hello everybody, i have this week joined the Townie gang by buying a 91 2wd 2.0 ltr townace 'Royal lounge'(closest i'll ever get to royalty) I have never before had a vehicle like this and any hints and tips that are out there for a new owner would be appreciated. Does any body have an owners manual that they wouldn't mind photocopying as mine hasn't got one, come to think of it any manual that is related to townaces would be nice.
my e-mail is andkat@terry38.fsnet.co.uk
thanks, Andy.
- (#2785) andy, 29 Apr 02
Hi Andy and welcome to the club!
Your best bet for advice and tips would be to spend half an hour or so reading through the compilation of hints and tips, mainly taken from this site and categorised on Ace Answers, created by the very talented Dave Mason. Click on the link above to get to it. You can get an owners manual from Eurospec2000 which should also be listed on the above site, for about £20.
HTH
Ian
- (#2787) Ian Dunse, 30 Apr 02
hello andy ive only had my townace two weeks .i thought i was on my own panaking were i was going to get a manual on it .but rest ashored this is a brilliant site and so are the very helpful people example i put a message on the board about cooling system within 1 hour someone telephoned me he went through evrything about them with me .well not evrything but you know what i mean .it would be nice to get a manual but dont you think its better from the horses mouth most of theese people have had a townace for years good look anyway mate paul liverpool...
- (#3133) paul, 26 May 02
Hello, Andy and Paul. I ordered the owners handbook from the New Zealand site. It's a bit basic (I've owned a Space Cruiser and Townace for the last 13 years), and more for the Australian models (not the Royal Lounge such as I have), make me an offer and it's yours.
I also have the Townace hand book in Japonese. Happy to scan pages out of that to e-mail or to floppy/post.
I also have the Toyota engine manual £8.45 and well worth it, order from Toyota, along with the body parts manual for the Space Cruiser which close to the 2WD Townace. Happy to scan etc the body parts one aas it is out of print but not the engine aas it is still available.
- (#3217) Clive, 31 May 02
Hi all,
Wonderful site(s) I'm due to join the ranks. I'm buying a '90 2.0 TD auto 4wd Townace 'Royal Lounge' from Car Centre Ltd in Prestatyn(not seen any comments on them from anyone). I've put a 10% deposit down but I've not been able to test drive it yet as it is (hopefully) being registered as we speak. I must be honest the site has feared me regarding overheat problems but I finally succumbed and took the risk. One question while I'm here,two actually, what's the red button for by the side of the gear shift & the clocks show two lights which appear to be soft/hard suspension settings, how's this changed. Looking forward to sharing my experiences (god I pray they're all good).
- (#5197) Dave B, 20 Aug 02
Dave. Welcome to the wonderful world of Town/Master/liteaces etc. Don't be too put off by the high proportion of cooling "threads" in the splendid forum but, it is a big factor in the difference between an enjoyable vehicle and a troublesome and tiresome drain on your repair time and resources. Your purchase is through a dealer so, no doubt, there is a mechanical warranty in place. Your test drive should take in all the "normal" things which you require to be right in any type of vehicle but, with the Townace, do ask very direct questions regarding the integrity of the cooling system. Look in the listings of the Ace Answers site (which you can go to directly from this forum) and make a note of the items which you want to be assured on, ie, the viscous fan operation at speed, the transfer of hot water to the expansion tank and it's succesful syphoning back into the main system as the engine cools, and, especially, has a correct, new, rad/filler cap been fitted. If I were buying from a dealer I would want an assurance that the cooling system has been flushed out and that it has been thoroughly tested.
The red button, beside the auto gearshift, is an overide device to enable the gear lever to be moved if, for any reason, there is some failure with the built in inhibitor. You will find that the gear lever cannot be moved, when the vehicle is at rest, unless your foot is on the brake and this is an essential safety device. However, there is provision for overiding this, in certain, safe circumstances, via the red button.
Your vehicle has the TEMS electronic ride control. The s/absorbers switch between hard & soft, entirely automatically and the condition is controlled by various sensors, ie, one via the steering and another via the braking system. It cannot be altered manually but the "mode" is shown by the two green lights on the dashboard.
Finally, the best asset to the Townace owner is this forum.
- (#5198) John Davis, 20 Aug 02
great site.... reassuring 2 know that there's help an'advice at hand.... just bought a 91(h) jap import..2l tdi auto... goes like a dream at the moment (fingers an everything else crossed...testicles excluded) when i picked it up in the evening only a rookie sales person was about...drove off and now i'm discovering there's bits i'm afraid to press... here's my list:-
1) there's a black box about the size of a fag box with turbo synchroniser..at the mo its switched off....any tips on how i should use this..
