First tow since ScanGuage 3 install

SR5 TRD Off-Road Premium CrewMax 5.5 bed. Truck is stock powertrain, no mods. Ambient temp during the tow was roughly 100F and 50%+ humidity. Travel trailer is roughly 8k loaded. Was using TOW+ mode. Had an additional 400-450 pounds of payload in the truck, including driver/passengers, so we were close to payload limit. Route is 90 miles of twisty rural 2-lane highway in the Ozark Mountains with moderate elevation changes. Nothing like the Ike Gauntlet or the I-5 Grapevine mind you, but constant up-down-left-right for 90 miles with some decent steep sustained (2-3 minutes) up-hill pulls.

This is not the first time I have towed the current travel trailer with this truck, but it is the first tow since I installed the ScanGuage 3. I had a ScanGuage 2 on my previous 4Runner. It had an older firmware version so would not work with the Tundy. I'm glad it didn't. While the SG 2 was great, the SG 3 is sooooo much better.

So as others have said, this thing tows like a champ. The combo of the TTv6 with peak torque at 2400rpm and the 10-speed tranny is great. It just chugs up hill at around 2500rpm like its a diesel. It's pretty damn impressive. I've towed similar size travel trailers before with a V8 and I'll take this truck hands down. The tow modes work well from what I've seen.

Average temps when not towing are as follows:
Coolant: 180F - 200F
Engine Oil: 200F - 205F
Trans: 195F - 200F

The really interesting thing is the trans and coolant temps hardly even moved. Trans temp was slightly higher than when not towing and typically stayed right around 203F, even with the sustained up-hill pulls. Coolant temp was no different than when not towing. What DID move was oil temp. It generally stayed right around 205F, but during any period of sustained boost (including those up-hill pulls) it would shoot up to 225F. As soon as you were off boost or minimal boost, it would settle back down to 205F.

Just reinforces my belief that turbos are hard on oil. In the grand scheme of things, oil is cheap and motors are not. My Tundy is a low miles garage queen used mostly for towing the travel trailer and misc trips around town. After 14 months of ownership, I've got a whopping 4300 miles on the clock. But I've also changed the oil 3 times (break-in oil at 1k and every 6 months since). The last oil had less then 2k miles on it when I changed it out at 6 months. I sent a sample to Blackstone for analysis, will be curious to see the results. I may consider stretching intervals to 1 year, as even at a year I'll still typically have less than 5k miles on the oil.

 

That's awesome!

So few things:

1. Pictures of truck and trailer setup
2. ScanGuage 3 displays oil temp???
3. When and where are you gonna post Blackstone results?
4. Keep on truckin'

 

Reported Temps in-line with my recent towing experience with my SGII firmware 4.52.

Wish we had viable option for transmission cooler.

Thanks for report. My SR5 towed amazing up Colorado 10k plus passes.

 

1. The day we picked it up:


This past weekend:


2. Yes sir. It can display many parameters. Here is my towing screen:


3. I'll post them in this thread.

4. Always! Same to you!

 

Having lived in the CO Rockies for a time, I was wondering how it would tow up there. I would assume amazing as you reported, especially due to it being forced induction. I did not see trans temps moving much at all, were you seeing considerably more than 205ish?

 

great post, leaving sat for a two week vacation, and towing myself , nothing near that heavy but I’m looking forward to how it does, so far from locally pulling , it’s stupid good

 

Totally agree with stupid good. Pulls even better than the V8, without the screaming banshee feeling that the motor is gonna come thru the hood. Just feels much more controlled.

Enjoy the vacay!

 

How did you get the engine oil temp and oil pressure?

 

Do you mean specifically on the ScanGuage 3?

I don’t recall if they were standard PIDs or manufacturer specific PIDs. Regardless, with the older ScanGuage 2 you could add manufacturer specific PIDs by finding the address and formula from the ScanGuage website and plugging the info into the unit. With the ScanGuage 3 it just does a scan of the vehicle and displays all of the manufacturer specific PIDs, which you can then display. For example, trans temp is a manufacturer specific PID.

 

Yes the SG3....sorry about that. I tried the Xgauge scan on my 2020 and it doesn't come up. I may call them and ask if it's supported on the 2020.

 

Gotcha. Just checked. Oil temp showed up under both standard and Xgauge. Oil pressure was only an Xguage. No idea why they wouldn’t show up on your 2020. I’d give them a call.

 

I'll try again tomorrow and then I'll call them. Thanks.

 

max Transmission temp I saw was 210. A little hot for my liking but it stayed in a range of 200 to 210 uphill tow and right around 200 - 205 downhill. Can only figure this 10-speed transmission is designed to operate at higher temps. Also Tow/haul mode locks out 8 - 10 so higher rpm must factor into it.

 

use the Toyota / Lexus (3.5L) codes - they all work for my SGII (xgauge) with the exception of the Trans Converter Code. I don't think the SGII has a PID for Oil Pressure - will have to check.

 

Yeah, I had the same thought. Seems to run about 10 degrees hotter than other vehicles I've had trans temp monitors on, even when not towing.

 

Agreed on the trans temps, they run higher then older trucks. A few threads on here of people getting temp to high for trans when towing. I haven’t seen anything north of 210 on the trans while towing around 9,000lbs of trailer and rocks over our biggest mountains here in northern jersey (big hills compared to you westerners with actual mountains) but still truck hits 2200-2500 rpm and just goes. Way better than my father in laws second gen. She screams going over the same path with the same loads. I know I’m getting old but quite pulls over fuel draining screaming is nice.

 

225* for oil seems completely reasonable and not hot at all.

When I added an oil cooler to my F150, Improved Racing suggested I use a thermostat that starts to open at 205 and isnt even fully open until ~220. You want it to be that hot so it can burn off gasoline, water and other contaminants.

What were your intake air temperatures after the intercooler?

 

Good question. I wasn’t monitoring that PID, only intake bank 1 sensor 1. I’ll have to find the PID for post-intercooler and monitor on the next tow.

 

Not sure I saw any threads where people towing got the high trans temp warning, but do recall a few who were off-roading and got it.

Couldn’t agree more about the quiet vs screaming. Must be getting old myself. I do love the turbo whine.