2010 toyota camry, coolant boilling & engine low power
Asked by sakaki0914 Feb 27, 2017 at 12:28 AM about the 2010 Toyota Camry SE
Question type: Maintenance & Repair
About 4 days ago, all of a sudden my Camry started to have white smoke coming out from the front, so I immediately stopped my car and open up the bonnet and wondering what's wrong.
All I saw was coolant everywhere and a empty coolant tank, seems like a little overheat coolant explosion. And so I had my mechanician Justin, to look at my car and he said my car needs a new coolant tank and a radiator, thus I had him to replace those for me.
2 days ago after Justin replaced the parts, the car is now having another situation, worse situation.
As I have had a little test drive after the fix for about 5 miles, I could hear the boiling sound of the coolant while driving after the first mile, and I can actually see the coolant boiling inside the coolant tank when I opened up the bonnet; the temperature indicator's always pointing at "H"; the engine's start giving low power, which in other words the car is not accelerating normally; and I can feel that the engine's choking (I had opened the bonnet and felt that myself by placing my hand on the engine).
I had a guess that the boiling coolant problem might be caused by a bad thermostat, but I had no idea about the engine one.
What could be wrong and it that hard to fix?
Hope these are the only major problems I'll be facing......
12 Answers
enginecreator answered 7 years ago
White smoke & coolant boiling & running Hot & low power equals bad head gasket.
enginecreator answered 7 years ago
I would also change the thermostat when doing the head gasket repair, it may have blown the gasket after running hot, but the exhaust in coolant is the boiling you see or hear and could easily blow off the coolant tank cap which I would replace too so at this point you have a new tank, radiator now if the tank did not come with a new cap buy one new and a thermostat and a head gasket kit, and it needs resurfaced too since it warped by running it hot and if it has higher miles have new valve stem guide seals put on it..
enginecreator answered 7 years ago
Just as a note understand some people differ on this but it is my opinion that a warped head resurfaced and reinstalled will again in the future warp and blow the head gasket again, so you may wish to buy a new one, not a remanufactured as it most likely is a warped head too, but if you need to get by with it a few years it will make it that far if it does not get ran hot again.
sakaki0914 answered 7 years ago
Thank you enginecreator, your opinion sounds very reliable. I've already made an appointment with the repair center that they are going to exterminate my Camry tomorrow. Hope the car will be perfectly fix after this...... nobody like accidents and malfunctions, right?
You might also advise the repair person to check Toyota Service Bulletins for your make ...model....year. I seem to remember problems with Cylinder Head Bolts which need replacing. Re-using the old bolts with a new head gasket results in a repeat repair.
Are you aware of the issue with threads stripping out when you remove head bolts?
sakaki0914 answered 7 years ago
last_chance_garage: I've never fixed my car myself before so I'm not aware of the issue. All I can tell is that the engine is somehow choking, guess this is a result of the bolts problem?
Unknown. I am just addressing a head gasket repair on a 4 cylinder toyota engine of the year indicated above. Engine ...choking...could be caused be many other failures on this vehicle. How many miles?
I see...well if you decide to repair this issue yourself you might Google your make model year and engine type and HEAD GASKET REPAIR. This is a repair requiring knowledge, equipment and special tools.
