coolant lines stiff

i have 13 toyota tacoma i have a concern after a long drive when i touch the upper and lower coolant lines there both stiff and hot is this normal ??it does have a new radiator and thermostat no signs of overheating last drive i did was 8 hours long

 

Open the radiator cap just to make sure.












I'm joking.. lol. Yes it's entirely normal for them to be stiff after a long drive. Think of it this way. Hot water expands, cold water contracts. (Basic explanation of it)

 

Sounds normal to me, if everything is operating properly coolant temp is gona be around 180-200F and the radiator cap maintains pressure on the system up to around 13 psi.

If you aren't losing any coolant and not overheating everything is fine.

 

ok thanks i was just concerned about head gasket

 

Nah, if you had a headgasket leak you would either be losing coolant or pushing it out of the overflow bottle.
Pretty uncommon for 07 and up 4.0's to have a headgasket fail unless they have been overheated.

 

On a hot engine, do not open the radiator cap when the upper hose is stiff. That means the system is pressurized and opening the cap can cause burns from the hot water gushing out.
I don’t even open the radiator cap on an engine that has cooled down without checking the top hose.

 

I guessing the radiator and thermostat you didn’t do yourself?

I’ll often find the radiator upper and lower hoses need replacing because they’re hard as a rock instead of being pliable like they should be. Sometimes they’re so bad they crack as soon as you try to move them. Sometimes they’re so stiff they won’t come off the radiator. I’m sure if they needed it, they got replaced with the radiator.

 

What is the change interval on radiator hoses? Does 2nd gen only have two hoses?