What have you done to your wagon lately?

General discussion about our beloved Tercel 4WD cars
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4wdEconoBox
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My tercel:: 1985 Toyota Tercel SR5 4WD
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Re: What have you done to your wagon lately?

Post by 4wdEconoBox »

It smells just like gear oil, feels like it too, I'll check it out really good when I get home and check my engine oil and everything real good, bc with how bad of a leak it is, it'll definitely show a difference on the dipstick haha. But I'm 95% sure that it's gear oil
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marlinh
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Re: What have you done to your wagon lately?

Post by marlinh »

What you should do is wash the area really well and observe the leak after driving it. If it is coming from the side of the bell housing, as Petros said, it is probably not the input seal. The transmission breather is behind the bell housing at the top. Is it possible the transmission is overfilled? Is the filler plug loose or the gasket missing and it is leaking out the threads?
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4wdEconoBox
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Re: What have you done to your wagon lately?

Post by 4wdEconoBox »

Well its not coming from the side of the of the bellhousing, sorry for being misleading, haha. From what I can tell its coming from like between where the engine and bell housing bolt together and leaking down the lower half of the tranny, if that makes sense... But like I said I haven't been able to see very far up to see where it actually starts either, ya know? Its been raining since I got home so I still didn't get to check it out.... But it is very possible that the trans is overfilled also, I had it parked up a hill and jacked up when I topped it up yesterday and when I pulled my filler hose out, gear oil started leaking a good bit out of the filler hole, so I quickly put the plug back on so that most of it would stay in there. I'm guessing I shouldn't have done that? haha, I also don't remember there being gaskets on any of the plugs, but I'll also check that they're tight once it stops raining!
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rer233
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Re: What have you done to your wagon lately?

Post by rer233 »

Car HAS to be level (front-to-back, right-to-left) to get an accurate reading on tranny (or any other) fluid level. You're probably over filled. Hopefully no gear oil got on the clutch...

Good Luck!
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83 SR5 Silver/Blue (Snowmobile/work beater)-totaled but drivable
85 SR5 Blue
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4wdEconoBox
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My tercel:: 1985 Toyota Tercel SR5 4WD
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Re: What have you done to your wagon lately?

Post by 4wdEconoBox »

I'm praying and hoping that your right, I'm going to continue to monitor the leaking and tomorrow I'll check the gear oil level to make sure that I'm not actually getting below the right level. Because it does seem weird that its never leaked this bad until I overfilled it, so it makes sense now, haha.. Thanks for all of the help guys!
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ARCHINSTL
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Re: What have you done to your wagon lately?

Post by ARCHINSTL »

rer233 wrote:Car HAS to be level (front-to-back, right-to-left) to get an accurate reading on tranny (or any other) fluid level. You're probably over filled. Hopefully no gear oil got on the clutch...
Good Luck!
What he wrote!
As a noob in 2005 with Goldie, I just elevated the front to fill. When I checked the jug, I'd only gotten in a little over 3 quarts.
So I then had to jack up both the front and rear. Of course, if one has a lift, not a big deal, but then with a jack and 4 stands, it is a bit of a PITA.

OT, but with my then-new '83, after the first free dealer refill, I did not have to mess with it (my sis fried the head at 47K and I traded on an '86 626).
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4wdEconoBox
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Re: What have you done to your wagon lately?

Post by 4wdEconoBox »

Ok, so let me ask if this is a good test to see if the tranny is overfilled...

The car is parked as level as it can be at my house, looks level by using my eyes as a judge anyway, when I take out the filler plug by the drivers axle gear oil comes pouring out, that's not supposed to happen right? I didn't let it all drain out because I wasn't sure if i was thinking right.... Haha

Should I let it drain until it won't drain anymore?

Will overfilling the tranny hurt anything?

Last question, since all of this has been going on, my clutch started grabbing at the very bottom of the pedal, like once I start letting off the pedal it's a sudden grab, it's so bad that every now and again I stall that engine out, is there any way to adjust where the clutch let's out at?

I also think gear oil got on the clutch because it shudders when I take off every now and again.... :(
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Petros
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Re: What have you done to your wagon lately?

