Mk1 Gs300 Overheating

[devonbrown]

Hi folks, I have just driven 1500 miles to bring my 1997 300 to the sunny Costa del Sol. 1 week after arriving I drove about 50 miles up twisty hilly roads and my car overheated and I ended up with no water. Both oil and water had been checked before and after journey to Spain. I was able to top up radiator and limp back home but I had to stop every 5 miles or so and top up radiator with water. There is no Lexus dealer for miles and the local Toyota dealer cannot take me till Thursday. Help!!! any suggestions appreciated. There is no discolouring of the oil, and the car overheats after short distance. there appears to be no bubbles in water.

[mudzs]

Are the fans cutting in on the radiator,could be the thermostat .

[devonbrown]

Hi Mudzs, the fans do seem to be working but i haven't a clue where the thermostat is never mind if it is working

[ColinBarber]

Do you get any white smoke from the exhaust? Sounds like a heat gasket failure or you have a leak in the coolant system - the water must be going somewhere.

[devonbrown]

no smoke. I think that the water heats up and goes out the overflow. Anyone know where the thermostat is?

[Monster-Mat]

check the coolant filler cap

[jac114]

check the coolant filler cap

good shout matt ... thats what was wrong with mine.. not sealing properly the spring becomes weak and cannot hold the pressure

[devonbrown]

Thanks for all the input. I think it is the thermostat as the top hose gets hot but the bottom hose remains fairly cool. My problem is I do not know where the thermostat is. I also would like to know if it would be ok to remove it tempoarily. TIA

[mudzs]

Yes you can remove it but heater will probaly blow cold so unless you are still in spain not a good idea in our currant climate

[ColinBarber]

You may want to try flushing out the system. There may be a blockage. If you remove the stat the engine will take a long time to get warm.

[bigcells]

I had exactly same thing in my car, intermittent, until last week. Turned out to be a blockage (small piece of tape had got in there) in the small hose between the overflow tank and the engine. Just cleared it out and all was fine.

[devonbrown]

Turns out that my radiator is full of corrosion and needs replaced. also the thermostat needs replaced. I have had 2 GS300s,both second hand,both have had badly corroded radiators. Have I been very unlucky or is this fairly common?????

[ColinBarber]

It's not a problem if the coolant is changed every 3 years and that only the genuine Toyota Forlife or LLC is used.

[mike corbett]

Turns out that my radiator is full of corrosion and needs replaced. also the thermostat needs replaced. I have had 2 GS300s,both second hand,both have had badly corroded radiators. Have I been very unlucky or is this fairly common?????

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Just replaced my 1993 gs300 rad, totally corroded, have now noticed a lot of pressure on the top rad hose, not leaking any water, is the headgasket about to go, how do you bleed the gs300 system properly.