'22 3.5 takes a long time to get up to temp

So my 2022 Tacoma double cab short box with the 3.5 V6 seems to be taking an extraordinarily long time to get up to operating temperature. I have 1600 miles on the clock, and the temps have been between 0 and 25° f in the mornings. I have noticed if I drive 6 MI downhill into town after letting the truck run for 5 minutes in the driveway I am still only a quarter of the way up on my temp gauge, and my heater is only slightly warm. I have also noticed on the longer downhill stretches my temp gauge will actually go down to less than a quarter. If I drive uphill to work under the same conditions and same warm up time I might get to operating temp by the end of the 5 MI but if my windshield is Frosty and I don't scrape it, it generally won't be completely clear of ice by the time I get there. I am wondering if this is a normal thing for the 3.5 or if there's something wrong with my truck. I've looked through other threads on here and there seems to be quite a variety of warm up times for these trucks. I am not particularly interested in warm-up times of people that live in warmer climates, that just isn't an accurate representation of what I have going on. I've also read a lot of people blaming it on aluminum block, or the V6 holding six quarts of oil making it take longer to warm up and a variety of other what I would consider slightly uneducated opinions. I have owned quite a few different vehicles, currently my 2002 7.3 diesel which holds 15 quarts of oil and has an enormous cooling system will warm up from a dead cold in the same temperatures I would say twice as fast as my 3.5 l brand new Tacoma. The only vehicle I've had that has taken this long to warm up besides this Tacoma would probably be one of my 12 valve Cummins trucks. I would generally have to put a winter front on those to keep good temps in the winter and maybe that's the solution here if this seems to be the norm for the 3.5 l Tacoma. Anyway if somebody has some knowledge of the cooling system and what is normal in cold temperatures please let me know. Thanks
Also my stupid fuel door just flops in the wind and doesn't have any sort of detent when you open it, is that normal also?

 

I do not have that problem with my ‘21. I start it, idle for maybe a minute while I buckle my seat belt and sort out my crap and then drive. The temp needle starts moving and warm air starts blowing about a mile into the drive and it has no issues hitting and staying at normal operating temps for the duration of my 12ish mile drive to work.

 

Is that in CO. Springs? I am down in Durango, so that would be pretty apples to apples.

 

Yep.

 

No issues here with my 17 MT either, if I dont remote start it, it usually takes about 6-8 mins to get up to operating temps during winter (15-30 F) if colder it can take about 10 mins, but its never had an issue getting up to middle of the gauge. Heater is pretty quick, maybe about 5 mins i can start to feel some heat, its always on Auto so it doesn't run the fan until its somewhat warm anyways

 

Interesting... Maybe I will get some pictures tomorrow morning. My 15 4.0 was warm by the time I hit the main road ~3/4 mile

 

Sounds like the thermostat might be stuck to me, since its new, i'd take it in and have them look at it, also the fuel door, no car should have a floppy fuel door, ever.

 

Yeah, that would be my guess but you usually get a P0128 when something takes this long to hit normal temp, and I am not. Seems strange to me. I will probably take it in but thought I would arm myself with some "what is normal" first.

 

8 minutes of idle from cold. Bottom pic is cold, top is 8 minutes later. The sun move, the temp gauge didn't

 

Not surprised, it's 3 miles downhill through town in the AM for me too and the engine on my 2019 TRDOR only gets to 130ish* on the scanguage.
My Mom's 2018 RAV4 and my 2022 Rubicon are both making plenty of warm air and the gauges are coming up in 1/2 a mile.

Idling only warms the coolant...... oil, trans, diffs etc are still cold

I agree, it would be nice if it got warm a bit quicker.

YMMV RON

 

Mine is the same way, takes forever to build any temp in the cold. I have a remote starter that I use often in the winter, but I've learned it's basically useless to let it run for any extended period of time for the purpose of warming up the cab or the coolant when it's cold, especially in sub zero temperatures. Needle takes a few miles of driving to normalize, even if it's been idling for 15 minutes prior, and will drop back down from the normal temp towards the lower end of the gauge if I get stuck idling in traffic. I would say it takes nearly 1.5-2x as long as any other vehicle I've owned (and those were all pre-2000) to get to temp and to start blowing good heat when it's really cold out (-10 to -30). Without access to a scangauge to see actual temps, my guess would be the following scenarios are for my truck's coolant gauge to reach normal:

• 30 degrees, after 5-10 minutes of idle only, or 2-3 minutes of driving.
• 15 degrees, after 10-15 minutes of idle only, or 3-5 minutes of driving.
• 0 degrees, after 20+ minutes of idle only, or 5+ minutes of driving.
• -15 degrees and below, won't reach temp fully without driving, at least 5+ minutes of driving.

I think it's normal, albeit a quirk, for this truck and engine combo. I would also be interested in an explanation for why it takes so long though. I've recently been letting my truck idle after a remote start for less time because of this, doesn't seem to make much of a difference if it idles for 15+ minutes or ~1-2 minutes for it to build heat when I start driving, at least not enough to justify wasting the gas. A seat heater is in my future plans for those extra cold days.

 

Even the 4cyl 2.7L takes forever to warm up at idle in subzero temps.
At 14f it takes about 15minutes to get all the way up to temp just idling.

 

Yeah I'd warranty that, my 2018 heats up quickly. Most mornings I run the dog down to the park 1.5 miles from my house and even when it's mid-30s (I know, not as cold as your neck of the woods) the needle is all the way into normal operational temp by the time I get there. I'm super gentle on this truck when it's cold, and it's pretty slow-going when leaving the neighborhood, but by the time I get out to the main road the heater is kicking on even.

 

Can you try garaging it overnight? Mine will get up to temp after 2-3 miles even in sub-freezing, but the truck is rarely stored in sub-freezing temps. That 15-20° difference between garage and driveway doesnt seem like much, and yet it warms up quicker for some reason.

 

Mine take a while to warm up at zero too. If you want it warmer faster just shove some cardboard in front of the radiator. The newer engines don’t warm up idling much anymore.

 

I will add that just letting it run in the driveway doesn't get it to operating temp. I can maybe get some heat out of the heater, but it needs to drive to heat up all the way.

As far as the gas door, that's a weak point. Instead of the traditional thick hinge, Toyota opted to attach it using a thin pin type thing. I've seen this on other Toyota models I've owned. Spray it with silicone lubricant once a year. If it gets corroded and decides to stick, the whole thing will shear off and never line up properly again, if you force it closed. It's rare but documented on here. Mine's never given me any issues.

 

My truck has needed at least 2k RPM to get/stay warm in IA winters since new. I could idle it a half hour and it’d make no difference below zero.

I’ve driven 20 minutes, warm engine and hot air in the cab, and pulled into a busy drive thru. -20 air temp. Truck cooled right back down sitting there idling.

 

They must a poorly engineered cooling system for cold weather. Either the heater circuit bypasses the thermostat and flows to much, or it just has to much coolant bypass the t-stat internally. Kinda a big problem in my opinion. I will take it in and see what they have to say.

 

Run your defrost. I believe it has an aux electric heater. Blows warm a lot sooner. Hope this helps.

 

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