Where does your temp gauge sit?

'04 Prerunner, new radiator, water pump and thermostat, sits just above halfway on the gauge. I don't remember where it was before the work. Son's truck, I'm just his free labor and money bag. No issues but I like to be on top of things and I know there can be air bubbles etc. I parked on incline and burped it, it's been a few months, not using any coolant. I know there are better ways to purge air but I'm a shade-tree mechanic.

 

Our temperature gauges are not the most accurate .

Sitting in the middle sounds pretty common.

 

Middle is good.

Get yourself a Scangauge or a Bluetooth ODBII + app and get some actual readouts of the temps. Far more accurate than the mystery on the dashboard.

 

A hair above middle seems normal.

 

A hair below the middle

 

An IR gun is useful for lots of things.

But a can tool is a good thing to have for many reasons too.

 

toyota's oem temp guages have a 100-degree non movement window before the gauge moves off center. basically when your temp moves past this, your engine is already overheated. there's was a gauge cluster hack on ihatemud forums on how to make the OEM gauge move with the temps. i did mine about 20ish years ago not sure if its still there when i purchased my 1997 taco.

 

https://forum.ih8mud.com/threads/93-97-coolant-temperature-gauge-modification.64252/

 

Thanks guys. Son has a pal with OBD unit. Will check it out. Had to use it to get it smogged, quite a procedure! But we got it done.

Straying off topic.... We just put some new BFG Trail Terrain T/As and Bilstein 5100s on it, 2" lift. Did it all with my son (i.e. me...) except for the front spring swap for the 5100s carried in, and alignment at the local shop. Love the truck, it's only got 120K on it.

The rear got the Icon progressive 3-leaf setup with the heavy override spring tossed. It used to weave and wobble on the freeway but now is fine with a great ride and look. I had to talk my son down from over-modding the thing past what he'll realistically use it for. 99.9% of the time on the road to me means go for a quiet yet capable tire. I've gone all the way around Death Valley in an Isuzu Trooper with just 'decent' Bridgestone rubber. Just my view from many years of being poor and destitute! If money was no object I'd upgrade the heck out of all my stuff.

He wanted to blow his money on loud and harsh off-road BFGs and hugely expensive King shocks but he's not racing the thing. Me, I wouldn't have lifted it at all. My old '54 Willys gets it done without a lift. But hey, it's a free country. His truck looks good with a 2" lift and one size up tire, but I thought it looked and worked fine before (as shown). May post a pic with the lift and new tires later.

Oh yeah, the weird thing is that the sticker says TRD Sport. That's the only thing that seems out of place on this beauty.

 

I didn't know there was any difference so I'm not sure. Reading up on it, that is interesting. I'll get that code reader and see what the temp is.

 

Son's friend with the OBD tool has a Tundra and mounted an OBD plug-in gauge. Pretty cool. I hadn't seen them before but never had a reason to look.

 

The coolest thing I've seen all day.