The cooling system maintains the engine temperature at an efficient level during all engine operating conditions.

When the engine is cold, the cooling system cools the engine slowly or not at all. This slow cooling of the engine allows the engine to warm up quickly.

The cooling system includes a radiator and recovery subsystem, cooling fans, a thermostat and housing, a water pump, and a water pump drive belt. The timing belt drives the water pump.

All components must function properly in order for the cooling system to operate. The water pump draws the coolant from the radiator. The coolant then circulates through water jackets in the engine block, the intake manifold, and the cylinder head. When the coolant reaches the operating temperature of the thermostat, the thermostat opens. The coolant then goes back to the radiator where it cools.This system directs some coolant through the hoses to the heater core. This provides for heating and defrosting. The surge tank is connected to the radiator to recover the coolant displaced by expansion from the high temperatures.

The surge tank maintains the correct coolant level.

The cooling system for this vehicle has no radiator cap or filler neck. The coolant is added to the cooling system through the surge tank.

This vehicle has a lightweight tube–and–fin aluminum radiator. Plastic tanks are mounted on the right and the left sides of the radiator core.

On vehicles equipped with automatic transaxles, the transaxle fluid cooler lines run through the left radiator tank. A radiator drain cock is on this radiator. To drain the cooling system, open the drain cock.

The surge tank is a transparent plastic reservoir, similar to the windshield washer reservoir.

The surge tank is connected to the radiator by a hose and to the engine cooling system by another hose. As the vehicle is driven, the engine coolant heats and expands. The portion of the engine coolant displaced by this expansion flows from the radiator and the engine into the surge tank. The air trapped in the radiator and the engine is degassed into the surge tank.

When the engine stops, the engine coolant cools and contracts. The displaced engine coolant is then drawn back into the radiator and the engine. This keeps the radiator filled with the coolant to the desired level at all times and increases the cooling efficiency.

Maintain the coolant level between the MIN and the MAX marks on the surge tank when the system is cold.

The water pump is a centrifugal vane impeller type pump. The pump consists of a housing and an impeller. The impeller is a flat plate mounted on the pump shaft with a series of flat or curved blades (vanes). When the impeller rotates, the coolant between the vanes is thrown outward by centrifugal force. The impeller shaft is supported by sealed bearings. The sealed bearings do not need to be lubricated. Grease cannot leak out, dirt and water cannot get in as long as the seal is not damaged or worn.

The water pump is mounted to the engine front cover and is driven by the crankshaft pulley via a multi-ribbed drive belt , turning the pump pulley , bolted to the water pump flange. Coolant enters the engine through the coolant inlet pipe and thermostat at the rear of engine and passes through the engine to the water pump on the front engine cover and exits via the coolant outlet housing located at the front of the intake manifold.

A wax pellet type thermostat is used in the coolant inlet passage to control the flow of coolant, providing fast engine warm up and regulating coolant temperature. The wax pellet or power element in the thermostat expands when heated and contracts when cooled. The wax pellet is connected through a piston to a valve and when the pellet is heated, pressure is exerted against a metal valve, which is forced to open.

As the pellet is cooled, the contraction allows a spring to close the valve. Thus, the valve remains closed while the coolant is cold, preventing circulation of coolant through the radiator, but allowing the coolant to circulate throughout the engine to warm it quickly and evenly. As the engine becomes warm, the pellet expands and the thermostat opens, permitting the coolant to flow through to the radiator where heat is transferred to the surrounding air, through the radiator walls.

This opening and closing of the thermostat valve permits enough coolant to enter the radiator to keep the engine within specified temperature limits.

The thermostat also provides a restriction in the cooling system, even after it has opened. This restriction creates a pressure difference, which prevents cavitation at the water pump and forces coolant to circulate through the engine block.

The thermostat begins to open at 82 °C (179.6 °F) and is fully opened at 95 °C (203 °F).

The cooling fans are mounted behind the radiator in the engine compartment. Cooling system on this vehicle has two cooling fans – the main fan and the auxiliary fan. The electric cooling fans increase the flow of air across the radiator fins and across the condenser on air condition (A/C) equipped vehicles. This helps to speed cooling when the vehicle is at idle or moving at low speeds.

A vehicle equipped with the A/C or Non-A/C has two fans on the one shroud. The main fan size is 340 mm (13.4 inches) in diameter with five blades, and the auxiliary fan size is 320 mm (12.6 inches) in diameter with seven blades to aid the airflow through the radiator and the condenser. Two electric fan motors attached to the center of each fan on the fan shroud assembly drive the both fans.