High Idle Kit?

fbksurferjoe

Adventurer
So this weekend I was crawling around in my tacoma in the desert and I noticed that when my taco wasnt around 2k rpm the alternator wasnt throwing out a good charge so when I had my compressor and electric fans on it had a pretty good drain on my battery.
I know on our rigs at the fire department we have a high idle that we engage when we put our parking brake on. I was wondering if there was anything out there like that for the tacoma. Something electronic maybe that i could flip on and put it in an idle around 2k rpm.
 

nvprospector

Adventurer
I read your post and started to wonder why my current department vehicles don’t have the up-idle system that my last department had so I asked. When they purchase their fleet from the manufacture the department has the option to order the up-idle system which is now built into the alternators and communicates with the engines computer. When it senses a drop in power it revs the engine for a higher output. Now the yard that maintains my department’s vehicles also does the fire department. They said that the pull brake system that is used in the emergency vehicles is a little different. On the newer units when the break is pulled and the break light comes on it tells the computer to increase the revs. On older units it had a second cable going to the throttle. They said that the up-idle system was more problematic than it was worth and that it also caused more alternator failures and overheating of the electrical system do to less air flow to the alternator. My current department is using high output alternators from http://www.nationsautoelectric.com/highoutput.html and it seems to work out better with less failures of the electrical system. This site does carry them for the Toyota. If you do want an up-idle system they are only available for the CVPI, Explorer and Expeditions as far as my maintaince yard knows, and can be found http://www.americanarmature.com/police.htm.

I will say this about high output alternators, that in three years with the same vehicle and averaging 250+ miles a day and the engine only being turned off maybe twice in a 12 hour shift, I have not had an alternator fail yet. In my last department with the up-idle system I lost an alternator once a year and it always happened in the summer on highway patrol in the middle of nowhere.

Hope this helps. You might also might want to ask your maintanice yard.
 

cruiseroutfit

Well-known member
I've never seen an integrated system that idles up the vehicle, however your 96' is cable operated, so if there was such a system it would have to be mechanical such as a cruise control unit. The other way is the have a cable that runs a high idle similar to many large truck applications.. I've never seen one in a Tacoma specifically, but lots of old Land Cruisers

ai-1.jpg


I have a factory Toyota unit in my Land Cruiser, up until the 80's they were common... works as a "poor mans" Cruise Control too :D
 

ntsqd

Heretic Car Camper
With EFI engines there is usually a 'sense' wire sent to the ECU telling it when the A/C is on. Depending on engine size this can raise the idle speed a little or a lot. A friend with a 4A-GE in his crawler used that wire with a switch. When ever he wanted a higher idle speed turning the switch on told the computer that the non-existent A/C was on and the idle speed jumped up to ~1000-1100 rpm. The best part was that the ECU compensated for varying loads (boulders) so the rpm stayed pretty consistent.
 

cruiseroutfit

Well-known member
ntsqd said:
With EFI engines there is usually a 'sense' wire sent to the ECU telling it when the A/C is on. Depending on engine size this can raise the idle speed a little or a lot. A friend with a 4A-GE in his crawler used that wire with a switch. When ever he wanted a higher idle speed turning the switch on told the computer that the non-existent A/C was on and the idle speed jumped up to ~1000-1100 rpm. The best part was that the ECU compensated for varying loads (boulders) so the rpm stayed pretty consistent.

The Tacomas do have a AC idle up, but its just a couple hundered RPM's (guessing without going out to look), so I'm not sure that would bump him into the RPM range he needs. Some Toyotas also have a PS idle up on the pressure side of the hose, but it too doesn't raise the RPM too much.
 

SLC97SR5

Observer
I've done this modification to the Engine Coolant Temp Sensor:
Alot of guys don't like it but then I've never talked to anyone who actually did it and did not like it!

The mod is transparent if you want it to be and will idle as high as 1500 rpm.

I mounted mine in the glovebox...cant even tell it's there.

This is more of a performance/towing mod but I've used it many time on the trail, it's also nice to crank up when winching or jump starting.

Honestly, I think in order to achieve what you want you need a setup like CruiserOutfit posted above.

http://web.archive.org/web/20051102060052/http://www.midiwall.com/4Runner/ect.html
 

fbksurferjoe

Adventurer
Its been a while since i have signed back into this forum. Ended up putting together this modification. Tried 2 different setups the first was basically a manual cable that ran from my cab and connected to the throttle body where the cruise control used to connect. It seemed like a good idea at the time..... Luckily I tested it in my driveway with the car in park. The cable worked fine to bring the rpms up to whatever i wanted. The problem was when i pushed on the gas pedal the cable would get caught and so would my throttle! This could have been exciting when I was driving on the road. After removing the cable and throwing it in the crash i read up on the modification for the ecu coolant mod. Picked up a switched potentiometer 10k and wired it up to the green/ yellow wire in my glove box. installed the switch in the glove box and fired up the engine. Slowly rotating it I saw my rpms go up maxing out around 1800rpm! It worked! Highly recommend this modification, it was super easy to install.
 

Tacoma4life

New member
Its been a while since i have signed back into this forum. Ended up putting together this modification. Tried 2 different setups the first was basically a manual cable that ran from my cab and connected to the throttle body where the cruise control used to connect. It seemed like a good idea at the time..... Luckily I tested it in my driveway with the car in park. The cable worked fine to bring the rpms up to whatever i wanted. The problem was when i pushed on the gas pedal the cable would get caught and so would my throttle! This could have been exciting when I was driving on the road. After removing the cable and throwing it in the crash i read up on the modification for the ecu coolant mod. Picked up a switched potentiometer 10k and wired it up to the green/ yellow wire in my glove box. installed the switch in the glove box and fired up the engine. Slowly rotating it I saw my rpms go up maxing out around 1800rpm! It worked! Highly recommend this modification, it was super easy to install.


Wow, this sounds very cool. Do you have a link or writeup?
 

BC-Luc

New member
On my 22RE, I used a electric vacumm valve and plummed metered air into the plenum. Worked awesome! Flipped a switch and my idle would rise to my preset. I used a adjustable AC vacumm valve from a 22RE, had a little adjustment on top.

Luc
 

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