EVC1959

I have a 91 ES250 with 156K miles. Recently had the timing belt, idlers and tensioners, and water pump changed. The car seems to be running a little hot. After driving 10 minutes or so, the temp gauge needle comes to rest almost dead between the high and low ends of the range. In addition, when the fan is turned on, I can smell an order similar to that when you drop a little oil on a hot exhaust manifold.

Outside of that, the car runs great.

Any ideas?

Brian231

You may have a a coolant leak for the smell and a temperature sensor may be going bad. Also, their may be some corrosion on the sensor harness. I would clean it gently witha wire brush a put some D-electic conductin grease in there ($4 at auto parts store). Also, how old is your coolant? I would imagine it was all changed frssh with the new water pump. Make sure it was changed by asking the shop who perfomred this. You may want to add a $1.50 water pump lube in it as well).

EVC1959

Thanks for the quick response.

I was leaning toward a bad temp sensor. I do have some slight idle issues, especially on start-up. I have heard a bad temp sensor could effect how fuel is supplied at start-up. Any truth in this?

As for the collant, it seemed a little low so I added some coolant about a week ago. It seems to be holding at the same level now so I think it was a little low. But the high temp issue is still there.

Do you know how hot the engine should be running? While it seems to run hot, it is pretty constant day-to-day.