Hot or Not? (1 Viewer)

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I just had my radiator flushed today on my 1978 FJ40 and running it today around town and on the highway between 55-65 this is the temperature reading I had. Is this a normal temp level or is this hot?

Ambient air temp today was 84 degrees and 65% humidity.

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Ambient air temperature???????

Otherwise it looks just slightly above normal, taking into account the parallax view.
 
Ambient air temperature???????

Otherwise it looks just slightly above normal, taking into account the parallax view.

Yes, I guess that helps too. I fixed the OP to reflect that info but I will put it here too. Ambient air temp today was 84 degrees and 65% humidity. It ran 3/4 hot on the guage for a short while today and I drove it in the evening as well when the temperatures were much cooler and it still ran at the same levels.
 
If you just had a flush you may have air trapped in the system. It usually works it way out and things will stabilize. Sometimes you need to give it a little help.
 
If you just had a flush you may have air trapped in the system. It usually works it way out and things will stabilize. Sometimes you need to give it a little help.

I drove it for a good hour after the flush to do just that but it didn't make a difference. If there is air how long does it take to work out?
 
I live in SO CAL 90 + in the summer, and my stock f2, with a three core radiator, never gets over the first hash mark even pulling the Conejo Grade, (Google it) it's famous for over heating cars.

Which 3 core radiator are you running? I found this one with a quick search:

fj40 radiator
 
To the OP. In my opinion yours is running a little hot for that speed and ambient of 85 degrees unless you were pulling a lot of long hills. You don't have an a/c condenser in front of your radiator do you? I would check the thermostat to see if it was opening all the way and that you have a real 170 degree Toyota thermostat.
 
To the OP. In my opinion yours is running a little hot for that speed and ambient of 85 degrees unless you were pulling a lot of long hills. You don't have an a/c condenser in front of your radiator do you? I would check the thermostat to see if it was opening all the way and that you have a real 170 degree Toyota thermostat.

No long hills. I live in Florida. Flat as a pancake. No AC in my rig either. I'm not sure how to check the thermostat to see if it was opening all the way or what a real 170 degree Toyota thermostat would be. I'm assuming it would have a marking / tag on it showing it as an OEM part?
 
Use infrared thermometer to check throughout head, radiator, etc

What is the temperature range I want to see and I'm assuming I should check it after running it around town for a little while?
 
Head temps.
Not sure about radiator
But I could check mine tomorrow
Harbor freight infrared thermometer is cheap
 
Head temps.
Not sure about radiator
But I could check mine tomorrow
Harbor freight infrared thermometer is cheap

Just ordered one off of Amazon and it will be here tomorrow. I will post temp readings tomorrow evening.
 
The thermostat will have an engraved temp on it. You can put it in a pan of water on the stove and monitor the heat of the water with a thermometer. The thermostat should open at 170 degrees.... Way before the water boils. I had trouble finding a 170 degree Toyota thermostat listed for the FJ40, but the dealers still sell a 170 degree thermostat under an FJ60 listing.
 
The reading is a tad hi from the look. 190f? Have you run your htr? Air gets trapped there quite often ESP rear htr. It should blow lots of hot air. I'd change the thermostat make sure it's the correct one 170. And the fins are clean on your rad
 
The reading is a tad hi from the look. 190f? Have you run your htr? Air gets trapped there quite often ESP rear htr. It should blow lots of hot air. I'd change the thermostat make sure it's the correct one 170. And the fins are clean on your rad

Oh man yes I ran the heater to abate some of the heat and I almost passed out. I took temp readings this evening with the ambient air temperature being 82 degrees. During the drive my floor board on the driver's side was 132 degrees. The passenger side was 117 degrees.

I pulled over and popped the hood and took the following temperature readings with my therm gun:

radiator 195 degrees
engine block 224 degrees
header 230 degrees

My gauge was steady on the 3rd hash at 3/4 reading. I don't know if that is considered hot but it seems hot to me. Not sure what is going on. Thoughts?
 

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