3RD GEN TACOMA OVERHEATING

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/cooling-issues-not-anymore.682278/

Although likely the heat and lack of airflow are the big factors. Matt from Winder towing often throws water onto the front of the radiator during the heat and working hard.

 

That’s an old trick my grandfather taught me along with turning the heater on to cool off the engine. I used to do it with my 68 BMW during and after climbing a giant grade in the summer back in the 70’s.

 

Are our temp gauges true gauges or just idiot gauges?

Back when I ran my jeep Cherokee, I remember putting in an Electric fan and hood louvers. Those 4.0s would get broiling hot rock crawling in the summer.

 

Anything without numbers on it is an idiot gauge.

They might as well have put on it, that would’ve been much better than nothing!

 

I’ve overheated trucks (2nd and 3rd gen). It’s fairly easy to do that on the trails on a hot humid day. One trick I was thought is to roll all the windows down, shut off the AC, turn on the heat all the way and crank up the vent fan all the way. That does a good job dumping heat, but it is at the expense of those in the cab. I’ll also just open the hood when stopped and shut off to let heat escape the engine bay faster. Again, the only ties I’ve noticed this are on hot+humid days.

 

Fair point. I guess I meant does it increase in a linear fashion with temp increase, or does it hit a threshhold and just pop over to the right?

 

Good question, I would assume it goes up in a linear fashion and is actually measuring output from a thermistor, but they didn’t calibrate it so there’s no numbers to put on the dash- It’s just a qualitative measurement.

 

Fun physics fact: Unlike our sweat cooled bodies, your truck radiator actually works better the more humid the air gets. Humid air actually has greater specific heat than dry, so it takes more heat energy out of the radiator while heating the ambient humid air, which means the radiator has higher efficiency at dumping heat.

 

@OnHartung'sRoad Mine is a 2019 and I believe they did mention they did that test because they were able to replicate my overheating issue. I dont know if they checked if the air was blowing hot air... But they only told me they resurfaced the front (believe also the back) rotors and replaced the drums for the vibration issue. But did nothing for the overheating issue.Can I still bring up the TBS? Im going to pick it from their shop in 3hours.

 

If you want them to do that repair that is outlined on the document I posted up above, Yeah bring it up to them. Your truck is eligible if the air conditioner is blowing warm air when it is getting hot for sure.

Personally though -if you can, I would put my own fan in with a switch or tie it into the AC clutch hot wire with a relay, it’s much less invasive on the rest of your truck to do it yourself that way. They literally are going behind the dashboard with their required repair for that TSB.

 

Question to the OP: Was it dusty that day? Superfine dust can get in the cooling fins and reduce cooling capacity. And it will blow out at highway speeds.

 

@davidstacoma kinda crazy their saying its "normal" as over heating nevers been a good sign. Last thing id want is a head gasket to blow or the heads to warp. I'd also try a different toyota dealer since they seem to be kinda fumbling at the store your at. Always good to get a second opinion. I had issues with a dealer once and by just going to a different one they found and resolved a different issue.

 

1. You cannot win (that is, you cannot get something for nothing, because matter and energy are conserved).
   
2. You cannot break even (you cannot return to the same energy state, because there is always an increase in disorder; entropy always increases).
   
3. You cannot get out of the game (because absolute zero is unattainable).

if we bring a hot object into contact with a cold object, we observe that the hot object cools down and the cold object heats up until an equilibrium is reached. The transfer of heat goes from the hot object to the cold object.
If it went the other way, cold would get colder and hot would get hotter and then zombies come out and house fall on witches...

 

The first few times I tried getting it repaired they were not able to replicate the issue and everyone told me its normal for it to overheat a girl in the service department even told me she doesn't take her truck on long trips for that reason she takes her older car and Im like then why purchase a new truck. Anywho thats when I tried contacting corporate and that person told me the exact same thing overheating is a normal thing and actually yelled at me over the phone so I let it go until now. And i thought yes they finally were able to replicate it now they can do something to fix it. So the service advisor told me we had a TFTS come look at it we were able to replicate it but we didnt get approval to add or replace any parts because its a normal function. (Sorry I sound like a broken record)

 

TSB says they dont have to confirm, they will take your word on it too. Page 4 of the TSB "If unable to duplicate the condition, confirm that the customers complaint is similar to the condition described in step 1"

 

I know about that entropy increases thing, it’s a bitch getting old!

 

I would print that TSB notice and wave it in front of them, and then say adios. It sounds like you really need another service center, they are not helping you at all.

 

Nah uh. I saw tenet. We have anti-entropy now

 

@OnHartung'sRoad thanks for psoting that tsb ! I looked at it and didnt really see it mentioning anything on the overheating side. Mine seems to have blown cold as a prodct of the over heating but in that tsb it seems to only outline the "blowing warm air in high temps" concern.

 

Just tell them the ac stops working when its really hot out. Bring it in on a cooler day, they dont need to confirm, they just do the tsb.