overheating but not

[reddevil500]

I have a 88 Toyota pickup that's runs really good all days. Its my daily driver. It runs a little past half way mark on the temp gauge. I can drive it for hours and it wont overheat. PS with the AC on too. If I stop somewhere like the store for maybe 5 to 10 min when I restart the truck the temp reads really hot then slowly comes back down to normal. I have the stock gauge and an aftermarket and they both read the same. Has a OEM Toyota thermostat no more than 3 months old with a 50/50 mix. Really bothering me but I'm stumped on what it can be. I would really appreciate some input. Thanks.

[bigarms23]

how old are the radiator hoses but i would suspect that you might have a bad termostate i had to replace mine and mine was only 2months old is your radiator fairly new or old

[emsvitil]

How old is the fan clutch?

[junya92toy]

Mine did that, low on coolant.

[Snowtoy]

Along with the above causes, a rad in need of rebuilding or failing water pump can also be a cause the same issue. 

[2manytoys]

My 88 with 22RE runs below half and I'm in Arizona. It started to creep up and I found my fan clutch starting to go bad but hadn't failed completely yet, and my radiator was beginning to plug up internally. It actually had some cool areas when up to operating temp.

I'm running aftermarket American Made thermostats and never had problems with them. Never had a 22RE pump stop pumping, just  leak.

Are you running a fan shroud?

I think it's normal to read a little high after being shut off and parked for a short time. If you pull into a place when hot , shut it down and go in a store or something, the coolant is just sitting in the engine soaking up heat. As soon as you start it, the thermostat should be wide open and it should drop in temp pretty quick.