze at one point, and on stopping after this some coolant was evident on the ground under the engine - presumably overfilled.

The coolant level under the radiator cap is as high as it can be. The radiator cap is similar to your pictures in the on line manual, but has a button you depress on top which looks like a pressure release.

I have no reason to think the engine is overheating. Where is the sender on the petrol engine? There seems to be something near the radiator cap.

Ideas or thoughts welcome.

Thanks

- (#9003) Malcolm Stroud, 4 Mar 04 07:04

Hi Malcolm

If your absolutely sure there is no sign of overheating or coolant loss, other than overfilling the expansion tank, then it is possible that the sender is faulty. On the van manual, it looks like its mounted on the drivers side of the head, towards the front of the engine, possibly just below the coolant inlet.
I don't think it would be wiring unless its shorting to earth because I have disconnected my Toyota gauge to run a Tim gauge, and the Toyota one now always reads cold.

It might be worth changing that radiator cap for the float type Toyota now produce
- (#9003) dave Bright (Bournemouth), 4 Mar 04 07:49

Thanks Dave. I got the new radiator cap, and ever since the temperature indicator has been rock steady at about 45%, even after a couple of 200 mile runs on the M1. Magic. Still don't understand it though. My best guess is an air bubble, but don't know why it would read hot as soon as the ignition went on.

I don't think the performance has been impaired by chronic overheating, but who can tell? Without overdrive on I can overtake lorries etc. and get 0 to 60 in 14min 43 seconds.

- (#9003) Malcolm Stroud, 15 Apr 04 06:32

Jolly good Malcolm. Your next job is to fit one of Dave Masons temperature alarms. It does two things, makes the gauge read higher so that it isn't stuck on the centre point and sounds an alarm as soon as things get too warm.

- (#9003) dave Bright (Bournemouth), 15 Apr 04 07:17

Malcolm. It appears that one of the few areas where Toyota were less than perfect in their designs, is that confounded temperature gauge. It seems to be designed for peace of mind, ie, sticking in the middle through a wide temperature range, but, suddenly, going into the red without a moments warning. Yes, I agree with Dave, a Dave Mason temperature alarm or, a Durite gauge, will give you peace of mind, and an accurate indication when things are hotting up. What a luxury, 0-60 in 14 mins plus. Us "oil burners" have to be content with about half an hour :-(

- (#9003) John Davis (Leics), 15 Apr 04 10:37