temp gauge question

the temp gauge on my 03 Tacoma

does not even move until I have been driving for about 5 minutes

after that the needle goes to about the half way mark and seems to

work fine.

anybody else experience this?

 

how long do you let it "warm-up" before you start driving?
mine takes quite a while before the coolant starts cycling and that temp needle even budges
5 minutes sounds about right
sounds purdy normal to me

 

It's possible your thermostat may have failed. An open thermostat will cause the engine to take longer to warm up.

 

What he said ^^
You will also notice that the needle shows a tad cooler that usual that is a " dead giveaway ".

 

5 minutes isn't a long amount of time for an engine to warm up. It sounds like it's working normal but I haven't ever payed attention to my temp needle, whether it jumps straight to the temp or it gradually goes up. I'll have to watch mine and let you know. But like I said it sounds like it's working normal. As long as the truck is not overheating or anything then you should be fine. You might want to invest in an UltraGauge or something of the like. I have one so that I can keep an eye on my exact engine temp numbers as well as a few other things.

 

Mine is similar. It takes some time for the gauge to show a change, then creep up to just under half way. I would say it is normal. If it takes too long for the temp to build you should get a p0180 code.

 

the center is 80C
the lowest line is 70C

so it's normal.
In the winter (20F), it takes 30 minutes to warm up... (for a 2RZ)

 

Agreed. Part of the problem is the temperature gauge is really pinned at the bottom when it's cold. It doesn't have the resolution to show the difference between 60, 70, 80F etc, whereas the Ultragauge will.

I don't think my OEM gauge starts moving until my ultra gauge shows 100° F or more. I'll check it this morning.

 

Before I started it, the Ultragauge said my engine was 81°F. Totally believable since it was in my toasty garage which was about 80°F. The needle on the analog gauge was right in the middle of the 'C'.

The needle didn't start moving until the engine was somewhere between 110°F and 120°F. Obviously I couldn't stare at the Ultragauge and analog gauge constantly since I was driving.

It took over 5 minutes to reach 190°F at a speed that probably averaged 45 MPH, but the first part of my morning commute is a descent of roughly 200 feet. If it was flat or uphill I'm sure it would warm up quicker.

Long story short, I think your warmup is completely normal.