2004 V6 4x4 RUNNING HOT, BUT NOT OVERHEATING...PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!

Thanks tacomapilot2004 and twfsa. Your pics are exactly the same. Mine is definitely above your gauges at running temp. Going to look into getting temperature checked across the radiator and then go from there....may be a cleaning or may be a new radiator depending on cost.

The weird thing is that I never have any creeping of the needle. The truck warms up to running temp (as seen in the picture) and just stays there. The needle has never moved up or down once at running temp. Thoughts??

 

Hey guys sounds like I'm having the same problem with my 03 3.4.
On only one occasion while drive has my temp risen, I was on the freeway and it was about 117 degrees outside and it rose to about 3/4. The other occasion is when I'm driving, go to stop at a gas station, turn the truck off then restart after only a minute or two, when restarted the temp gauge reads about 3/4 but then goes back down to half after about 5 minutes of driving, I do have new waterpump, thermostat, clutch fan and radiator.

 

Well, after all the new parts you threw at it, I suspect an air bubble. Get a friend and go find a decently sloped hill and park it facing uphill. Take the radiator cap off (when the temp is safe), start engine, turn the heater on full blast and look at the radiator for air bubbles. After a few minutes (at operating temp) if you don't see any bubbles, this is where your buddy comes in, bounce the front corners of the truck one at a time. It's better to have two sets of eyes here, one to bounce the truck, and the other to look for bubbles. Other than that, I can't think of anything else right off hand. Good luck and I hope you fix it soon.

 

Unfortunately I have bled the system as good as perfect as I believe, I used a funnel with a radiator cap adapter and left the truck running for about 30 minutes until the system stopped bubbling, now being about a week after, I might go ahead and try to Rebleed the coolant system, other then that I'm pretty much stumped, as well as all the other technicians at my work as well.

 

I wanna say to check out the temp sending unit. Maybe the housing is failing but the electronics are holding up, and it's reading heat from the block until the truck starts moving again.

 

That's also another thing that I've replaced, when I bought the truck from a dealer the temp gauge didn't work, so I started by replacing the sensor, which didn't work, so then I replaced the actual gauge in the cluster which fixed the problem, so both of those being new as well.

 

You've certainly worked on your Taco more than me, this is my first Taco and every time I pop the hood or put it on stands it's a learning experience. I'm just going by on archaic, basic knowledge of auto mechanics. There are techs here who do their best to lend a hand, hope they can help.

 

Ive worked in a shop for about 3 years now, about 1 year working on Lexus so my knowledge on toyotas is decent but my truck def has me and all the other techs pretty stumped on what could really be the problem so I figured I'd try forums. Thank you for the help. If I ever get it figured out I'll make sure to post.

 

I dunno but i'll throw some ideas:

a. re-bleed the truck with the funnel BUTT on a slope?
b. ensure the temp gauge sender is fully seated?....(the one in the back and not the front)
c. (prolly dun really matter a lot) the thermostat's lil jiggle valve is not at the 6 o' clock position

i think "a" above is the best bet.

i DID have a problem with my gauge in the dash jumping all over and mines turned out to be the temp gauge sender (hidden behind the passenger side cylinder head). I had bumped it and it was loose; snugged it and problem solved. <<< i knew it was the gauge sender because my scan-gauge said the temp was in the 179-184 range all-the-while the temp gauge in the cluster was jumpin'-for-joy all over the place.

GL

 

How do you get the radiator professionally cleaned?