Off-highway light interfering with vehicle cooling?

Outback

Explorer
I suggest you upgrade to a newer higher capacity radiator. Get rid of the clutch fan and go with a pusher dual fan setup with a thermo activated switch and a master switch to turn it on and off for river crossings ect. Run Royal purple radiator fluid with water wetter. Run Ams Oil in your engine this alone can see a 50 degree cooler engine. Go with a dual oil bypass system for the larger capacity. I am also sure someone makes a high flow water pump for your engine. Change out your old water pump. Who knows. It maybe filled with sedement and corrosion gunk which would reduce its ability to flow coolant. If you ever had a radiator leak and added a radiator stop leak this can kill the effectivness of your radiator.
 

Pskhaat

2005 Expedition Trophy Champion
FWIW, I changed to copper 3 core radiator (vs. 2 core) a few years ago water pump was replaced at that time (not highver volume though?), JDM CDS pusher fan is installed. I don't believe I have an engine cooling issue, rather an AC efficiency problem.
 

R_Lefebvre

Expedition Leader
FWIW, I changed to copper 3 core radiator (vs. 2 core) a few years ago water pump was replaced at that time (not highver volume though?), JDM CDS pusher fan is installed. I don't believe I have an engine cooling issue, rather an AC efficiency problem.

That could be your problem right there. I've seen cases where adding cores actually hurt airflow enough to make cooling worse. Or in this case, adding cores maybe hurt airflow enough to reduce the flow through the condenser. Just another thought. Do you have an electric pusher fan on the front of the condenser?

Is this a high speed, or low speed problem?

Run Ams Oil in your engine this alone can see a 50 degree cooler engine.

Care to expand on that one?
 

Pskhaat

2005 Expedition Trophy Champion
The 3 core were provided on earlier engines from Toyota IIRC 93-94 and switched to 2 core in 95-97, I put in an older higher capacity radiator. It is generally assumed on 'mud to be a superior choice, but open to your interpretation as in restricted flow through radiator may restrict flow through condenser?

Yes, the JDM fan is a world-market OEM fan in front of the condenser.

This is an ALL speed problem, higher speed performs better but still quite sub-par. Low speed AC is nearly worthless. With 3 professional shops saying "nothing is wrong" all pressures and r134a weights check out, I'm starting to believe maybe my heater core's valve has some unintended flow.
 

UHAULER

Explorer
I'm not an AC expert but I thought I would throw out one more thing to look at.

I have seen firsthand an evaporator core plugged completely from dust/ fine woodchips. We had a couple of 95-98 GMC work trucks that were constantly run in dust and recieved plenty of wood dust from pulling and being downwind of a wood chipper. I took one to the dealer to have it checked out and told them of low air flow through the vents, their standard answer was to replace the compressor. After we got it back it was the same so I ripped into it myself and the evaporator core was completly plugged up with mud from the condensation and the dust/wood. I ended up taking a garden hose to the evaporator core while it was in the truck and it worked fine after that. Of course it was a work truck with rubber floors so I didn't worry too much about the truck.
 

slosurfer

Adventurer
I've got a lightforce air dam in front of my 4runner and have seen no changes in cooling or AC. I also have a huge tranny cooler sandwiched between the grill and the ac condensor.

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R_Lefebvre

Expedition Leader
The 3 core were provided on earlier engines from Toyota IIRC 93-94 and switched to 2 core in 95-97, I put in an older higher capacity radiator. It is generally assumed on 'mud to be a superior choice, but open to your interpretation as in restricted flow through radiator may restrict flow through condenser?

Yes, the JDM fan is a world-market OEM fan in front of the condenser.

This is an ALL speed problem, higher speed performs better but still quite sub-par. Low speed AC is nearly worthless. With 3 professional shops saying "nothing is wrong" all pressures and r134a weights check out, I'm starting to believe maybe my heater core's valve has some unintended flow.

If the cooling is bad even at lower speeds, I think the problem is something other than your lights. I really don't see the lights affecting the airflow through the condenser at low speeds. I'm just suggesting maybe it could be the rad, I have no idea about your truck but I've seen it on other vehicles. Could be (a lack of) shrouding on the front cooling package allowing hot post-radiator air to recirculate into the condenser, could be your compressor is just too small. The pressures will be fine, but it just can't cool the hot air enough. Could be a lot of things, I really doubt it's the lights.
 

dust devil

Observer
With 3 professional shops saying "nothing is wrong" all pressures and r134a weights check out, I'm starting to believe maybe my heater core's valve has some unintended flow.

Certainly something worth verifying. If you are blending heat into the AC vents, the results could be just as you describe.
 

dzzz

I'm not an AC expert but I thought I would throw out one more thing to look at.

I have seen firsthand an evaporator core plugged completely from dust/ fine woodchips. We had a couple of 95-98 GMC work trucks that were constantly run in dust and recieved plenty of wood dust from pulling and being downwind of a wood chipper. I took one to the dealer to have it checked out and told them of low air flow through the vents, their standard answer was to replace the compressor. After we got it back it was the same so I ripped into it myself and the evaporator core was completly plugged up with mud from the condensation and the dust/wood. I ended up taking a garden hose to the evaporator core while it was in the truck and it worked fine after that. Of course it was a work truck with rubber floors so I didn't worry too much about the truck.

This is the way to address the problem. From the coil out. it sounds like it was moved but I don't see a description of it's new location. I had a Toyota of your vintage. Clearly the Toyota engineers did not imagine Arizona in the summer. But the AC should be "not enough" not "gone".
Plenty has been written about beefing up these ACs.
 

dzzz

Certainly something worth verifying. If you are blending heat into the AC vents, the results could be just as you describe.

That could even be a design "feature" to handle excess engine heat. I replace the radiator thermostat with any of these issues. Not that the symptoms relate, but these things can test fine and be flaky.
It does sound like the heater coil might always be open.
 

dust devil

Observer
That could even be a design "feature" to handle excess engine heat. I replace the radiator thermostat with any of these issues. Not that the symptoms relate, but these things can test fine and be flaky.
It does sound like the heater coil might always be open.

Well, no. What I was thinking was that the Hot/Cold blend valve (an air vane under the dash) could be stuck somewhere in the middle, or not going fully closed when set to "cold". That has nothing to do with coolant, only to do with air source. Blending hot ambient air with refrigerated air results in warm air, and it is hard to tell the difference between a compressor/condenser not working right and blended air.
 

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