Texas Heater

I have a question regarding the heater in my truck.

its pretty simple really, we dont use the heater much in Texas especially outside the months of Dec - Feb. But, this morning it was 45 when i left for work so i wanted to use it a bit until i got used to the elements. It did not blow hot air until i was driving down the highway. Once i got off the highway it quit blowing warm again. Why would this be? Shouldnt it blow warm to hot air when set that way on the controls? What am i missing.....

 

How exactly did you have it set ie Fan on or off ? Recirc on or off ? How far to the right (Red) on the temp dial ? What did you have the output set to - vent,floor, defrost, mixed ? Slow speed around town, fan off or low, and recirc instead of fresh may not flow much air. Also Toyota (in their dubious wisdom), uses a/c in defrost/defrost+floor, but doesn't light the a/c light or allow us to over-ride. Sounds like you had little air flow except when at highway speed, maybe try a higher fan speed.

Play with different settings and see if it helps. Except for extremely hot weather, I prefer recirc off, as low a fan speed as possible, and air to the upper dash vents only.

 

You will get very little flow at the floor level, that's normal. If you find that you only get heat intermittently, check your radiator fluid level. A low radiator will cause intermittent slugs of heat.

 

The answer is yes it should blow what you set it at regardless of the speed you are driving. These vehicles are notorious for air pockets if the coolant has been changed or gotten low. Check the level of your coolant. If low it needs to be filled and maybe even burped.

 

I can cook bacon with my tacoma heat, so something is really odd here. these things do nothing else except blast heat. as a second function it is a truck.

 

Heater on fresh and dash vents is much warmer than on floor or floor/defroster. I never run mine on recirculate for heat because running the fan runs the AC compressor. On my Mazda I cut a trace on the climate control board that eliminated the auto-AC thing. The only time the compressor runs is when the AC button is pushed. I wish I could do that to the truck too. I'm sure it can be done but not sure which trace on the board would be the correct one.

 

You can do it, try searching for AC defrost mod. It will make it so the AC only turns on when you push the ac button. I've done it and it works.

 

I had the defrost on with the temp gauge turned all the way to the right on the dash. The air was not hot nor warm after 10 minutes of idle. I did not have the recir button on.

Why would the coolant level dictate if the cab gets heat or not or if it the cab gets intermiten heat? The coolant itself is still cycling thru the motor and warming up so heat should still come in the cab... or am i way off???? lol

Regardless, imma check the fluid level

 

why would low coolant do that ?

because the heater radiator feed lines go up over the engine then back down
under the dash and if you have low coolant perhaps there is more air
than warm coolant in that little heater radiator under the dash

 

Try it with recirc off, output to vent+floor, 1 or 2 fan speed, temp turned to 2 o'clock. Mine does fine at highway speed with fan off, also cracking 1 window an inch or so helps.

 

checked coolant level and it was fine

ok here is what i did this morning since it was 42 when i left the house...

i turned on the heater, dash vents only and no recirc. it did get warmer sooner. my concern will be for Dec thru Feb later this year. when it gets cold will the truck ever get warm...

i appreciate all the help as i am learning as i go with my first Tacoma

 

All I can tell you is that this is not normal. It is however common in many Tacomas. If you do a search you will see others have had the similar problems. The heater should run you out of there.
As for the coolant level. Just because it is full does not mean the system does not have air in it. That is one of the big problems with the Tacoma. It may need burped. You might want to Google burping a Tacoma.

Also it could be a bad gate valve that lets hot radiator fluid into heater core or the thermostat. There are any number of things it could be. Something might be plugged. You will have to Google and then check each one at a time, but the heater should run you out of the truck at idle or running down the road even at below 0 much more so when it is in the 40's.

 

i didnt think it was normal. like i stated before this is my first tacoma and im still learning. in all the full size trucks i have had the heater would get hot in a matter of a few minutes.

i will definitely look into the burping of the radiator. doesnt sound hard to do. i will save the gate for last.

thanks for the guidance

 

yeah 1 thing about my tacoma, you want heat, you get it. Heats up hotter than my 4runner or Yaris, and the 4runner is no slouch with air conditioning. so if yours doesn't something is whacked