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

Are you supercharged? And what color is your 4Runner. Going from a red to black truck black is quite noticeably hotter in the cabin. It just absorbs the heat.

Also, a thicker radiator can actually hurt you in situations with low airflow. It’s harder for air to pass through the rad than it is with a thinner one. Just another reason why I have a koyorad on order. It’s just under 1.5” instead of 2” on the champion.

 

Boring 2000s silver, naturally aspirated

I wouldnt have thought about airflow like that

 

It’s interesting that you get below 187 temps on the 4Runner with the Stat in the “correct” location. I’ve read over on 4Runner forums that a few guys, one of which was gadget, was getting 180 degrees with a stock radiator and 170 stat.

That’s interesting for two reasons because

1. I’m under the impression that, in general, your temps will be ~10 degrees higher than your stat.

2. ALOT of people on TW told me that there’s no way you could get that temp with a stock radiator.

3. I believe I’ve seen people’s reports on Tacoma’s that jiggle valve in the “correct” location brought temps down but not as low as yours.

My stock OEM rad, which was pretty new at the time, was weeping out of the top of the crimp so I bought a champion since they were the same price. I will have to get a Toyota 170 when I change out for the KOYO and see how that does.

The issue with the Stants is that the jiggle valve is not the same design. Stants have a v notch. So it’s possible that they do have a significant difference. Don’t know.

Maybe it’s a 4Runner thing. Are you auto or manual?

 

Just got home from 4 days of camping in Eastern sierras, and camp home to a little a little present!

 

6 feet please.

 

Auto only difference from stock i could think of is my trans cooler is external from the rad

Perhaps i have a 170 degree stat, but its a toyota stat that im pretty sure is original to the truck which would make it 180 correct?

I was under that same impression so when my scanguage said 207 degrees I figured I had a 190 degree tstat

Till i did some research and decided to flip it, the same tstat that was regulating steadily at 207 now regulates at 185ish

Another thing i live a couple feet below sea level so denser air has to help cooling

 

What part? I’m mostly certain my v notch is a 6.

And I’m pretty sure @1997tacomav6 was getting similar temps of 180-185 up in Colorado. Then his temps dropped a bit with his new radiator.

it may be the damn Champion. Who the hell knows. Like I said there’s a thread here and most people were reporting ~190-200 jiggle at 6 on Tacomas.

Ambient temps and humidity play a big role. In winter months I’m getting probably 177-185. So I don’t know I give up on this tonight. Don’t know why mine are a bit higher on a lower stat, v at 6, and bigger rad and new fan clutch.

 

Dealership replaced my water pump, timing belt and thermostat. Jiggle valve was put at 12:00. Truck ran between 200-208F. I went back in and replaced the thermostat, along with other components, and put it at 6:00. Truck now runs 186-192F. Thermostat part number

$23 90916-03075 Thermostat

90916-03075 and the gasket 16325-62010.

 

Maybe the external trans cooler have something to do with it. You’re adding heat back into the bottom of the radiator where the now cooled water is.

I’ll have to bypass the radiator straight to my external next weekend.

 

Only reason i did that is because original 4 runner radiators have a problem of mixing trans fluid and coolant

The rad ended up cracking before that happend, i just didnt want to mess with trans cooler lines in the autozone parking lot so it stayed that way

 

Okay that sounds right. I normally run 180-185. Only get to 190 when idling on hot days.

I believe the combination of supercharger, black paint, and the thicker radiator cause that idle spike.

If you think about it the fan is no longer in the ideal position in the shroud. It sits more inside, probably creating turbulence inside the shroud.

And the fan can’t pull air through as easily since it’s thicker which is a known issue with thicker cores.

 

Initially i though you ran 190-200 normally not only durring spikes, all seems fine in that case

 

No I think this conversation started when someone asked about electric fans. I don’t know how it got here.

 

The whole purpose of some of is going to a larger radiator was to run a lower thermostat and lower water temp for the supercharger guys. Now, that’s a debated subject in itself but I’m already on the Koyorad (Japanese JDM Life) train. My goal is to keep it around 180 because that’s what makes me feel better.

 

Im pretty sure FSM says 180-200. So yeah still in normal range.

and multiple oil samples have stated that wear is better than expected for mileage.

 

Ca you verify that the FSM goes into that much detail?

Oil analysis shows better than expected.

Toyota sold a 160 degree thermostat for this application when the TRD program was still around. So....

 

Idk why people care that much about it. Long as it's below 200 your good.

Also he's not on a champion anymore he got a custom made one after his champion like almost everyone's blew a leak.

 

Fwiw I'm supercharged, run the stock tstat, original radiator (90k miles), stock fan clutch and live where it's currently triple degree heat and my average coolant temp is 190. Only see it go above 200 if I'm pulling up a large highway grade and rarely. Manual trans though.
Only time I've ever seen the temp above ~205 was when I had the e-fans installed.

 

Corn dogs