thanks for all that, jarf. that's funny what you mention about the toyotavanpeople site. i registered for the forum several days ago but never heard anything, tried to log in now, still nothing, tried the 'contact us' page but got an 'error' page when i hit send, tried the other links on the side, and they're all dead too. what a piece of crap.
TVT seems much better! i'm going to ask their advice on what to investigate that would lead to a cracked head. it's such a common complaint that it seems like a design flaw more than anything else but i'll see what the van-savvy folks have to say.
toyota liteace/townace - engine access?
- Ace
- Top Notch Member
- Posts: 104
- Joined: Sat Jan 14, 2012 11:57 am
- My tercel:: '83 DLX 4WD Tercel wagon 3AC
Re: toyota liteace/townace - engine access?
Wonder how things turned out with that van? I once had a RHD mid-engine Toyota van myself ...
I had an extended visit in Australia nine years ago and saw liteace vans for sale but I ended up buying a Toyota Tarago (Aussie version of Previa). It had 385,000km when I got it, and I drove it 9,000km in four months. It was trouble-free, other than a slight thirst for oil. It had slop in the manual shift linkage, but I came up with a cheap easy fix for that. The van had documentation that the engine had been replaced by a dealer, so the engine had only about half the mileage as the van.
It handled really well and was fun to drive. It always started promptly. The 2.4L engine got up to 26mpg USA equivalent. I drove it across the continent and slept in it about six weeks total.
In research I think I learned that earlier models had perhaps more than their share of failures, perhaps because they were less convenient to service the engine. Mine had reservoirs under the hood which kept the vital fluids topped off. I was glad I never had to get involved with any work on the engine itself, all tucked away underneath. The only major work I did was to replace a busted front strut, from hitting a rough shoulder on a narrow road in Tasmania when other traffic was pressuring me to drive faster.
Coincidentally, I sold the van to a couple in Perth who had an uneconomic-to-repair liteace (?) Toyota wagon - shown in second photo.
I had an extended visit in Australia nine years ago and saw liteace vans for sale but I ended up buying a Toyota Tarago (Aussie version of Previa). It had 385,000km when I got it, and I drove it 9,000km in four months. It was trouble-free, other than a slight thirst for oil. It had slop in the manual shift linkage, but I came up with a cheap easy fix for that. The van had documentation that the engine had been replaced by a dealer, so the engine had only about half the mileage as the van.
It handled really well and was fun to drive. It always started promptly. The 2.4L engine got up to 26mpg USA equivalent. I drove it across the continent and slept in it about six weeks total.
In research I think I learned that earlier models had perhaps more than their share of failures, perhaps because they were less convenient to service the engine. Mine had reservoirs under the hood which kept the vital fluids topped off. I was glad I never had to get involved with any work on the engine itself, all tucked away underneath. The only major work I did was to replace a busted front strut, from hitting a rough shoulder on a narrow road in Tasmania when other traffic was pressuring me to drive faster.
Coincidentally, I sold the van to a couple in Perth who had an uneconomic-to-repair liteace (?) Toyota wagon - shown in second photo.
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
- dlb
- Highest Ranking Member
- Posts: 7305
- Joined: Mon Jul 06, 2009 9:03 pm
- My tercel:: '87 sr5, '83 dlx parts car
- Location: bc, canada
Re: toyota liteace/townace - engine access?
i decided to pass on this van. we're going to alaska soon and i had work to do on both the truck and travel trailer so i didn't want a van sitting here for months before i could actually do anything with it. plus i wasn't psyched on doing the particular work, especially since i learned that their heads are prone to failures. i didn't want to do the work only to have it fail again soon, even if it was in someone else's hands by then.
and i'm now really happy with my decision because i've decided to do some major work on the travel trailer after the summer. while doing some minor repairs and maintenance, i've found there is water damage from leaking window seals so i want to fix that but i also want to change a few things -- we want a wider bed, we want to get rid of the toilet (gross in a small camper), and we want a heated outdoor shower. so i'm going to gut the thing, reuse what i can, replace what i need to, reseal everything, and made the modifications. it will be a big project so i don't want anything else sitting in the yard, making me feel guilty about hoarding a bunch of junk.
and i'm now really happy with my decision because i've decided to do some major work on the travel trailer after the summer. while doing some minor repairs and maintenance, i've found there is water damage from leaking window seals so i want to fix that but i also want to change a few things -- we want a wider bed, we want to get rid of the toilet (gross in a small camper), and we want a heated outdoor shower. so i'm going to gut the thing, reuse what i can, replace what i need to, reseal everything, and made the modifications. it will be a big project so i don't want anything else sitting in the yard, making me feel guilty about hoarding a bunch of junk.