2)whats the procedure for using the 4x4... there's a separate gear lever as well as a 4x4 switch on the dash.... elementary to those who know but i don't ...just noticed there are locks on the wheels???
3)cos it's automatic...are there any amjor tips i need to be aware of... there's an option of "l" on it...what is this...?
well i guess thats enough for the mo... i'm grateful for this site....used it for insurance ideas and saved me a packet.... long life to you all
3)
- (#5340) JON, 30 Aug 02
the "synchroniser" thingy is probably a timer to allow the engine to run for a period after you remove the key. Not really needed on a diesel anyway, but a minute or two is sufficient.
Your other queries have been answered many times before, have a look in the archives...
- (#5341) david miller, 31 Aug 02
hello everybody,just got ourselves a 91,2litre td 4wd townace superextra 3 days ago. We love it! I,v been browsing this site for the last week or so and have a fiew questions of my own.1,I find myself becoming parinoid over the overheating problems.Im constantly wathing the guage,has anybody thought about removing the thermostat completely? this would surley increase cooling.2,the leccy v viscous fan debate,my opinion is that when sat in traffic the leccy fan would move a lot more cooling air than viscous fan ,and this is when we are most voulnerable stationary or slow moving.3, does anyone know what the green light next to the ignition is for? mine seems to come on at random when stoped or driving.thank you all for a very good site,speek to you soon:-)
- (#5362) gary hope, 2 Sep 02
Congrats on the new arrival, firstly, if you remove the stat completely, you will probably destroy the swirl that is essential for a cooling system to work correctly, it would also stop the engine warming up properly in winter. The problem with the Townies seems to e caused by high speed driving, we have no real reported problems in town, it's at speeds above 60 Mph that everyone's troubles seem to have started, it's to do with the lack of air flow through the rads at speed. The green light is to illuminate the ignition lock in the dark, if it keeps coming on, then presumably the centre courtesy light is also flashing on, this could be the wire from the driver's pillar switch shorting to earth, or the switch itself has worn & the door is not making it open the circuit when closed. You may need to 'adjust' the switch with a shim of plastic, or wind it out to make sure the door pushes the plunger in fully. HTH Rob.
- (#5363) Rob Drinkwater, 2 Sep 02
Hello all just wanted to let you know what a great help this site has been in more ways than one.
Before i brought my masterace surf 90 cr30
i checked out this site because i was warned off of imports by my insurer who said that i would have trouble getting parts & basic knowlege & insurance for said imports and i must say that on all three counts that you have proven him wrong.
I look forward to visiting bok & aceanswers on a regular basis i had alot of questions to ask but after looking through this pukka site all my questions were answered without even asking them cheeres people
MICK (london)
- (#5442) mick, 6 Sep 02
Wecome to the 'club' Mick, these are indeed fine vehicles, and if you look after yours, you should find her a reliable & fun beast. Being a CR30 you also have the advantage of 4x4, something I've found useful on occasions, at 1.6 tons, they tend to get stuck in mud easily, so thats where the 4x4 comes in (well that's the excuse I use when I deliberately go & ditch the thing). But seriously as long as you follow the basic guldelines on Aceanswers, ie the cooling system flush, the undersealing and the general TLC these vehicles need, you should have no problems. Regards Rob. Have a look at my personal site for some detail of our beast & what I have done to her.
- (#5443) Rob Drinkwater, 6 Sep 02
Hi Mick
Welcome and congratulations. I am still quite new to this arena (only had the ace about a year). I needed convincing at first, but the wife fell in love at first sight. Look after it and it will look after you. Just come back from cruising down to Italy and back with three kids in the back and the rest of teh space taken by luggage. Must admit there are very few cars I would attempt that trip in. Luggage space is amazing on these vehicles with the rear seats up.
Gotta run. Good luck and enjoy it.
Martyn Davies
1989 Masterace Surf
2.0TD Auto Two Wheel Drive Skylight Roofs
- (#5444) Martyn Davies, 6 Sep 02
Oh dear what have I done? I have just bought a Townace Royal Lounge 1991 from a dealer in Derby (Ram City Motors). I love it, the family love it and all seems hunky dori until I go on the web for a look see about my new possesion. It seems ownership require you to be an amateur mechanic which I am far from being. Someone please tell me that my new toy is not going to empty my bank account. I am lying down in a darkened room awaiting your reply(s).
