Hi Thinking of buying a Toyota Masterace G Reg in good condition seller assures me he has had cam belt and head gasket renewed only thing is the temp gauge is,nt working was told it may need new sender can anyone give any advice i am abit concerned the overheating problems

- (#648) mal Houghton, 12 Apr 05 07:20

Mal,
The good me says it is just the sender failing, the evil me says it is to cover up high temp reading.
Take it for a good run, stop and listen for the overflow overflowing, sounds like a coffee perculator on steroids. There will also be a puddle just behind the passenger near side wheel, if it has over heating problems.
A ride around town streets will not show the problem up, it needs a high speed/high load blat! If you are lucky you will get the viscous fan to fully engage - extra whoosing noise.
No noise when parked up after the above may mean no overheating problem.

- (#648) Clive (Bristol), 12 Apr 05 10:46

If ANY vehicle needs the temperature gauge working, it is the Town/Masterace, especially when a purchase is being considered. The sender is just under the head, above the starter and it seems more than suspicious that this was not attended to when the head was off. If the sender IS faulty,(and they do not often fail) it is now a "drain down", complex job instead of the five minute job when the head.cambelt etc were being done.
"Caveat Emptor" comes to mind here

- (#648) John Davis (Leics), 12 Apr 05 15:03

Long shot - could just be that the wire wasn't put back on to the sender whem the head was put back on. Provided you can work out where to look, you can reach it from underneath, go under the sliding door and look up above the starter.

- (#648) Dave Mason (Sussex), 13 Apr 05 03:20

Thanks for the info ,took the toyota for a run at speed for about 30 miles no sign of gurgling and no leakage of water when stationary or when engine switched off.seller said the temp sender had been tested and wire had been put to earth and the gauge went into the red .wisely or not i decided to purchase the vehicle as it seemed a good deal for the money .Could anyone advise me of a mechanic or garage in the christchurh or bournemouth area who will take a look at the sender with a view to fitting a mason gauge and alarm and give me an opinion on the vehicle . Thanks again

- (#648) Mal, 13 Apr 05 06:00

Dave Bright lives in Bournemouth and is very experienced with the coolant system and the mason gauge. Depends whether he picks this up as I understand he has a lot on his plate at the mo. Alternatively, I recall a garage in Christchurch being highly recommended for working on Townaces. The address should be on AceAnswers.

- (#648) Ian Dunse (Derbs), 13 Apr 05 06:27

Ooops no it isn't. There was an article about the garage on Steve Ford-Elliott's now defunct site. Think it began with 'W' could be wrong though - sorry!

- (#648) Ian Dunse (Derbs), 13 Apr 05 06:44

Hi Mal and Ian.

Yes I can have a look if you want to pop round sometime, drop me an emial and we will work something out. I even have the old sender unit from when I installed my TIM gauge if its needed.

dont know about the garage in Christchurch, but there are many in the area who all know the townace. Thats what comes of having 3 importers in the area I guess.

- (#648) dave Bright (Bournemouth), 14 Apr 05 02:56