Had a slow coolant leak Oil temp guage redlined installed new failsafe thermostat, it still would not produce heat. Had a radiator flush and oil change and used bards leak, seems to have worked. Oiland coolant levels are where they should be. The oil temp guage still reads on C for cold, heater motor work but does not produce heat. very confusing to a lot of people

white smoke out the tailpipe and the smell of anti-freeze in the exhaust gas. an engine that over heats either only at highway speeds or town driving, when all other things like, rad cooling fan working properly, thermostat is working properly, no external coolant leaks. the spark plugs may show signs of coolant on them. just some things that are indicators.

Sounds like an air pocket in the coolant system. Those can be a pain, some cars have bleed valves to help. If there is an air pocket, it will seem to be full of coolant, but when the air pocket gets to the heater core it gets stuck there and guess what? No heat, because you won't get any heat unless hot coolant is in the heater core. Old fashioned way is to open the system and keep pouring coolant in at operating temp with heat on full until all the air is pushed out. If it has a bleed valve that can be helpful. Have seen this problem on many vehicles.

The slow rising temp gauge points to a thermostat which has failed and stuck open. This is easy to replace.

At the same time the gauge will tell you if the car is overheating.

Is it losing coolant at all? A hot smell can result from leaking coolant getting on the exhaust manifold.

The smell can also result when leaking engine oil gets onto the exhaust. Camrys of that era had several characteristic oil leaks

- from the rear of the cam cover, especially on a V6
-from the distributor shaft o-ring
-from the oil filter-to-engine block mounting adapter (if fitted)

Change the radiator.

Check the operation of the cooling fans at the radiator. While idling disconnect the coolant temp sensor at the top left (drivers side) of the engine. It will be a 2 wire connector near the thermostat housing. When disconnected the coolant fans should come on immediately, if not you have an electrical issue with the relays or blown fuse. Check the fuses first in the underhood electrical panel. Next swap the cooling fan relay with an identical one next to it, if the fan works the relay is open.

Sounds like the water pump needs to be replaced.

You may need to change the water pump. When the engine is cold undo the rad cap, start the engine & see if there is any coolant moving through the rad. If not change the water pump & the pump serpentine belt. This should solve the problem unless the headgasket is in bad shape. Good luck!

Are your cooling fans working? that will definately be a problem if not working. if they are working shut car off and feel the radiator is it the same temp all over or is it hot in only top or one smaller area. if you do not have same temp feeling on all of radiator your radiator may be plugged.

replace that thermostat again...flush radiator any way...then see how it runs...

Flushing the radiator, replacing the radiator cap, adding new coolant, replacing the sensors and a new thermostat solved the problem. Probably didn't need to do all of these things - but since we just purchased the truck, and given the fact that is probably hadn't been done in a while, we chose to do all of these things (which really didn't cost a whole lot), it's running like a charm now.