Post by Petros »

I do not think slightly over filling the gear box will harm anything, the input gear gets lubed by splash and it would get lubed better. I like to fill the trans with the driver's side jacked up so I can get a few more oz. of gear oil in the gear box, I figure it will leak out the old seals soon enough anyway. I would leave it. you will not harm it, if you have too much it seep out the vent on the top of the gear box.

sounds like your clutch is worn and will need to be replaced soon. the clutch cable has an auto adjuster at the top of the clutch pedal assembly (near the pivot under the dash). You might look at the auto adjuster and make sure it is working okay, and see if the cable is in good shape, not shredding and splintering. Usually the cables last a long time, but a few members have had them stretch enough to be a problem.

Though if you have both clutch chatter, and the clutch enganges at the end of its travel, both are signs of a bad clutch. When you replace the clutch you might also replace the rear main seal and the trans input shaft seal if it is not soft and pliable. Neither seal costs very much, a clutch kit is about $100, though you can get great deals on clutch kits from rockauto, depending on what they have in stock.

Changing the clutch is a big job, but not too costly in terms of parts. Good luck.
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4wdEconoBox
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Re: What have you done to your wagon lately?

Post by 4wdEconoBox »

Ok, that's good, makes me feel better about the overfilling, I'll just leave it be then haha. But the worn clutch thing scares me, I just replaced it last August when I rebuilt the engine, it was a new clutch, pressure plate and I had the old flywheel resurfaced at the machine shop. I consider myself pretty decent with a 5 speed, do you think it could've worn out that fast? I definitely hope not :( haha
I just find it odd that it only started happening right after I overfilled it and when it started coming out of the vent, ya know? Like im wondering if gear oil got on the clutch, would it make it act like that? Thanks for the insight Petros!
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Petros
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Re: What have you done to your wagon lately?

Post by Petros »

Verify your cable auto adjust is working, if the spring was not installed properly when you did the clutch it may not be taking up the slack. If it is at the end of its travel than either the cable is stretched and needs to be replaced, or the clutch is worn out. That would be odd though since a new clutch should last 100k miles or more.
'87 Tercel 4wd SR5 (current engine swap project)
'84 Tercel 4wd (daily driver, with on going mods)
'92 Mazda MPV 4wd (wife's daily driver)
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BaileySims
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Re: What have you done to your wagon lately?

Post by BaileySims »

Thinking a about giving this a try sometime. Anyone ever have any expierence with this before?
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marlinh
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Re: What have you done to your wagon lately?

Post by marlinh »

I think someone on the site did that a while ago. Don't remember if there was a write up.
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Petros
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Re: What have you done to your wagon lately?

Post by Petros »

there was a youtube video of a couple of guys down under do a number of mods to some older japanese cars. "Mighty Car Mods" I think they called their channel. they used a generic after market kit to retrofit electric windows to an old nissan I think.

Personally I would stick with the simple, reliable and light weight hand crank.
'87 Tercel 4wd SR5 (current engine swap project)
'84 Tercel 4wd (daily driver, with on going mods)
'92 Mazda MPV 4wd (wife's daily driver)
'85 Tercel 4wd DLX auto(daughter's daily driver)
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Re: What have you done to your wagon lately?

Post by BaileySims »

You might be right. I should probably fix all the important stuff on the car first. I'll be hanging the car up next year to figure out more stuff I'd want to do to it. Driving around for work yesterday I found a new prospect for the forum. I just need to leave one of those print outs on the car. It looks relatively nice. Might be an 85 86 fwd though.
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Petros
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Re: What have you done to your wagon lately?

Post by Petros »

what I did was make a list of all of the "wish list" items I wanted to change, up grade or modify on my Tercel, and gave them a priority (what was most important, and least important). Than used that to work down the list, as I needed routine maintenance at the same time when it needed it. for example when it was time I needed brakes, I had all of the up grade parts already and just did it all in one day (took photos and made the brake up grade thread at the same time). Therefore, as I do the routine maintenance, each of my up grade or mods got considered to do at the same time.

After a few years, most of the items on the list were done (all of the important items, like better brakes and wheels/tires), and the costs of the up grades and mods were rolled into the maintenance, and spread out over the several years. So when I needed new tires, I got the larger alloy wheels and purchased the low profile tires as well.

Of course I keep thinking of new items I want to improve or try out on the car, so the next time I have to major heavy maintance, I will have a significant mod to try out at the same time. I have it ready to go, just waiting for the opportunity to take it apart for some other reason.
'87 Tercel 4wd SR5 (current engine swap project)
'84 Tercel 4wd (daily driver, with on going mods)
'92 Mazda MPV 4wd (wife's daily driver)
'85 Tercel 4wd DLX auto(daughter's daily driver)
'01 Honda Civic (other daughter's daily driver)
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