cold to hot temp gauge went up !

[kennyb3030]

today when i went to pull out onto the highway, i had to get on t4r a little bit and when i did, i noticed my c/h temp gauge went about 2/3 of the way up for about 3 to 5 seconds and right back down to normal temp reading. and it has been fine ever since, is this the sign of a problem or nothing to be worried about ? thanks guys ! (99 V6 2wd 144k)

 

[Kurtis]

Sound to me like the thermostat isn't open/closing properly. Most vehicle thermostats open at approx. 180 degrees F. If you really want to test it you could pull the the thermostat and boil it keeping an eye on the temp.

 

[Jon]

Sounds like normal ops to me. Coolant heats up with stat closed, gauge goes up. Stat opens and cooler water that's been chilling in the rad flows in to cool the motor back down. I have not seen my 4Runner do this but I rarely get on it. But all my built motor cars performed as advertised.

 

[brian2sun]

Once it's warmed up, I've never seen my needle move from that spot right below 1/2 way in a decade. X2 on the thermo.