Supercharged engine running hot

According to the FSM the t-stat doesn't start to open until 176-183 and isn't fully open until 203.

I live in AZ and have full armor, front and rear bumpers, shell, RTT, oversized tires. I idle fine at 186 in the garage. When I approach highway speeds above a ~90 air temp I get into the low 200's easy though. If I'm already above 200 and come to a stop light it will stay around 198.

In city traffic and speeds I don't see the 200's, only the low to mid 190's.

Edit:
It has to be a little hotter than 90 probably closer to 95 or more.

 

So is 200 a normal operating temp for the tacoma? Or what is the normal operating temp for a tacoma? Of course it would have to depend on ambient temps right? So if you're in the dessert at 115 degrees ambient temp... wouldn't 200 or 205 be a normal temperature for the taco? Maybe you don't have a problem at all and you're just chasing your tail... hm.

 

Sounds exactly like mine. Gets up to 230 when crawling around the hills

 

The hottest I've seen is 217 when it was 115 air temp going 70 mph. I kind of freaked out and slowed down to 50 and it dropped to just below 210. I don't have an Auto so no reference on trans temp FYI. I'm also not supercharged.

 

I see 190 without A/C, maybe 193 with A/C around town.

 

@dakotasyota Did you see this thread?

 

Air flow restrictions from an aftermarket grill, will decrease or increase cooling efficiency of the radiator.

Get a restrictive grill, it will definitely decrease airflow.

Other obstructions to the radiator will decrease its efficiency.

Another point, is the ducting or channeling to force air into the radiator. The Tacoma has very little. If referenced against its cousin the 4Runner. That also allows air to flow around it.

Brute Force Fab has an aluminum diversion panel for the top of the radiator. To help direct more air into it.

 

If you replace it without testing and it seems like it's working, especially if you replace with a higher temp thermostat, then you will never know if it was the true cause or not. That test would take 20 minutes max.

I do agree that having a spare would be good before you do the test, though.

 

It's so hard to compare situations on here. Everyones trucks are somewhere between slightly and completely different from each other! Comparing a overhead supercharger to decreased airflow and increased weight can return different results in different situations. I honestly can't make a judgement as to whether either yours or OP's temps are abnormal or dangerous, but there may be solutions!

 

So I was doing some searching online trying to find the specs of the stock radiator. This is mostly just out of curiousity but I might have to try one of these out. So anyway, searching for oe replacements on ebay for our trucks, the dual vvti 4runner, and the 1gr tundra, these are my findings. Not sure if the math is correct or not the numbers could be complete bullshiz, but it's all I got so far. Anyway I will attach the pics here:


So roughly the numbers are:
Tacoma 521
4runner 615
Tundra 880

Now I know they probably would not fit but does any one think there might be a chance? Not sure if it would really make a difference, maybe an eletric fan setup would be better off. From what ai have read about eletric fans it seems people either love theirs or have nothing but problems with them.

 

Electric fans can cause problems if not properly setup, but work wonders when setup correctly. Many people believe what came with the truck stock is the best way to go, personally I think you can get an electric fan setup that's better than the stock fan. If running an electric fan, it should be easy to make the tundra radiator work for you. I would just look at your buddies and compare how it mounts with the way your current one mounts, that should give you an idea of the work needed to make it fit.

I was having an issue with my 97' 4runner that was kind of the opposite of what you're going through that ended up being the radiator. When driving at speed for a while in hot ambient temps it would heat up, even climb into the 240 range. When idled it would come back down to normal temps. This ended up being a bad radiator, it couldn't cool as needed with the additional load. As soon as I swapped a new radiator from rock auto in the temp stays below 195 daily. It's been about 2 months and I haven't seen it get over 195 once.

 

Nothing a little creative modding couldn't overcome.

 

I called Ron David today, talked to Bill. He thinks I have an airflow problem more than likely. He recommended getting a better fan clutch and also mentioned I could try to seal the fan shroud to the radiator. He said looking at the overall cubic inches for the radiator isn't always the best way to tell if a radiator will perform better so the bigger 4runner and tundra rads might be a wash.

I also asked him about going to electric fans but he said he would keep the mechanical fan on these trucks. Toyota dealer will have my radiator cap today since they had to order it. Maybe that will solve all of my problems

 

Interesting. Did he explain why?

 

This is all news to me... so a cap can be bad even though it's not leaking?

 

He didn't go into details, and I had to go because I was at work but I might call him back and ask. He recommended me finding a heavy duty/towing fan clutch instead. I've done some searching and can only find oem replacements. I am really considering doing the tundra rad with an electric fan. Tundra rad holds just a tiny bit more coolant than ours even though it seems to be much larger.

As far as the cap situation, I finally got mine. Also I was comparing my truck to my dad's truck. He has no dried up coolant near his cap like my truck does, really makes me wonder if this stupid cap is going to make a difference.

I know everyone's seen them but why not post some pictures of it while I wait for my truck to cool off.

 

New cap installed. The old cap had this weird blue build up on it. Anyone have a clue what it might be from?

 

Correct. Think of it more like it isn't hold the pressure it was designed to. Or like swapping on a cap that hold a lot less pressure than your current one. The coolant will reach a boiling point at a much lower temp, and escape out through the cap.

That was actually a major problem on a recent Ford diesel engine. Recall after recall for engine problems. All related to needing a cap with a higher pressure.

 

if it's a cap prob. you'll see a full recovery bottle when it's getting hot.

plugged rad. for sure sign is getting hot on hwy. then cooling at idle.

it's never a bad idea to make sure you have no gases in radiator before buying parts.

 

Any updates op?