Magnuson SC on a high millage t4r?
 

Hey everyone I would appreciate some advice here. I have MY15 Trail Edition with 124K miles she is stock apart from a mild lift and a 285/70 defenders. Been with us since almost new and all maintenance is up to date and mostly driven on road.

Recently replaced a bunch of parts to eliminate a front end clunk, which turned out to be a bad aftermarket shock. In essence the vehicle is in good shape.

I really feel lack of power almost everyday and seriously considering the Magnuson SC. I have a few question and would appreciate some feedback from owners with SC installed in their vehicles with real world experience. I know there is no definitive answer for these questions and know all performance parts will never be as durable as Toyota genuine parts.

1. With 124k miles, would installing an SC cause premature engine failure? Do we know of any engine failures directly or indirectly related to the SC?

2. Apart from the SC kit and tune, what else is needed? Headers, down pipes, filter, exhaust?

3. I found shop who stocks Magnuson SCs and can do the install but not the tune. Can I flash the ECU, I have OBDII cable that I use to code my BMW will that work?

4. It's really hot here in the summer, do I need to beef up engine/ transmission cooling?

5. Brakes on the 5th gen is not the best out there, is there a way to enhance breaking?

Magnuson makes good products. They were the manufacturer of the TRD kits.

1. I've seen some people blow headgaskets but I believe they were pretty abusive to their trucks. On my 2010 Tacoma, I installed a TRD SC at 90K and didn't have any issues until 145K when someone totaled my truck. That was also running a 8 psi pulley, countless 4wd launches and driving it fairly hard.

2. Nothing else is needed for it to work.

3. Magnuson should provide a canned tune.

4. I'd add a tranny cooler but otherwise it is fine as it. Maybe service the coolant.

5. The brakes are fine and actually better than my GTO. You can try rotors and pads but I didn't have too much luck. There's big brake kits out there for these though.

i recently swapped my rotors for raybestos r300 performance rotors with hawk lts pads.. there is a night and day difference over stock. better pedal feel and much better stopping power. if its time for a new set of brakes id consider this combo, or at least the hawk pads on a good set of rotors

My best setup was Duralast rotors and Hawk HPS 5.0 pads.

I installed mine at 93k miles, if the vehicle is in good mechanical condition I wouldn’t worry about a thing.


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2. Apart from the SC kit and tune, what else is needed? Headers, down pipes, filter, exhaust?

From what I have heard, Magnuson says a filter and exhaust are OK with their tune.

3. I found shop who stocks Magnuson SCs and can do the install but not the tune. Can I flash the ECU, I have OBDII cable that I use to code my BMW will that work?

Don't know your capabilities as a tuner but I can tell you that a tuner from Magnuson, if it didn't come with the kit (it should have), will be in the neighborhood of $400+. Why can't the shop provide a tuner. Seems odd.

4. It's really hot here in the summer, do I need to beef up engine/ transmission cooling?

Drove through Redding Ca a couple of years ago in 100+ degrees. Pretty much all the way down to Vacaville. Was kinda worried about the intercooler radiator in front of the stock radiator. Temp gauge didn't move even a tiny bit above normal. I think Toyota puts a pin just above half way. LOL!

On another note, you will not have the Magnuson 30K mile engine warranty. It goes by the mileage on the truck, not when it was installed.

The radiator is oversized for the stock engine. I know you are joking, but the stock gauge does work. I managed to suck in a bunch of dirt/leaves/twigs between the radiator and a/c condenser so that when going at low speeds up hill, or driving with a tail wind (where it needed the airflow from the fan) it would creep up into the red and jived with temp readings from OBD2. During that time where the area of the fan was blocked off, it never had a problem with the 30% or so area left with normal air flow.

The Magnuson will come with a hand held tuner. Just download some data from your truck, send it off, wait a little bit and you will get your tune. Not sure why the installer can’t do that. Also if you can change oil, you can install the kit. Just get a buddy to help you out. Good way to save $1,000 or so. Just read through the PDF on their website to see if it’s something you can take on.


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Thanks everyone for the the feedback certainly helps.

Apologies I did not pay attention to manual, specifically the handheld flasher that is part of the kit. Makes a lot of sense, so I can download my vehicle info send the file to Magnuson before starting the install and have the tune ready once the SC is in place to flash the ECU. Cool. I have a windows desktop it should work (Mac family). Not sure why this shop does not do the tune, instead they are referring to me to another place to do the flash for additional cost. Weird.

In regard to breaks, I recently put new rotors and pads (OE) in all 4 corners, flushed the break fluid despite that the pedal still feels spongy and threshold break can easily develop into emergency breaking, not progressive. Not sure if you guys/ gals feel the same way about the 4r breaking performance. Somehow I can't get used to it.

I can attempt the install myself but I have too limiting factors time (I travel a lot for work) and I don't think I have all the tools required, well I can borrow some I suppose.

Will keep everyone posted

How'd it go??

Update 13APR22
 

Hi Everyone

I pulled the trigger about 3 weeks ago. Kit was installed by Magnuson reseller in Dubai.

Techs did a good job overall the only thing that did not work for me was the plastic clip that holds the engine cooling hose coming from the radiator to the engine did not play nice and failed. Result was hose rubbing against the SC belt. Zip tied it back and have the part on order.

Using the handheld ECU reader/ flasher I made the initial reading while the techs were installing the SC. That the WRONG thing to do apparently you have to do the initial read of the ECU prior to unplugging anything before starting the install. I did not know that, learned the hard way. Post install I did not start the runner since I did not have the flash file from Magnuson. Put her on a flat bed and took her home. Hooked up the charger and waited for Magnuson to come back to me.

The ECU read that I did resulted in a blank file. Magnuson could not help I had to make another read, which was successful at the end. Received the flash file 3 days behind schedule.

Started the runner and eased into the first run.

Since then, I put 1k mile on it and it's been good so far, she feels lighter and definitely quicker and the best part is the eliminating gear hunting while going uphill at 120 - 140 Km/h. It does happen occasionally. BUT it's not night and day difference maybe I can get more power and acceleration if I invest more into intake downpipes etc. but where do I draw the kinda thing. Currently she feels 15 to 20% more powerful prior to the install. Butt dyno that is.

I think if you have $6K to $7K to spare then go for it, keep in mind that the power increase is not gonna be substantial or it will not convert the 4runner to a BMW X5. I have one. The added power is most noticeable below 100Km/h. especially if you have a lift and heavy set of tires like mine 285s.

I hope this will helps. Regards