camry over heats at stop then cools down while driving

i just perchased a 92' camry LE and it was running like a dream untill i noticed when i came to a stop the engine would get hot after putting some stress (like driving up hills and fast on free ways). the car only has 80k orig miles, and was serviced mostly by a toyota dealership Is this normall can u give me some advise? i have been running it quite hard for a couple days.

problem:when i come to a stop after driving it alittle hard for awhile the car heats up. Then as i'm driving it cools down quickly i don't know what to check first on a toyota

your fans aren't coming on, check fans and coolant temp sensor, most common to start, when sitting still, air needs to be moved through the radiator, that is what the fans do. start there
drew

First thing I'd check would be the thermostat. Should be an easy fix. Check the manuals stickied at the top of the forum, might have the manual for your car.

If you remove your thermostat and it tests bad, I advise that you stick with an OEM part. The wife and I learned the hard way that after market thermostats do not have the little hole with a jiggle valve needed in our 94 Camry 4cyl.

Also we advise that you test the new thermostat before installing it. Many are bad off the shelf and the Toyota Dealer has no way to tell.

The advice about the fans not coming on sounded right on. We also had initial trouble with an after market heat sender right out of the box and went back to an OEM from the Toyota Dealer. We still tested it before installing it to insure peace of mind that we had eliminated that as a source of the problem.

This might not be a problem with you but we ran into some confusion with the Toyota Dealer when we ordered parts. We told him we wanted a heat sensor and that's what he ordered. Unfortunately what we really needed was a heat sender. A smart mechanic from a local shop told us that sensors go to the computer where as sender go to the gauges.

Good luck from a newbie.

doubt it is a thermostat, but not bad to check out anyway, throw one in for good measure, they are cheap, it could be sticking but i am pretty sure the problem lies with the fans, it doesn't take a long time to heat up or run hot while driving, thermostat should be working.

your fans aren't coming on, check fans and coolant temp sensor, most common to start, when sitting still, air needs to be moved through the radiator, that is what the fans do. start there
drew
:2cents: also check to see if there's obstructions between the radiator and AC condensor/ i know when I had to replace radiators on various cars of mine/relatives.... there were a whole buncha leaves n stuff in between them

temp would still run high while driving if there was blockage.

99% the fans aren't coming on.