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Stupid Minivan

A

AtlantaSteve

Active Member
Last week the wife's Sienna started overheating. I took out the thermostat and boiled it and it never budged, so I replaced it, and her van has been fine all week, in mid 90's stop and go traffic.

Today, after the van had sat about 2 hours from her drive home from work, we ran out on a quick errand (3 mile drive) and at a red light it started creeping up. When we got to our location the reservoir was blowing steam out the vent. It sat for 30 minutes, and on the ride home would creep up at stop-lights.

Got it on the driveway and let it run and it you could visibly watch the needle moving up. Right now it seems to only overheat at stops. I checked and both fans are blowing great.

My suspicion is that when I drained the block and radiator last weekend, there's an air-bubble that is still floating around in there. Anyone think I'm on the right track, or have any other ideas? My other thought is the thermostat from Napa might be crap. The aftermarket thermostats are different from the OEM one, so I might run to Toyota to buy a new thermostat. I could probably change it out in 45 minutes now that i know how to do it (Have to take out the airbox and battery)

Anyone got any better ideas?
 
Not that I've seen...except for the darn vent cap on the reservoir...but that stupid thing made sure the engine compartment got coated :rant

I was also thinking about heading to pep boys and seeing if they have a radiator pressure tester...I might have a leak somewhere and just not know it

Thanks!
 
Sure sounds like trapped air, did you open the heater full blast when you refilled too to get the heater core? Did you flush the system after changing? Sounds like there could be a clog also that would have a greater effect at idle and lower pressure?

I know where there's a nice Pontiac Aztek you could trade up to...
Jon
 
Send me a text tomorrow morning. I'll be at work.

I'd call you but I killed my phonebook rooting my phone.
 
Thanks all for the help. I went out today and did my best to get all the air out of the system, and then let the car run for a while, then we drove it to the mall, and all was well.

I'm not convinced it's fixed and am wondering if I have a slow seep I'm missing somewhere. If the water level drops at all over the next week, I'll know something else is afoot.

Thanks to everyone for the help. Big thanks to Sluggo who cracked his Toyota shop manual and told me the exact bleeding procedure for my car.
 
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