Overheating?

Question...

On my 2019 V6 Tacoma, the temp guage rises to middle point even before I complete a 12-mile one-way journey to work each morning. The needle doesn't rise...it just pretty much stays at the mid-way point, and I'm not driving the crap out of it.

Is this normal temp range, or does that show that something is amiss?

I'm the farthest thing from a technician, so I have to ask "dumb" questions. TIA.

 

Yes, that's why they chose the middle...

 

Even on my 24 the temp rides middle ways , was the same way on my 17. Nuttin to worry about

 

not sure I understand your post, but it reads as if it's warming up properly. The thermostat is closed/partially closed to create heat and the ECU is programmed to change engine mapping to warm more efficiently.

 

Thanks so much for your helpful words of experience & technical knowledge.

 

Every vehicle I have ever owned had the temperature needle in the middle . Perfectly normal . It’s at operating temperature.

 

These trucks run the temp gauge needle in the middle. It's not like others vehicles that like to sit just shy of the middle

 

Before you ask about the gas gauge, it too follows a similar pattern..

 

Apparently, other things follow a similar pattern as well...

 

Newer cars don't even have a temperature gauge, so be thankful we still have it. Before we know it they'll probably replace the gas gauge with a dummy light. Who needs to know the status of the gas tank as long as there's enough to make it to a gas station, right?

 

I was unaware, but one wouldn't need to look any further than this very thread to understand why. : /

 

Everybody started out at the beginning, asking questions & reading is how we all learn.


The important thing with the temperature gauge is that the hand goes to and stays at the same place on the gauge every time you drive, it should be quite steady & predictable.

The engine thermostat (example below) regulates the coolant flow to the radiator and is constantly adjusting to maintain the design set point operating temperature of around 195 degrees.



In operation the engine temperature does wander around a bit however the factory gauge is calibrated with a fairly wide "dead band": the amount of input change required before the gauge actually moves.

The reason for the wide dead band is that a more responsive gauge would have operators (customers) constantly asking "why is my temperature gauge moving all the time".

 

Isn't the temp gauge kind of lying to us anyway? My understanding is it hangs out in the middle if the engine temp is within spec, which is a range. Monitoring the measured temperature shows it fluctuating while the needle is just sitting in the middle. It's basically vestigial at this point for what, 90% of drivers? Like voltage and oil pressure gauges, very few people would notice a problem one of these gauges is telling them about sooner than what an error message on the dash would accomplish. Of course, the demographics here skew heavily toward the nitpicky end of the spectrum, myself definitely included.

Knowing what's really going on in there is fun and interesting but Toyota is playing psychological games with the gauges. Making it sit in the middle shields us from obsessing over normal temperature swings during use and unnecessary dealership visits for vehicular hypochondriacs.

We usually have two options: accept that middle = normal = stop worrying about it. Or hook up diagnostic tools and monitor PIDs like you're piloting the USS Enterprise.

That's my two cents.