Cooling issues? Not anymore

Under this logic, then no "aftermarket" parts make any improvements in performance....

Technically he never said that he was an engineer for Toyota. Devil's in the details. Always feel free to spend your hard earned money as and where you please. The well informed will spend their money as they please.

 

Reading is hard yo.

 

WOW... I get the R&D costs need to be made up, but $800 (on the low end) for a plastic shroud, fan, and electric motor? I'm sure this will help the guys running out in the deserts, or up the the thinner air as you said. For the other guys, probably 80% of us I'm guessing, it's a tough sell. I think it's a niche product man. GOOD LUCK! Bringing new(ish) ideas to market is always tough - hopefully it works out for you.

 

No any 12v command will work

 

While I will agree that the failure modes you mention are possible, most cars on the road (every transverse engine car, at least) uses an electric fan as its only cooling. It should be quite possible to make a reliable electric setup!

 

Warranty issues should be the reason that most people should have second thoughts about doing this. If your truck is under warranty, this could be something that would void the warranty. I'm sure someone will cite Magnuson–Moss Warranty Act they often incorrectly do

 

Its a bit more then that. Sure you could go buy a 16in fan and small controller and prove for the rad and it would work. But its not reliable for a daily. Thats for like a classic muscle car. These parts im using have to be the best bc it has to work. Most of us don't have a tacoma as just a toy to use here and there. That's why we chose the parts we chose. To ensure that reliability and to ensure it works for all. I might work on a cheaper kit but how much cheaper it will be is unknown. Bc ill still pirate a oem validated pwm setup to ensure the fan won't quit on you

 

What are you using to record these values? Looks like something I'd be interested in.

 

Just an obd2 plug and the obd fusion app

 

I've never seen or heard of any cooling issues. My temps run 190-195 even on the hottest and most humid of days in NJ. Never even touched 200.

 

Doubt I would be in on something like this, however I enjoy seeing people work out problems. This probably will never be a problem for my rig, however just hauling my arse back and forth is all she is going to do.

 

Let's expand on that just a bit.


If engineers were allowed to run free, stuff would cost two or three times as much, would take twice as long to develop and launch, and would last at least twice as long.

Everyone from managers through bean counters, marketing, CEOs, and stockholders want zero part of that.


Customers want a $15k Taco that most only keep around for 3yrs.


Who's correct in all of this? Us, them, no one?

 

I don't disagree, many (if not most) late-model cars use this style of fan, however I've personally seen one fail (because of a chaffed wire) which caused the engine to overheat and blow a head gasket. A local shop I'm friendly with tells me it's a pretty common issue they see regularly. That's why I suggested the OP add a status light to alert the driver if the fan stops.

My off-road car is a heavily-modified VW Thing with a swapped-in Turbo-charged Ford engine in it (picture of the car in my album). Because of the engine being in the rear (and the radiator being above the rear seat) I can only run dual electric fans on it. Thankfully it's very obvious in that car when those fans turn-on. If it wasn't I would add a light to tell me when they wern't on. It was also on that same car where I saw that upgrading from a two-row radiator with plastic tanks to an aluminum four-core radiator made a dramatic difference in how often my fans have to run. Unless I'm on the freeway or pushing it really hard in the dirt it takes a long time (~20 minutes) for the fans to kick-on. With the previous, smaller radiator that time was about half of that.

My point is replacing the stock mechanical fan with an electric unit is a neat idea, but without Dyno numbers for *this application* it's impossible to say if it will result in higher horsepower or not. If it's only an increase of say less then 5 HP is it really worth it?

Personally I think the proposed cost is too high. The four-core radiator and dual-fan system I'm running on my afore-mentioned VW Thing cost about half of what the OP is proposing for his system. FWIW My system uses all OEM parts from a Jeep XJ (radiator) and fans from a Chrysler Minivan.

Add a status light so if (/when) the fan stops the driver knows it.

My plan is to upgrade my Taco to a larger radiator (once the warranty is over) and call it a day.

 

Its also a global platform. That is designed to run for ever in stock form anywhere. Toyota also does it if works dont fix it so there is a ton of old tech in these trucks.

Here we dont keep it stock. And thats where this comes in.

 

The customer is always right.


My take on it is that if its cheap and easy, Toyota would have already done it. When you get into more serious stuff like this you have to ask why didn't they do it? Did they feel it was too expensive for the market? An engineering compromise? Something we haven't thought of?

I like the idea of electric fans, but a reliable implementation is going to be crucial. At the very least I would upgrade my temperature gauge so it actually reads the temperature.

 

The customer is right when it is easy.


The current fan is defacto. It's a known and Toyota is conservative. Why put in additional testing, yadda, yadda . . .

Electric fans are the norm these days. There's no risk on the OE side other than the cost of the change.



On the gauge, I am surprised it is still there. Bet on the same or worse (a light only) in the future. Sorry!

 

Yep, agreed. We've already seen where they've cut costs on the tacoma compared to 4runner in other places, this might be one of those things.


The lack of useful gauges on vehicles these days is such a shitty trend. Its worse when they replace them with gauges that are just on/off. Ugh.

 

It will continue, esp when the masses are asking for more gizmos. Folks want more features, stuff like bed cubbies and AT coolers disappear.


On the gauge side, at least there is OBD. All the real data is thankfully still available. Just have to seek it out.

 

True. Chained up by legal, finance, management, emissions, focus groups etc.

 

Focus groups! AKA, how can a group of customers get it so wrong?