From a friend of mine who had bid and won a Townie offered on eBay-
We all travelled up to Newport(Wales) to collect our Townace last Sunday , everything was great the kids were having a ball rearranging the seats , Chris could plug his gameboy into the rear cigarette lighter socket, cokes in the coolbox, curtains swishing to and fro and then just as we got over the bridge and on that long incline up to Almondsbury it happened. temp needle straight off the scale quicker than you could blink. We could not have travelled more than 20 miles. Babs was duly despatched to fetch water in the Rover whilst I phoned the seller who also promised to bring some water.
After about an hour the needle had returned to the centre so up with the seat and strangely the pipe had blown off the header tank which was a quarter full, odd?
further investigation revealed that the pipe into to the header had been sealed up by filling with something like araldite and crimped so that nothing could enter the tank and the pipe replaced to cover the bodge. The radiator cap was also brand new confirming the previous owners had had trouble and had deliberately covered up the failing head gasket with this bodge and indeed all seemed fine until the system was put under serious pressure on the motorway,
The seller turned up and was thankfully most apologetic his son works for a Toyota dealer in Japan and gets 1st pick of the trade ins which he ships back for dad to sell. Seems not everyone in Japan is inscrutable. He called out the RAC to recover the vehicle and would fix it free of charge
the RAC bless their cotton socks would not send out a flat bed until their man had confirmed that it was the cylinder head even if he had described the symptoms as a two foot high jet of water out of the open radiator .it turned up five hours later luckily we went off home and left him to it.
I had a call Friday to say all was fixed and I could pick it up.
thank god for Ace answers forearmed was forewarned.
I new from reading peoples postings that the head would need to be pressure tested, skimmed and new gaskets and head bolts fitted as a minimum. In just four days who where they kidding! Must have had the parts in stock and a cylinder head specialist at the bottom of the garden.
So I demanded a guarantee in writing for the work carried out.Surprise surprise a follow up call to say that they had test drove the Townace and the same had happened and I would require a new cylinder head from Japan.
John the seller offered my money back thank God
So next time you are to check over a townie pull off the pipe to the header tank you never know.
Sad but this experience has put us off this vehicle for life and we are looking at buying another Picnic.
Graham and Babs Ilfracombe
If only they had the Temp alarm fitted..
Clive
- (#9196) Clive, 22 Jun 03 3:44
Sad to see you've been put off the vehicles, as this is the only really bad problem that they seen to suffer from. In a way it is good that it did it immediately after purchase, when at least you had some come back, had it gone in say a few weeks time, you could have been left high & dry.
In the defence of the Townie, we have had ours for 20 months now, been all over the place, and as others on this forum will vouch, I suffer from terminal lead right foot. Our bus has had the occasional excursion into the realms of three figures (MPH not Kph) but realistically we regularly 'cruise' at over 80Mph in her, for many a mile. I have done the electric fan conversion & other modes to the cooling system, regularly check it & also flushed it thoroughly. So it's as good as a Townie cooling system gets. So do have a look at some others of these fine vehicles as I'm sure you will find a goodun'. (Now I've said all this, she'll blow the roof tomorrow!!!)
Regards Rob.
- (#9197) Rob Drinkwater, 22 Jun 03 16:21
I must agree with Rob, The Townie is a superb vehicle and is backed up by this superb site. I have had many vehicles and particularly one very sorry (brand new) zafira which had a water pump disintegrate after 6000 miles, the a/c made me feel very ill so that my wife and i wouild not drive it until the evaporator coil was steam disinfected and probably the most uncomfortable seats ever. The point is any vehicle can be a potential nightmare give the townie another chance. It more than deserves it
brian
- (#9198) brian squire, 23 Jun 03 0:53
This is more like a real result than a tale of woe, surely?
Sounds like Graham, Bab’s and the kids really were looking forward to owning one of these great Mpv’s, and even enjoyed the 20 miles or so that they were an owner. It is sad though, that they have decided that the Townace is not now for them, but were absolutely right to walk away from that particular one. They have obviously done their homework, and were able to avoid being fobbed off with a lemon, so well done to them.
dave Bright
- (#9199) dave Bright, 23 Jun 03 1:49
Just as a point of interest, if you are going for a Toyota Picnic, and decide to go for the Diesel, this unit is the 3CTE 2.2 litreengine, which is almost wholly derived from the 2CT 2.0 litre engine in the Townie. I understand Toyota have improved the head problems, but it still is a problem even in the Picnic, Lucida etc. And let's face it, a Picnic has a tiny fraction of the room, comfort, toys, character etc of a Townie.
Regards Rob.
- (#9288) Rob Drinkwater, 23 Jun 03 16:12
Dave
I must humbly apologise if my point was vague but my reference was not to the purchase of that particular townie but to point out that all townies are not rogue vehicles thrust upon an unsuspecting public,but to make the point that goodun's are out there
brian squire
- (#9289) brian squire, 23 Jun 03 16:25
Brian please, no apology needed.
Your point wasn’t vague, and not for one moment did I think that you were referring to “That vehicle”,
I was agreeing with you. Armed with such astute knowledge for a first time buyer, its a shame to right off the Ace Mpv’s entirely. As you rightly say, there are goodun‘s around, and they are well worth the hunt.
dave Bright
- (#9290) dave Bright, 24 Jun 03 1:14