midiwall

"Upgrade"? As in "pay Flex-a-lite for it"?

Man, I think they should be sending these out to any present customer that asks!

It would sure help me feel better about laying in the dirt on the trail hot wiring around a controller that wouldn't go on; or having the controller stick ON and draining my battery - twice; or having a controller that "sorta" comes on at 180* (up to 190* depending on it's mood) and then shutting off when it gets tired, but not until the temp has crept to 205*.

Good to see though that they've realized that all of us folks that didn't like the thermostat-in-the-hose concept had a good idea. (reference) I've always had my stuffed in-between the fins.

$80? (reference)... Hmmm... with at LEAST a 50% discount for current customers, I may think about it.

midiwall

Which "NO WAY!"... Nothing in the hose or the new controller?

If "nothing in the hose" then Mike and I both mentioned that as an option above.


Sorry if you didn't see it.

Gadget

The Tacoma kit is a joke. Just get the generic fan without the controller. Then buy their new variable speed controller. You should still come out cheaper then the "Tacoma" kit and have a much better system.

Gadget

kevin444

To the no prob in the hose. Cuz thats the only problem im experiencing.

midiwall

Ahh... yeup, pull it out and cram it in-between the fins of the radiator. The thermostat has plenty of adjustment in it to pick up the temp difference from the radiator core. All you care about is the _difference_ in temp, not the actual temp itself.

TacomaTRD

Maybe putting the temp probe in the fins will not be as consistant as putting in the hose? I would think that temp at the probe tip would vary alot more then in the hose due to ambient air temp changes and changes in temp when the fans are on vs off?

midiwall

Yeup, that would make sense. But again, you're just looking for _some_ variance to set off the controller (not the actual variance) - stuffing it in the fins works fine.

TacomaTRD

I know you are looking for variance, but you are seeing inconsistant results in when it comes on. What you are doing is increasing the variable of the temp sensor, therefore you will have a increase in variability of temp reading at the sensor. I always look to reduce all variables in any process/setup, sorry it's the engineer in me...


Anyways, I plan on adding a 210 sometime this winter, I hope to have my fan pulley bracket cut down tonite so I can get my TRD back on the road, I hate driving my 2.7 after buying my 3.4... that fan bracket pisses me off, atleast my dealer was will to give me at cost ($434) vs what I saw people talking about $650 plus labor. ˟˟˟˟ I could replace that fan bracket in under an hour...

midiwall

ahh... okay, I see where you were going... Moi apologies!

This variance happens with the truck sitting still in my driveway.

In my case, it comes from the controller having spent some "quality time" caked in mud. I've pulled it apart, cleaned it out and oiled it a number of times, and it'll work better for a while. But the bottom line is that at the core it's a cheap mechanical thermostat that was just never designed to be used in an "abusive" environment.


I have an electronic one that I'd love to put in - but the unit I have needs some board re-work to get it to sit comfortably in a dash. It's mean as an experimenter's environmental controller and thus it's laid out on a long board without regard to being compact. But - it works REALLY well, and is totally adjustable for ON temp/OFF temp, NO/NC contacts, has an LED display of temp, relay open/closed LEDs and can even be calibrated for temp.

"some day"...

kevin444

Switch in the cab.