What have you done to your Tacoma today? 1st Gen Edition

Well, my weekend plans were cut a bit short this passed weekend. We got a really late start Friday night... and then our Trans temps started to spike and truck over heated on the way up to our campsite... at about 10PM. By the time we made it to our campsite, got set up, and got to bed, it was passed 2AM. We were much closer to camp than home, it was late, and I didn't feel like making the drive home at that point.


Was the first trip, fully loaded, since the 4wd swap (and also going from 265 to 285 tires). Pretty sure I have the right ideas on how to solve the problems... and that's what I'll be doing this weekend.

 

I made a phone mount today. Came out pretty good, really clean looking and stable.

 

gotta hit the Dmv today with the pants down...

 

At least I got to wake up with a view on Saturday morning.

 

Mustang 2 months ago was $370, Corvette last month was $288, other Corvette on non-op, and Tacoma isn't due until December...I'm a repeat customer and I don't even get KY or Astroglide...

 

that's sooo purdy

 

Price drop and willing to separate at this point. 4.88 e locker third and housing.

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/4-88-rear-e-locker-axle-price-drop.612535/

 

So, sudden coolant temp spike tells me some kind of blockage. Which is odd, because the Tstat was replaced last year (with genuine Toyota, jiggle at 6:00) And I also flush the coolant system more than most do.

But, I still ordered a new Tstat and O-ring. Will also be flushing the entire system, as well as the heater core separately.



I've also heard from a friend that he chased an overheating issue for nearly an entire summer, one year. It was on a 5vz-fe motor, and it turned out to be a collapsing lower radiator hose. He said under hard load, once the system heated up, the hose would become soft and suck shut. So I ordered an internal support spring for inside the lower hose.




As for the trans temps. I'm kind of disappointed in myself. When I did the 4wd swap, I also did a shift kit. The instructions said it might be a good idea to replace the T/C lock up solenoid, because a worn or improperly functioning solenoid can cause the trans to run hot. I priced the solenoid at my local dealer, and they wanted 158 bucks for it... so I left it alone. I should have priced elsewhere, because I've found the average price from other dealers to be around $55. I ordered one... now I get to crack open the transmission again (joy).



While I have the pan dropped I'll of course inspect and clean the strainer as well.

I will also be adding a trans cooler, with thermostat switch (another thing I probably should have done while I was swapping to 4wd)


As well as adding an external transmission filter, mainly to add more fluid capacity (another thing that should have been done during my swap)



And last but not least. When I installed my winch, I put the big solenoid box in the center in front of my radiator. Didn't really like it there, but with 2 batteries under the hood, my choices were limited. I've been researching other options and found you can replace the 4 Ford tractor style solenoids with a solid state contactor. The contactor is much smaller, and is also safer in respect that solenoids can fail "open" causing the winch to run until disconnected from the battery. The contactor will fail "closed" causing the winch to not run.

Anyway... I have found the contactor will easily run a Warn 8274. I run an M8000 so it should do fine. At the end of the day, I'm hoping that clearing space in front of the radiator will help.

 

@Uphillshunter Haven't heard of a support spring like that for a radiator hose before. Interesting

Did you think about maybe using silicone radiator hose? It can withstand much higher temps and is much more resilient in general.

Sucking radiator hoses closed can also be caused from a bad radiator cap sometimes too. I'd check that too. Maybe do a pressure test depending on how in depth you wanna get with it.

 

Picked up these bad boys today!

 

I have a silicone upper hose, but can't seem to find a silicone lower for my application.

I can't imagine the cap is bad. It's only about a month old. But if problems presist, I start in that direction.

 

hm. yea I haven't looked into silicone hoses too much, but they can be hard to find sometimes.

If the cap is that new, then I wouldn't expect it to be bad either.

Hopefully all the other stuff you're doing fixes it

 

... half asleep I wrote the check for $$$ and zero cents. he told me the total was $$$.10 and wanted his 10 cents, had to go back outside and scrounge around for IL toll change that I did not use last week.
I played nice because the elected county treasurer was actually in the building helping with a promo table handing out payDay bars and water

 

Love the awning and the setup. People may laugh at it but really is a convenient and fun way to mix your wheeling and your Basecamp together. Sweet ride man

 

The funniest part is the RV rug. Makes it like an offroad living room basecamp. My wife likes her hominess.

 

Interesting about the winch. Totally makes sense though with the way those electrical/electronics work. You already have a tranny cooler in front of the radiator? You already replaced your fan clutch too right? Or thought about swapping in a heavier fluid into the fan clutch so that it locks sooner and stays locked longer? That helped me keep my engine and tranny cooler and A/C functioning better in summer on my 80 series Cruiser. Just an idea, is all

 

I like that as well just cause everything stays cleaner. I like to get dirty but I like to live clean lol

 

I did replace the fan clutch to the "tow duty" Aisin fan clutch.

I don't have a tranny cooler (yet) other than just where it runs through the bottom of the radiator. But I just realized, this past weekend, that entire section of the bottom of my radiator is basically behind the crossmember my TrailGear front bumper is mounted to.

 

What's the part number for this?

 

Did you do the Champion Rad?