I have been looking for a new townie since our old masterace was written off recently ( while I was stopped at an intersection!!). Today I found a 1994 liteace auto for sale and it has the 3c-t engine in it. It seems to have a lot more performance than the old 2c-t. I have been looking at Estimas, but prefer the old townie so this could be an interesting find. Are these variants common? Do they still have the gearbox and drivetrain from the old townies, and, if so, does the extra horsepower cause any problems?

- (#13131) Stu, 1 Sep 04 00:50

All the post '93 facelifted diesel Townaces/Liteaces had the 3C-T 2.2 TD engine, I suppose Toyota just realised the 2 litre was a bit under powered for the size. The 3CT only produces a few more HP, but a bit more torque as well. Can't really see any problem drivetrain wise, as it's all well proven & the autobox can take much more than the Townie can throw at it. As regards all other aspect, well still keep an eye on temperatures, as the 2.2 still suffers with head problems, and I think that the 3CTE electronic diesel control engine never made it into the Town/Liteace, only into the post '95 Lucidas.

Regards Rob.

- (#13131) Rob Drinkwater, 1 Sep 04 15:41

Yup, common, and no problems. I believe the 3C was phased in after the '92 facelift.
Dunno, I don't recall anyone on the site having cooling problems on a 3C townie. Might be wrong...

- (#13131) David Miller, 1 Sep 04 15:43

Dave,

I suspect it's just down to lack of quantity of the vehicles. On speaking to the likes of ADL, it seem that the 3CT still had the same head problems, this seems to also apply to the Lucida,Emina,Estima with the 3CT. Toyota seemed to crack it on the 3CTE in the post 95 Lucida range. This then begs two questions, did they chage head or headgasket material? Answer I don't think so, as part numbers come up the same. So could the whole overheating thing be a fuelling thing? Now that's a definate possiblility. When thought about, the Townie & early Lucida have a pure mechanical system. Pre set fuelling, with mixture enrichment for 'on turbo' and fuelling advancement controlled by fuel pressure. Copy of the Bosch VE pump. The later ones with electronic control, were still mechanical, but enrichment & advance control now comes under electronic control & does away with the slight inaccuracies of the mechanical system. This might keep fuelling better & help to keep the engine cooler.
Of course common rail would have been the answer, but impossible with the IDI engines.

Just a theory!!!

- (#13131) Rob Drinkwater, 2 Sep 04 04:51