Just a few random questions about my toyota camry

[adrianfig]

Just a few little problems I guess im having on my car and just want to throw them on here any help is greatly appreciated. Okay well I guess my first one would be that my heater recently stopped working. I replaced the thermostat myself but that didn’t help. The weird thing about the heater is that it is hot at first for about 5 seconds then cools down and that confuses the heck out of me. The next thing would be that my steering wheel in my car shakes pretty hard when im in Drive or reverse and not moving. I tried replacing all the motor mounts but that didn’t change anything. And my last thing would be that when my car is first started up (meaning all the parts are cold and i turn my steering wheel all the way to either the left or right I get a high pitched squeal. Its not that big of a deal just kind of wondering why it would do that. Any help or little tips or responses even will help a lot thanks!

Topic

[Tony01013]

For the heater, start with checking the coolant level. (Don’t open the radiaator cap unless the car is completely cool.) It could be air in the coolant system, a clogged heater core, clogged heater lines, a leak in or around the heater core,( check underneath the dash for leaks or a sweet antifreeze smell). For the belt squeaking, it could be a worn out belt most likely, check to see how tight the belt is and if it is cracked or frayed. Also if it is a serpentine belt, check to see if the belt tensioner is operaration properly,(it’s not frozen and has full range of motion). I’m at a loss for the vibrating problem. Altough, I would check the rack and pinion bushings than connect it to the frame.
P.S. you should never hold the steering will all the way to the end of its motion for more than a few seconds, it can damage the pump.

[dreamer2355]

Welcome to the forums.

What is the vehicle you are working on?

Do you have a CEL? That’s where you need to start, with the basics first.

For the heat issue, as stated above you may have air in the system. Check out this video from Eric –

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUpXgAJ1 … ure=relmfu

For the squealing sound when turning the vehicle, make sure you check the belt tension first and condition of the belt. Also look at the power steering fluid and check for leaks.

As for the shaking at idle, it could be from a misfire. I would first start off with a cylinder power balance test –

http://www.youtube.com/user/EricTheCarG … AOmUjAjNjE

You could also do a compression and a cylinder leakage test also if you have the tools.

We need more vehicle information first C8-)

[fitone]

Sounds like that you might have air in your coolant system as a result of opening the system during the thermostat replacement. Eric has a great video on refilling and venting a cooling system. I have recently purchased the Lisle refill funnel that Eric uses in the video and it does a great job. Purchased it on Amazon for about $24, great tool to have if you drain and refill your cars. Local parts company might have this as well.

Did the power steering squeal start after the refill of your cooling system ? If so you might have spilled some coolant on the power steering belt causing it to slip under load. Also have you checked the condition of the belt ? Might be in need of replacement.

[EricTheCarGuy]

Yep my forum peeps are on it today, first check for air in the cooling system, here’s a video and BTW don’t worry that you don’t have a bleeder valve as that is just there to fill the system faster follow all the other steps in the video however. Also if the coolant is low and it’s causing problems with the heat it went somewhere so I’m also going to post my overheat video to show how to look for coolant leaks.

Bleeding cooling system

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUpXgAJ1 … ure=relmfu

Overheat video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUzOTnsWImI

Whenever you have a idle issue causing the engine to shake you always check the engine performance first before going at the engine mounts. You might start with a good tune up with quality parts preferably OE. After that you might want to check for vacuum leaks, here’s a video on that.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CPqbaSgcok

If all of that is good you might try taking it in to have the fuel injection system professionally cleaned.

As for the noise on start up it sounds like a loose power steering belt and if memory serves it’s hard to get that tension right on that engine because of the location of the pump but you might also want to check the condition of the belt before you tighten it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSTZdTAB_As

[adrianfig]

Quoted From Tony01013:

For the heater, start with checking the coolant level. (Don’t open the radiaator cap unless the car is completely cool.) It could be air in the coolant system, a clogged heater core, clogged heater lines, a leak in or around the heater core,( check underneath the dash for leaks or a sweet antifreeze smell). For the belt squeaking, it could be a worn out belt most likely, check to see how tight the belt is and if it is cracked or frayed. Also if it is a serpentine belt, check to see if the belt tensioner is operaration properly,(it’s not frozen and has full range of motion). I’m at a loss for the vibrating problem. Altough, I would check the rack and pinion bushings than connect it to the frame.
P.S. you should never hold the steering will all the way to the end of its motion for more than a few seconds, it can damage the pump.

WOW thanks for all the comments guys thats pretty spot on. Its a 1996 toyota camry V4 with about 198k miles. When I just recently got my timing belt changed about a month ago they were telling me something about that power steering belt. I don’t really notice any difference in the ride and thats the only bad thing about it is making the noise when everything is cold. Do you think that is something that should be done ASAP? I just had a new head gasket done on it and water pump too. The coolant was turning brown in the overflow tank so I knew I had some kind of oil leak. As for the heater I can try that bleeding out the air out of the system but do you think thats why the heat would just stop working? It worked before but just stopped and tried fixing the thermostat with no success. And for the idle problems I don’t know what it was I thought it would be the mounts but it didn’t change anything. I put new spark plugs and distributor cap to do my own tune up and didn’t get any success. What you said about the rack and pinion bushings when I took it in I think I remember them telling me something about that. Cause when he loosened them up and raised the car up my car didn’t shake barely. Thanks for all the comments guys and eric this forum is pretty cool! 🙂

[adrianfig]

Bump? 🙁

[dreamer2355]

I would review Eric’s post and watch those video’s.

There is not a simple answer for everything without doing the diagnosing first and gathering evidence.

And as far as I’m aware, Toyota’s only made inline 4 cylinders, not V style 4 cylinder vehicles. Please correct me someone if i am wrong C8-)

[EricTheCarGuy]

Yea you need to give that stuff a try and report back with what you find and yes air in the cooling system can cause all kinds of problems including no heat.

[Author]

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