Purple Ice coolant additive?

2004 4x4 Tacoma TRD supercharged 5 speed, 30k miles...

Anyone here ever tried using Purple Ice coolant additive to counter over-heating issues?

Here's the product in question:
http://www.royalpurpleconsumer.com/products/purple-ice-radiator-coolant-additive/

Long story short, my supercharged '04 starts to overheat occasionally only when in 4lo for extended periods of time. Happened on my last outing the past weekend, I was in 4lo crawling up several hills at the local OHV park for the better part of the day, the last hill was particularly grueling and toward the top I noticed my temp gauge climbing. I stopped it when it got dangerously close to the red zone, popped the hood and let it cool down. Once it did, I was fine the rest of the trip.

Took it to the dealer to have them verify that I wasn't experiencing a bad water pump, bad radiator or head gasket issue. They told me they couldn't find anything wrong.

I should also mention, I have dual electric cooling fans that are manually turned on/off via a switch in my cab. Obviously, I leave them in the 'on' position at all times but I wonder if they are contributing to the problem. I know they are designed for performance, but I'm skeptical at how well they hold up to the low speed/high RPM circumstances of 4lo wheeling.

At any rate, dealership told me that between those e-fans and my supercharger, my truck is going to run on the hot end especially if I'm in 4lo for a long time. They suggested I try Purple Ice and look into other cooling options, such as going back to the stock clutch fan.

Anyway, that's the backstory but I am curious about this Purple Ice stuff. Only one thread on it here at TW and it's inconclusive. Anyone have any experience?

Thanks in advance...

 

I meen, obviously the fans are the culprit...

 

I run the stuff in my 1992 Corvette LT1 and have noticed a more stable temperature.

 

I used to use a similar product called Water Wetter in my sport bikes. It did noticeably decrease the running temperature, not sure i ever saw as much as the advertised 20 degrees, but noticeable.
http://www.redlineoil.com/product.aspx?pid=74&pcid=10

 

Cool thanks, that's good to know. I hadn't heard of it before so I wasn't sure if it was just some kind of empty-promise-in-a-bottle thing or not.

I'm sure they are too, but since the previous owner installed the e-fans, I don't have the original fan clutch parts. I'm going to source them but until I can and get them installed, I wanted to see if this stuff would help prevent overheating or if it's a bust

 

Do you know what the CFM rating on your fans are? I wouldn't solely depend on a coolant additive for cooling. Maybe vents on the hood to let heat out?

 

I run red line water wetter with just distilled water in my street/strip Camaro and temps are just over 180 deg on a hot summer day with 105deg plus ambient air temp

I've been thinking of trying some in my truck to see if I see any noticeable drop in water temp

Now back to the OP's question why not install a 12" electric pusher fan on the a.c. condenser . This way when temps climb you can manually turn that fan on for increased air flow

Also the trans cooler for the automatic if equipped is inside the radiator so if trans temp increases it will heat soak the radiator . To solve that problem get one of those big B&M super cooler plate style coolers and remote mount it

Doing this will keep you radiator from heat soaking

 

I've been thinking about doing some vents, or maybe an actual functional hood scoop. The black TRD supercharger for the first gens doesn't have an intercooler built in like the 2nd gens version does, so that's certainly not helping me. Vents on the hood by the s/c or a scoop would help bring air to it and keep it running cooler. As of now, it's basically a big heater sitting on top of my block and definitely contributing to the problem

Hadn't heard of that before, I'll look into it, thanks!

 

I suggest find out the CFM rating of the fans you are using as I don't think they are pulling enough air as I haven't seen any overheating post with oem clutch fans. Either go back to eom clutch fans or higher CFM fans for cooling.

 

still dont want to replace the fan clutch, fan, and shroud?

 

I've used Water Wetter on a 1968 Camaro before and it didn't run any cooler but kept the temperature stable.

 

I do, that's the plan. I'm ordering the fan/shroud from rockauto like we discussed in that other thread. In the meantime I was just curious if running this coolant additive will help keep me a little safer until I can get the stock clutch fan/shroud re-installed

I'm thinking of still going with vents in the future to help keep the s/c running a little cooler since I spend most of my time wheeling in 4lo and it seems like the s/c isn't helping my cooling issue (fans being the biggest issue)

 

Also a supercharger on a 2.7 4cylinder has no intercooler so you're stuffing hot air into the motor . This heat soaks the motor even more as the supercharger increases air temp

 

I have the 3.4l but from what I've read, it doesn't have an intercooler either.

 

One my Camaro I run no coolant just water wetter and distilled water as per NHRA and temps never get above 180

 

Awesome!

Ok, so purple Ice claims to be the best if you run a 20/80 mix of AF/water PLUS 2oz of Purple Ice per quart in your system. about 20 degrees cooler.

However, if you want to stick with the usual 50/50 mix to be safe, I think purple ice is still the better choice since it claims to drop the temperatures 2 more degrees than the competitors lucas and redline.

Give it a shot

 

Thanks @CodeSeven! Im assuming its alright to just add the 1-2 oz of purple ice to my existing coolant? Just had a flush done a couple weeks ago.

 

no. 1 ounce PER quart of mix in your system! essentially just dump a 12 ounce bottle into your system and youll be fine.

 

Im sure ill catch hell for this, but believe it or not Toyota does design there coolant to run in there motors, plenty of guys will argue tat coolant is coolant, and to a extent that is true. But I have never run anything else then Toyota Brand and all three of my trucks have over 190k on them.