in my opinion always use a 180 thermostat

 

I got the dual-stage t-stat in and drove 25 miles and temp gauge spikes are gone! A 180° might work just as well, but the dual-stage definitely solved my problem, so I have no reason to keep experimenting.

470k miles on the original engine? Wow, don't change a thing with your maintenance schedule. The first owner of my '85 killed the engine in the late 90's @ 130k miles. To his credit, he kept it for another decade.

 

yeah original engine original transmission never has left me stranded just wear and tear parts original clutch lasted 300,000 miles

 

That's very cool. Stories like yours are why Toyotas are known for reliability.

I can see why you're not wanting to change your truck around too much, but I'm really happy with the new t-stat and I'm thinking you'll get the same results. $45 and a half hour later, no more temp gauge spikes. Crazy $$$ for a thermostat, but we could have it worse: my nephew found that the 2.3l I4 in his Mazda3 has an integrated t-stat and housing. OEM part is $50! Over $150 on a Mazda SUV!

 

also i forgot i have been running 20/50 oil for 370 Thousand miles I won’t put anytthing but 20/50 oil in her

 

I've only got 10k miles on this rebuild, so I'm gonna stick with 10w30 till it's broke in. Everyone with a very high-mileage 22re seems to settle on 15w40 or 20w50. Before I rebuilt it I used straight 30 or 40 weight oil and it helped it live a few thousand miles longer and ran smoother.

 

20-50 should be ok as long as ur not in freeezing weather.
The standard clearances in the 22RE are about 0.05mm which is quite loose.
modern engines which require 5w30 are in the realms of 0.001 mm.
That 50 hot number is what i would expect to see in a high mileage engine like this. maybe 40.

 

Interesting. Since almost new?
The owner of the shop that rebuilt my engine also recommended that, right after the rebuild. Might actually be good for compression, based on Thommo's comments above?

 

ya 20/50 is the way to go. i’ve only had the valves adjusted just the once at 300 Thousand miles it was ticking a little to much for me That’s why I got it done

 

just be carefuly with 20 50. if its frikn cold where you are, that may result in the oil pressure at startup exceeding the oil pressure relief valve (its not a regulator its a bypass relief valve) and just flowing out the relief valve instead of on through the engine.
It is not precise enough to close again and regain a compromise pressure, it will just open and close on engine rpm so more revs which u would think would help, actually, make it worse.

 

doesn’t get cold enough down here in California in the bay area

 

Much less here in So Cal
I've been using 10W-30 because it's less expensive at Wal-mart, but I'm gonna shop for 15W-40 or 20W-40

 

lol cool never seen 20/40 oil but walmart have killer pricing on Castrol gtx 20/50 it’s like $17 for a 5 qt jug