I’m not hearing anything abnormal as long is doesn’t last long on a cold start and generally isn’t heard on the freeway unless you were in really hot weather or towing a heavy load.

Nature of an old beast tech

https://www.clublexus.com/forums/gx-...l#post11048646

 

Thanks for the video.

On mine, the fan is virtually always engaged when proceeding from idle until 15-20 MPH or so (such as at any random stop light), even if it's not hot outside. The fan is not on while I'm stopped, but it engages when I start to move. I can't figure out if everyone's GX is like this and most people don't notice, or if mine has an issue. It's much easier to notice with the windows down. Maybe I'll see if the dealer has a loaner GX I can test out or something to try to get a better handle on whether or not this is normal.

 

I did have to replace the fan clutch on mine. It stayed engaged for too long on cold starts and would literally require vehicle getting over 2k RPM or so before it would initially disengage. It seemed to generally work fine in all operational temp modes above that though.

IIRC… idle engaged doesn’t produce significant noise so it may appear disengaged when it isn’t while being stopped.

You could leverage OBD Fusion/Link to confirm engagement is happening at specific coolant temperatures.

I can’t remember offhand what temps these fan clutches engage/disengage at.

 

you could try having the clutch changed, but that sounds fairly normal. I almost never drive in traffic or even stoplights really, so I cannot comment on whats normal. But as mentioned in my previous post, when you are barely moving there is not much natural air flow through the radiator. This causes increased coolant flow through the radiator since your cooling source is gone and it still has to offload engine heat. Now what little cooling air that is trickling through the radiator is hotter. Plus all the other heat sources in the engine bay radiating heat with no air flow and it causes the clutch to heat up and engage

Let your GX idle in your driveway at operating temperature and what you will find is that the entire radiator core nearly uniformly heats up. There is little temperature drop between the inlet and outlet of the core due to the lack of airflow. In a vehicle with an electric cooling fan, this would result in the coolant temps rising until the temperature trigger is tripped and the cooling fans kick on. In the case of my F150, my coolant temps will hit 214F just sitting in my garage because that is what the electric fan's low speed trigger is set too. On a mechanical fan engine, it will cause the clutch to heat up since its sitting just behind the radiator and is still turning slowly. This will cause it to lock up.

 

Got it, thanks for the detailed replies Acrad and skrypj. Mine seems to operate somewhat normally at cold startup. It's just regular city driving where I'm a little skeptical it's operating properly. I think I really need to test out a loaner or two to see if they act the same way or not.

 

I recently purchased '17 premium and noticed fan noise is excessive too. Sounds like airplane takeoff everytime rolling from a dig. I had 08 gx470 and I don't recall having loud fan noise. Maybe it did and didn't notice

 

Thanks for the data point! This is exactly the type of feedback I was hoping for to try to judge whether or not mine might be normal.

 

My '17 GX sounds JUST like my older '13 4Runner (likely the same fan/clutch). A sound I hear anywhere I see a Toyota truck starting up. First "beep beep" from the alarm, then "Whirrrr" from the fan. Totally used to it. Compare against any one of the Toyota trucks or GX's near you next time you are out (they are never far away). If yours is noticeably louder then look further...

 

It's loud, my wife really complained about it and felt her previous gen GX was much quieter at startup. Was like this when new. From my memory both gens had a fan clutch. Not sure what changed. Not an issue for me, used to it now.

 

Thanks for the replies. I know the startup fan noise is normal. My question was more regarding fan roar during stop-and-go traffic, parking lots and that sort of thing, and whether it was normal or not. Mine roars when proceeding from any type of stop, and the fan stops at anywhere between 10 and 20 mph.

 

I have a 2019 4Runner with the 4.0L V6 and it sounds almost identical. It's just one of the old-school aspects about these old-school trucks. I'll admit it is a bit obnoxious but I'm used to it.

 

Were you able to find out if the radiator fan noise on acceleration from a stop (between 10-20 mph after truck was warmed up and not the typical roar on a cold start while idling) was normal? Did you replace the fan clutch and/or coolant temp sensor? It's an old thread and I was not sure if there was a resolution. Thanks.

 

My 2014 does exactly the same thing and this is normal; original fan clutch.