Have you lifted the carpet & felt underneath the seat for dampness?

The most common radiator leak point is the bottom right corner as you look in....frunk off I'm afraid.
Until you find what the problem is don't trust the temp' gauge, there has to be something pretty major before it shows a problem.
I'd just top up with water until you find what's wrong. Get it properly hot & feel for heat right across the radiator, if it doesn't bleed it. Valve top left.

Sounds like your coolant level has dropped.  Time to look for leaks.  Start with the radiator, then the water pump.

In opening a can of Airco Cleaner, I may have opened a can of worms...

It's in more detail in this thread, but the car has had a slight mouldy smell from when I bought it last summer. I wondered if it was in the ventilation / heating pipes somewhere, and Ardent kindly suggested Toyota's airco cleaner.

Now the ventilation system isn't heating up consistently when I drive, but the radiator fan is coming on when the engine's up to temperature. So I'm looking for a schematic or some information on what I've shorted out or clogged up when using the airway cleaning foam!

(I have a feeling this is going to end up with removing the dash, which at least could be a good chance to clean everything out under there and replace those two dashboard bulbs that have gone. :/ )

I'm not sure what I've started now...

Thanks @Ardent for the Airco Cleaner tip, I ordered that and used it yesterday morning. Seeing foam coming out of the air vents, and then fluid dripping out from somewhere near the glove box when I took it for a drive yesterday evening, was a little disconcerting but it's definitely delivered a lot of cleaner somewhere deep inside the system. The smell of the cleaner is so strong it's hard to tell if the mouldy smell is still there, for now!

But I think something odd has happened to the actual heating. The dashboard temperature gauge showed the car was warmed up after about 5 minutes' driving (middle of the gauge), but there was no hot air coming out of the vents. I tried all the settings, directing air to the screen, footwells, etc., different blower speeds, different temperatures, switching the flap from outside air to recycling cabin air... nothing but cold air blowing. And then, stopped at lights, I heard the radiator fan come on.

I don't think I've heard the fan more than once since buying the car last summer - on a hot day when we were moving very slowly in dense traffic around a gyratory, I sort of expected it. But yesterday was the standard suburban drive I've done a lot in the car, on a fairly cool evening, and it came on and off during the drive, presumably to regulate the coolant temperature, while still the cabin air was not being heated.

Does anyone have a schematic of the system? I've googled but not come up with anything useful (although I've found lots of diagrams of the A/C, which I don't tend to use, and lots of pictures of exhausts, which wasn't what I was looking for!). I'm wondering if I've waterlogged, or cleaner-logged, a switch or a thermostat somewhere in the heating / airflow system that directs engine coolant through an interchanger... or if something else has got bunged up somewhere in there!

Quote from: Joesson on Yesterday at 14:08Did you have all drain points open when you started to fill, slowly, and close each as it showed coolant had reached that point?

Yup car was exactly level during this process.

Quote from: Carolyn on Yesterday at 14:21Have you tried taking the turbo out of the cooling system?

I did that the first time round and it had coolant in the tubes, a bit reluctant to do it again as it involves cutting the lines - the barbs are insanely good!

I finished putting the car back together and took it up and down my little hill, stopping back in the garage each time to check coolant level and had the heater on full the whole time. No success in that area yet. However long time readers will know that this shakedown drive was SIGNIFICANTLY more successful than a previous one!

Shakedown also helped produce more leaks which was helpful.


Was keeping an eye on AFR and boost levels. I've got the boost controller to keep it at 0 boost, and from what I can see my gentle driving up and down went from -9.9 to maybe -5 at most.

AFR seemed ok.. I'm getting leaning out error codes occasionally when the car is left to idle. I think this is a product of the Emanage.

Anyway! The car is still going! In calling it a win for tonight.

Thanks for all of the advice. I've opted for a listing giving a 5 year warranty (yeah right...). The listing suggested by MrChris shows the same part number.

Have you tried taking the turbo out of the cooling system?

Did you have all drain points open when you started to fill, slowly, and close each as it showed coolant had reached that point?

Started to re-assemble car so I can get some vibrations(road) through it and resolve this air lock business. (Refilled it and now I'm getting over heating as well as cold air so I've made it worse!)





I must say I'm happy with how the exhaust has worked out.. subtle.