Factory Temp Guage Mod

Factory Temp Guage Mod

Postby Cobbo on Sat, 01 Oct 2016 10:55 +0000

I have just successfully modified the factory temperature gauge on my KZN165R.

As some of you may know factory temperature gauge in hiluxes are set up in the factory to show about a third from 70deg to 110deg. I didn't find this acceptable. This has been done to show you what they want you to see, not what the real temps are. This makes it about as useful as a temp light. Damage is done before it tells you anything.

I did not want to install an after market gauge so I searched for how to take the dead zone out of the factory temp gauge.

I found two sites that explain how to do it but they were for a series 2 Hilux/Surf and the other for a Landcruiser.

The instructions in both of these sites are accurate in how to do it but not what size resisters are required in KZN165R Hilux.

Search temp gauge mod in google and find the Toyota Surf site. I found that if you follow the instructions found but use the factory 75ohm resister that you remove instead of the 56ohm specified and a 120ohm resistor you will get a good result. Mine sit about centre at 82deg, which is the thermostat temp and hits the red at 100deg C, completely linear.

The Landcruiser site is also good as it has a good explanation of what the resistors do. The 120ohm resistor sets the centre position of the gauge and the 75ohm changes the range.

With this mod anywhere in the white zone is safe. You will be surprised to see what the temperature is actually doing. Mine sits at 82deg around town at 60kph. At highway speeds it varies between 85deg and 92deg (hill climb) If I hold it flat it takes about 10km reach the highest I have can achieve of 95deg which is about 3mm below the top white line. 95deg is the temp that the thermostat is fully open. If I continue this linear rise the red would be 100deg. This was all verified with access to the ECU via an OBD reader.

I am very happy with the result as the KZN165Rs are known to crack heads if they get too hot and the factory gauge does not tell you what he temp is actually doing.

I found the mod very simple as it just requires desoldering a resistor and diode and soldering in 2 resistors.

I trust you find this information helpful, regards Geoff
Cobbo

Posts: 8
Joined: Sun, 24 Oct 2010 7:37 +0000
Cobbo
 
Posts: 15
Joined: Sun, 24 Oct 2010 5:37 +0000


 

Re: Factory Temp Guage Mod

Postby Blair Knight on Mon, 28 Nov 2016 10:57 +0000

I did the mod sometime ago, glad I did too because I used to stick the boot in thinking its cooling system was bullet proof, now I know how hot the 1 KZ-TE gets.

Truly disgraceful of Toyota to do this to a temp guage, worth a mention my kzn165R had a 71deg thermostat standard.
Blair Knight
 
Posts: 7
Joined: Fri, 19 Apr 2013 9:44 +0000

Re: Factory Temp Guage Mod

Postby Hillsy87 on Tue, 21 Feb 2017 12:41 +0000

Cant help but notice you both mention its in a 165R
Is it just for those motors or all that you should do this 'mod' on
Hillsy87
 
Posts: 3
Joined: Thu, 09 Feb 2017 7:05 +0000
Location: Dapto

Re: Factory Temp Guage Mod

Postby Cobbo on Wed, 22 Feb 2017 6:01 +0000

I don't think it would be KZN model specific as I used information from a post about early Hilux/Surf and another post regarding Landcruiser. Will work with all Hiluxes and Cruisers. Some fine tuning with resistance may be required for your gauge. I played with resistors a bit to show exactly what I wanted, top white line = 100deg, but I am a bit OCD. I did manage to melt the font face of the first gauge I modified with the soldering iron (rookie error) and found slight difference in restance required for the exactly the same replacement gauge to achieve the 100deg top white line.
Best mod I have ever done and recommend for any modern vehicle. This definitely works for Toyotas.
Cobbo
 
Posts: 15
Joined: Sun, 24 Oct 2010 5:37 +0000


Return to Tips & Tricks

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 4 guests