2011 Heat Issues

On second thought, I'm, thinking that Toyota may have expected the buyers of real BOF SUV's to not be a bunch of whiny little bi**hes. It's cold? Put on a f*****g jacket. That said, I'm going to go out tomorrow to see if I magically have a PTC heater....mostly because I'm a whiny little bi**h.
 
Another option, which is what I do in the morning, is to put my SR5 in manual shift mode and burn some extra gas for the first mile. If I keep the RPM's between 3000 and 4000 RPM's, the engine heats up quickly and my wife stays happy and warm. For her Honda, she has a remote start which involves me going outside to start her car ten minutes before she is to leave the house. I'm sure that both methods are contributing to global warming, but if that was a huge concern of mine I would've gotten a Prius, not a 4Runner.
 
^I've been doing that, just holding it in gear a little longer for the first 5 minutes or so. Only downside is having to set down my coffee.
 
I don't have a 5th gen, but I drove my 85 to work this morning, to swap some rearend gears. in comparison, the heater gets warmer MUCH faster than my 06/v8. I didn't realize it before, but after driving the 85 again...it takes a long time to get up to temp.

usually the 06, im just almost to work before it gets warm. with the 85, I wasn't halfway here yet, and it was fully warm.



Antman said:
My seat heater is on ALL the time. I rarely turn it off or down. It doesn't get too hot either. FML!!!
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since the temps dropped into the teens, and the leather seats were CRISP in the mornings...

I threw an old fleece pullover on the seat, SO much better. I haven't used the seat heater in weeks.

but to keep it on all the time? come on MAN.....

before the fleece, I used mine to knock the chill off, once I could FEEL the heat, I turned it off.

Muddy Duck said:
Another option, which is what I do in the morning, is to put my SR5 in manual shift mode and burn some extra gas for the first mile. If I keep the RPM's between 3000 and 4000 RPM's, the engine heats up quickly and my wife stays happy and warm. For her Honda, she has a remote start which involves me going outside to start her car ten minutes before she is to leave the house. I'm sure that both methods are contributing to global warming, but if that was a huge concern of mine I would've gotten a Prius, not a 4Runner.
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bwahahaha. that's great.
 
nevada said:
... I haven't used the seat heater in weeks.

but to keep it on all the time? come on MAN.....
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Well, I also crushed several vertebrae in my lower back many years ago mountain biking. Though my back issues aren't nearly what they used to be, cold weather brings out the worst. Keeping the seat heat on really helps.

BTW- it's MY seat heater anyway, so what the hell do you care? LOL :roadkill:
 
Antman said:
Well, I also crushed several vertebrae in my lower back many years ago mountain biking. Though my back issues aren't nearly what they used to be, cold weather brings out the worst. Keeping the seat heat on really helps.

BTW- it's MY seat heater anyway, so what the hell do you care? LOL :roadkill:
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oh, that sucks.



I was just flipping you shit. my woman hits the seat heater as soon as she gets in..its on the entire time aswell.
 
Two words: Block heater.
Set it on a timer to come on at 4 am.
By 7 am, coolant/oil will have been sufficiently warmed as to blow heat within 5 mins. Not to mention the reduced wear.
Keep a cord in the truck, so it can be plugged in at airports or at office.
Don't forget to unplug before leaving.
 
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You might speed heating up by installing a lower temp opening thermostat. I don't know what 4Runners come with, but if it's 190 say - you could drop to 170 and speed heating up a little. Not sure it's worth it though.
 
fattire said:
Just echoing the previous comments. My 4th Gen Sport had a fantastic heater. Literally scorching hot within 5 mins. My 5th Gen is really just meh.
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Between the 4th Gen and 5th Gen, I notice the same thing to be true of the A/C. As far as I can tell it's the fan, which in the 4th Gen is way more powerful and for A/C on max blows up a storm.
 
The 5th gens are also quite a bit bigger than the 4th gens & below. Plus Toyota put a pretty underpowered fan in them, so that's also a factor. Invest in a remote start or go turn the heat all the way up when you get home and leave it on the settings, and come out 5-10 minutes early to start it and let it warm up.
 
Wouldn't a higher pressure rad cap bring about hotter coolant? More pressure of a liquid at a given temperature lowers the normal boiling point, so theoretically a higher pressure cap would raise the boiling point, thus the "hotness" of the coolant, thus deliver more heat.
 
I tried blocking the grill last winter (about 95% blocking), and it din't make much difference on the time it took to heat up. The only way I've found for the engine to heat up quicker, is to leave the heater off untill the engine is up to temp, but that means a cold cabin for much longer.

Using recycle speed up the process a bit, but whem it is really cold, it fogs the windows. Not worth it.
 
same here. once it gets below zero, its doesn't matter. just wait until the temp gauge gets above a 1/4 and turn on the heater. in the mean time I crank up the seat heaters to compensate my cold butt and legs.

we have to dress for that chilling cold anyway so inside the vehicle isn't much different than being outside anyway.

shirt, thick hoodie, heavy jacket for the upper body.

UA base 2 thermals for normal cold, deep cold I will use UA base 3 thermals if it gets -30F ambient or extreme wind chills, and add a liner to the heavy jacket.
 
Maz said:
Between the 4th Gen and 5th Gen, I notice the same thing to be true of the A/C. As far as I can tell it's the fan, which in the 4th Gen is way more powerful and for A/C on max blows up a storm.
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Interesting. I just got the 5th Gen a week or two before Thanksgiving. I haven't really had to crank the A/C yet. Wonder if the blower from the 4th would work on the 5th? I'm in central Texas and the summers can be brutal some years. Seems like a potentially easy fix (at least for the A/C). Time to dig through the service manuals :-)
 
3rd Gen warmed up faster

My 2011 Trail takes longer to produce heat than my old 'SR5. So I plug in the block heater for a few hours before starting the Trail when the outside temp is below freezing, and once underway it warms the cabin faster.
 
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