1988 Camry overheating with AC on

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- Digger
  
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posted
20 years ago

Sun, Aug 17, 2003 4:24 PM

I mentioned this in passing in another article recently, but I thought I'd ask this more directly.

My 1988 Camry has, for at least a year now, been getting very hot when sitting at idle with the A/C on. It can happen on sunny days, it can happen on rainy days. When the car moves forward and maintains a steady speed, the temperature returns to normal, but the brutal stop-and-go traffic that is the hallmark of city driving ensures that I will be standing still for periods of time.

So the question is, where to check first? Is the radiator plugged and not operating efficiently? Does the fan operate at multiple speeds and just isn't notching up? My coolant level is good and at the proper mixture, could my water pump be on its way out?

My workaround has been to cycle the AC off and on, letting the interior fan blow the air around until the engine cools. I can't maintain that indefinitely. Any advice would be appreciated.

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- mark Ransley
  
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posted
20 years ago

Sun, Aug 17, 2003 4:35 PM

Both fans should always run as soon as AC is turned on.

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- A
  
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posted
20 years ago

Sun, Aug 17, 2003 4:52 PM

I'd start by checking the radiator fans. There are two fans to cool the radiator when you have A/C. The fan on the driver's side is standard on all Camry's and it functions to cool the coolant in the engine radiator. The one on the passenger side is added when you get A/C. It doubles the air flow through the radiator which then provides sufficient cooling for both the engine radiator and the A/C radiator which mounts in front of the engine radiator. Check that both radiator cooling fans are running. They cycle on and off when the engine is running & run more often when the A/C is on. On our 1981 - the passenger side.fan had siezed. Replacing it was fairly easy (once the engine was cool) - 3 bolts and a snap on wiring connector. The fuse for the fan had also blown - it is located in a 3" X 8" plastic box on th driver's fender. A used fan at a wrecking yard was $90 CDN and the fuse was $5.

If both fans are working maybe you have tons of gunk in the radiator fins - either internaly or externally. Try reverse flushing the radiator cooling fins - by spraying with a car wash wand from the inside of the radiator towards the front of the car and from the front downward to clean off the A/C radiator. Take care not to bend the radiator fins by getting the wand too close. "Close" depends on the water pressure you get at the car wash; how close you put the wand to the fins and I suppose what condition the fins are in.