- (#5867) Phillip Johnys, 18 Oct 02
Phillip,
Congrats on selecting a Royal Lounge - nice choice got one myself.
No you don't have to be a mechanic, it would help but you can still save £s if you just keep a check on fluid levels. Not as easy as lifting a bonnet but not complicated either. As a new owner when you lift the engine cover make sure you have moved the driver seat forward and tilted it forward as far as it will go, on the Royal Lounge you can rip the arm rest!
Do you have a friendly garage/bloke next door/ wifes cousin ?
Have another read through Ace Answers there are a few things that you can do such as changing headlight bulbs which would cost 1/2hour of mechanics time, (how many people does it take to change a light bulb?).
Don't forget you can always post a question here before going to a garage.
Get out in it, keep a check on all the gauges as you would anyway, a little preventative maintainance and all will be hunky dory. As has been said before most of the postings are for problems, not many on the subject of another week no problems to report.
Get out of that room and go for a drive.
- (#5868) Clive, 19 Oct 02
Phillip,
Congratulations, for your new townie. Sooner than you can realize, she will pretty much become the most loved "family member" in your household :>) (first hand experience). I am not a mechanic myself, but I realized that keeping an eye on this (very helpful)site (and taking some time to dig deep into Ace Answers, aka this Ace Answers website ) before calling on the repair guy, can save you $$$s (oops, £££s) and time.
So, get out of the room, open you skylight roofs and enjoy your townie. If you drive a little bit too far to the south (to Mozambique), you will probably see mine, proudly touring the warm coast of Africa.
Good day,
Manecas
- (#5869) Manecas, 19 Oct 02
Thanks for the support and advice. We went on a family trip today and she performed perfectly. Cheers.
- (#5870) Phil, 19 Oct 02
well at last im a proud owner of a townace 2L TD auto 1988 and shes a "peach" but never having driven a turbo or auto before its very scarey.please could someone explain
over ride / idle up. i have just done 200miles and used 3/4 tank of diesel that cant be good can it!!!!!! the green tubo light was on all the time. thank you for a great site and i look forward to being a regular visitor.
- (#11733) val, 17 Nov 03 4:23
Hello Val, and congratulations on your acquisition.
200 miles is about right I'm afraid, so long as it is miles, the trip reads in Kilometres not miles you see.
At the top of this page you will see Ace Answers in red type. Click on it, and you will go to the archives.
Its much too much to digest in one go, but take some time to visit the archives, because almost every post on this site has been stored there.
O/D is over drive, and your best to leave it on all the time. Idle up increases the tick over when the fan is on, Don’t worry about it, its still something of a mystery to me too.
- (#11734) dave Bright, 17 Nov 03 5:01
Well val, using 3/4 of a tank of fuel in 200 miles and having the turbo light on all the time seems to me that you were booting the throttle a bit! It's always better to throttle up gradually. It saves fuel, and you won't run the risk of blowing the turbo.
As for over ride, don't you mean over drive? If so, its just to get an extra gear ratio on the auto transmission. I use mine like a fifth gear on a manual. The idle up is there to increase the idle speed of the engine in case you have the air conditioning on so it won't put a strain on the engine. Hope that helps. Alan.
- (#11735) Al Bickley, 17 Nov 03 5:02
All your questions are answered on Ace Answers, link at top of this page. Have look at the handbook.
O/D allways on for normal driving (dashboard light off).
Idleup for use on cold start/demisting/deicing, will only work with from heater fan on. Try starting the engine turn heater fan on and press idle up, engine should speed up. Don't drive with the idle up on.
Does the green turbo light go off on tickover?
Fuel comsumption, there is a spread sheet in the handbook section, anything from 25 to 35 mpg can be expected. Needs to be monitored over a few fill ups to be sure if anything is amiss.
- (#11844) Clive (Bristol), 17 Nov 03 5:04
thank you Al and Dave for youre thoughts on my query and yes Al i did mean over drive. nice to know there is help out there. i have now got little more info to help me enjoy my "peach" a little better.cheers val.
- (#11845) val mann, 18 Nov 03 7:12
hi Clive, i'll monitor fuel comsumption as you suggest. no green light on tickover.Seems i was driving with o/d on(dashboad light on) told you i didn't know anything and i can't claim to be blonde.
- (#11846) Clive (Bristol), 18 Nov 03 7:30