Do the 3rd gens have a true temp gauge or is it essentially a dummy light with a dial?

Basically title. Is the temp gauge actively moving/measuring temp, or just a feel good gauge to look at?

 

I just assume everything with an OBDII the temperature gauge is filtered through the computer.

 

this, just use Bluetooth and app for real time results on data points.

 

I've not seen a real OE temp gauge in a plebeian vehicle in several decades.

To my understanding it's an idiot light with a needle and responds to 'ranges' of temperatures to cause the needle to move.

A Scan Gauge or similar tool will solve any concerns you may have with actual temps.

I will say the range of motion of most needles lines up pretty well with the Scan Gauge type tools, but you don't know a real number.

 

Are you familiar with Canbus ?
Is it low when you start and then move up ?

 

That was my assumption too. My truck's not having any issues, I was just having a discussion with someone else about this. I think the last real temp gauge I had was on my '95 XJ

 

Why would I take the bus when I have my own truck?

 

The dial slowly moves up as the engine warms up. I can see my real temp on my radio due to my maestro RR. The dial doesn’t move as the temperature fluctuates from 190-210° but during warm up it’s pretty accurate. I don’t know what what point the needle would finally move beyond halfway to start getting into overheat territory though.

 

Filtered through the computer, that makes sense. Is normal op temp for the tacoma about 200 degrees give or take?

 

Depends on if I’m moving or sitting and what rpm I’m running if I’m moving. Also of course ambient temp. I’ve seen anywhere from 210 to 185 fully warmed up. Going down the highway on a really hot day in 5th or 6th gear will be somewhere around 190-200 usually. I have not seen above 210 yet.

 

Most modern engines run at that temp, yes.

 

Gotcha. Yah, it was like that on all my jeeps in the past too, around 210 for the 4.0L and it was happy. I wasn't sure if anything had changed in the last 25 years or so technology wise lol

 

Most toyotas are 180-190F.

 

The Atkinson engine runs hotter.

 

It works like any OEM gauge, which means it is fairly slow on updates from temp sensor.

Why?

Let's say your outdoor thermometer on your truck was real time with one second refresh rate....
You would go bat shit crazy in the first 10 miles.

You would see a temperature gauge jumping all over the place and very seldom accurate.
Imagine you are going 75 mph down the interstate... Your outdoor temp is how I described above. You go through a patch of shade and temp drops 15 degrees, then back up. You go over a river and temp moves again. You go under a BRIDGE and temp drops 20. What is correct?
So, the refresh rate is slow, that way you are not alarmed, like those guys with Scan Gauges who freak out when trans temp hits 230... Nevermind it did it for one second in one part of the transmission.
Slow and steady paints a better picture and gauges like the Tacoma are better still.
Engineers need real time data. Operators need a trend.
And for the Tacoma, I am just an operator.

 

^ This!

Since the advent of OBD-II, I do not believe there has been a single car built with an old school temperature guage.

 

I hope you are being sarcastic.
Canbus - A Controller Area Network (CAN bus) is a robust vehicle bus standard designed to allow microcontrollers and devices to communicate

It is used to communicate with the cluster.
The temp is sent on the canbus data line.
This is not the 1970's people.
I have used and programmed arduinos to read and communicate with my truck data on the OBDII port with a laptop to see what is going on.

 

Again with the robust vehicle bus. I have a truck, like I mentioned before. I generally use that to get where I need to go.

 

Most people just turn the key and that's all they know. Got it.

 

Mine doesn't have a key. It's got a button thingy I push