Well the truck made it the 1400 miles to MN under protest It seems with the ECT on it was lugging the engine causing the transmission to overheat. At least that's what it felt like as I know the truck does not have heated seats The center console where the shifters are was quite hot to the touch. Also, if not for me taking it our of ECT mode and using Overdrive mode the gas costs would've been higher too. The Valero 89 grade is garbage, I put in Shell 89 grade and it ran MUCH better and gave about 1/3rd better fuel mileage over about the same terrain.
87 octane has gotten so crappy. even the 91 here in cali is garbage. every tank I run injector cleaner or water/meth that will be installed soon. Thats a good trip for that truck though. you should run a trans oil cooler. made a huge difference on my truck before and after the 2jz swap. Im driving down to fresno next week with the auto trans to pick up a r154 ( 1hr 30min drive) we will see how it goes.
dang.... you mustve had SERIOUS overheating.... did you drive through hills and things like that? you have the V6 correct? anyway, you should do the hood mod....
I wish I could trust my truck to take me anywhere past walking distance :/ glad to see you made it though !
oil cooler is a must. it never hurts as long as the lines are good. all our fullsize dodges have them stock in the radiator, but some have had an extra that is in front of the radiator, or down low. things like that are why ive never liked autos. :/ glad you made it safely though.
my floor gets hot to the touch right above my exhaust, but its just the rubber mat over the floor. and on long 80ish drives on hot days, i have to switch to my left foor for the gas. the header heads the pedal area up so much my shoe feels like it will melt. haha.
I made it HOME to NJ! White knuckles and all! This truck has ALL FACTORY OPTIONS including the Trans cooler in front of the radiator. I guess crossing the mountains from Western NJ into Eastern PA counts as Mountains! Also all those 'hills' in Wisconsin too! I scaled the truck and it had 790lbs in the short bed, and even though it was getting hot under the hood and cab floor console, it STILL averaged 20+ MPG roundtrip! Yes, I need to cut a hood scoop into the Lil' Beast! That would help it run cooler in the 'hills'. I saw how much coin they are and will have to find a cheap $50 fix on that. No big money to dump into Lil Beast...which is why I named it that! I was DULY impressed by the way the truck would not quit regardless of the terrain I was driving in. I've driven lots of different vehicles over the past 40 yrs and so taking the ECT off on the way home I noticed that in 'over drive' I just had to let up on the gas pedal to allow the trans to downshift itself up the steeper grades. Some mountain grades were 4% for MILES uphill. So I can't fault the Lil Beast for not wanting to haul up them at more than 60MPH. Hopefully the 'seats getting hot' will be a benefit come Winter! The exhaust system seems intact, but the Catalitic convertor could be bad, causing loss of power and back pressure on the engine IMO, no?
Heck, I just bought the Lil Beast and got on here, asked a few basic questions and put my faith in 89 octane:eek I figured I might see one of you guys along the way if I broke down I did see a baby blue late 80's early 90's Toyota truck in the Chicago area heading North on my way home. Fess up, which of you was it? I was the gray SR5 with the green tarp on the load with orange tiedowns. Note to self, next long test drive go empty in the bed
my truck hit 115 with stuff in the bed and going down a slight grade. which i thought was impossible you should put get spacers and a long bolt. raise the rear of your hood a tiny bit. take a hose and spray down any bugs in front of the radiator. btw, your 4wd tires might be quite alot of lug around lol
Yeah, but I took off the 31 x 10.5's and replaced them with Michelin LTV's 235/75R15's and got 20+mpg the whole trip Used the windshield washer brush at the fuel stops to clean the front end down each stop Raining here today, tomorrow to the car wash Hmm? Expound on this raising of the rear of the hood bit for cooling please
