Toyota Repair: temperature guage moving towards hot level but never overheats, 1987 toyota camry, electric cooling fans

Question
Hi ted.  I own a 1987 toyota camry sw 4 cyc 198650 mileage. After driving about 45 mins the temp guage hand starts going toward hot level. I have checked antifreeze ok. New thermostat. Water pump is 2 years old. It never overheats but that hand makes me nervous on a long distance drive. What's your advice?

Answer
Three things to be concerned about, the radiator, the headgasket and the electric cooling fans, the radiator may be partially clogged up causing a loss of coolant circulation, make sure the cooling fans come on, if neither one is causing the problem have it checked for a possible leaking headgasket.
You can save yourself some money for diagnostic time at a repair shop by replacing the radiator to see if it solves the problem but make sure that the fans come on first.