1989 Cressida overheat problem

Yup. These engines are notorious for blowing head gaskets...

However, this does not appear to be your problem, we hope...

This car probably has a mechanical fan clutch, and the oil has lost it's efficiency or has just leaked out enough to not work any more. You can test this by running the car until it just starts to go above normal, SHUT THE ENGINE OFF!!! and try to spin the fan. If it spins freely, you need to replace the fan clutch. If it is fairly stiff you have another problem.

You can try this:

using the oil listed on this page:

From your description, I don't think you have the gasket problem. Cross your fingers and check your fan!

Good Luck!

If there is radiator fluid in the engine, then leaks are not the problem.

You left out some details, like the year of the vehicle (I think it is more than 15 years old, according to wikipedia, they last sold a car with the engine in it in 1992 model year), the mileage of the car, and whether the heater works.

I suspect that in a 15 to 20 year old car, the problem is the radiator.

Jeff

If the engine is running hot when the vehivle is running at 100 km/hr (highway speeds), then there is likely another problem, like a blocked radiator. It is not clear from the post if the engine is running at normal temperature at highway speeds or not (OP says a bit above normal, but I am not sure what he means).

Jeff

That's what I though, but Ray tipped me about the fan.

On a 60 degree day the car was overheating at 65 MPH. This engine runs hot, and is a large engine in a not so large space.

From his description that's what it sounds like. If it were a more drastic problem the engine might cool at slower speeds or a stop.

Let's hope for Fred's sake it's the fan! ;)

I have only had the car for 6 months. The radiator looks brand new as if it has been replaced recently. The previous owner said something about coolant problems but I found the pipe in the overflow tank had fallen off so that it was not returning to radiator on cooling but I fixed that and no problem till now. I will check fan but when idling it seems to shift a lot of air if you put your hand behind it

One reminder, the more often you drive it overheated, the more likely YOU WILL replace the head gasket.

Three things: Radiator: Cheap Fan: Cheap Radiator Cap: Extremely Cheap but usually an easy thing to forget.

Don't bother paying to have the radiator repaired when NAPA has them available.

(btw, sold my 89 Cressida to buy a Lexus, 280K on it, got 4500 :)

Lexus what? If it's an SC, I *WILL* be jealous!

LS460L

Well I did manage go get the color I wanted WITH the 10K seating package for free since "someone ordered it and didn't pick it up". (I've heard that line before). Does that help?

As Hachiroku mentioned, it is probably the fan clutch. Checking the air with the engine running is not a good indicator because even freewheeling fan blades will move some air. Let the engine get hot, shut the engine off, wait for the fan to stop spinning, and then see if you can spin it easily. If it spins easily when hot and the engine is off, the clutch is bad.

You can not say that with certainty, especially with the Cressida. Those of us who've owned them and don't just google, know better.

A compression test is the ONLY way to know if his head isn't cracked and/or gasket isn't blown.

Maybe there is air in the system, there should be bleed ports did you open them.

Maybe there is air in the system, there should be bleed ports did you open them.

Perhaps he should post that question in alt.antique.toyota NG, if there is such a thing?

If there is radiator fluid in the engine, then leaks are not the problem.

You left out some details, like the year of the vehicle (I think it is more than 15 years old, according to wikipedia, they last sold a car with the engine in it in 1992 model year), the mileage of the car, and whether the heater works.

I suspect that in a 15 to 20 year old car, the problem is the radiator.

Jeff

You should know that cars are not considered antique until they are 25 years old or more. And this car is less than that. As you know, cars can last as daily runners for far more than 25 years if they are in a place where there is not much salt used on the roads.

Jeff

Killfileing the top posting fool is not a bad thing.

Thanks to every one I think I have fixed it.I put a second hand fan clutch on and it seems to be behaving.Test on longer trip tomorrow.

Ps while doing all this I got the impression that the cast iron impeller water pump rather than pressed metal is more efficient as it held temp lower than the old one (this was before I changed fan)

If you listen to me, I'll try not to steer you wrong ;-)

As for the cast iron impeller water pump being more efficient than the pressed metal one, my guess is that the cast iron impeller either fits in the cavity more efficiently or the shape of the impeller blades is more efficient. The material that the impeller is made of shouldn't make that much difference.