Tercel Guru in Chicago?

General discussion about our beloved Tercel 4WD cars
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Wadada
Newbie
Posts: 12
Joined: Sat Nov 09, 2013 5:02 pm
My tercel:: 1985 4WD Wagon
Location: Burlington, VT

Tercel Guru in Chicago?

Post by Wadada »

Hey Gang, my sis just drove the 85 wagon I sold her to Chicago from NH this weekend. She's going to need to replace some front end parts to get it aligned, probably tie rod ends, maybe the rack. Does anybody know of any good Toyota mechanics she should try in Chicago? One that likes and is good at working on the older ones?

She also picked up two front fenders from a salvage yard along the way, and is planning to have them put on and the whole car painted. It only has 70k miles on it, but a few VT winters took their toll on the fenders and steering parts!

Thanks!
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Petros
Highest Ranking Member
Posts: 11930
Joined: Sun Jan 28, 2007 6:31 pm
My tercel:: '84 Tercel4wd w/extensive mods
Location: Arlington WA USA

Re: Tercel Guru in Chicago?

Post by Petros »

big cities are always tough to find a trustworthy mechanic. they can burn every customer they get and never run out of new victims. In the outlying communities where there are smaller shops with local mechanics who know all of their customers, they are your best bet. They have too much to loose if they get a bad reputation. Even so, interview them to see how they respond to your questions. If they give you vague answers to specific questions, do not trust them, move on. questions like "are you familiar with the carburetors on these cars? How many have you worked on?" if they are evasive or ramble on about old cars and carburetors but do not answer the direct question, they will not know what to do with them. Many mechanics were not even alive when these cars were new, so either an old car enthusiast or an older mechanic that enjoys the simpler systems on the old cars are good things to look for in a mechanic.

Always be very careful when selecting a mechanic, many are incompetent and have no business messing with an older car, and there are also a lot of crooks. The reason I do most of our car's maintenance.

good luck.
'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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ARCHINSTL
Goldie Forever
Posts: 6369
Joined: Sat Apr 30, 2005 1:52 pm
My tercel:: Goldie is a 1986 SR5 attualmente con Weber/also owned the first T4WD in STL in late '82
Location: Kirkwood, a 'burb of St. Louis

Re: Tercel Guru in Chicago?

Post by ARCHINSTL »

Petros certainly makes a very valid point about relating mechanics' ages to the ages of our cars.
After all, if a wrench was just out of tech school when these came out in late '82, they would now be near to retirement age and with their accrued seniority, probably not now relegated to working on old crocks - and if they were in their 30's then, they would certainly be retired!

After all, 99% of cars have had FI since the late '80s!
"IS 'OBDI/II' related to Obi-Wan Kenobi? Where do I hook up the probes for the diagnostic? What - 'seat-of-the-pants' - what is that? Does the "computer'' in these cars run on an 8-track?"

Remember - time is money and if it takes a "modern" wrench hours to look at FSM's to work on our cars - that adds up to $$$. The SST's to work on our cars were probably pitched years ago as well.

I think he is also right about looking for a small, sub/exurban, shop with "mature" (ahem...) wrenches.
Another suggestion might be to put an ad in Craigslist to the effect of "Looking for retired Toyota mechanic;" I'd bet that might bear fruit!
Tom M.
T4WD augury?
"Oh, do not ask, 'What is it?' Let us go and make our visit."
T.S. Eliot - "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock"
"Now and then we had a hope that, if we lived and were good, God would permit us to be pirates."
Mark Twain
Wadada
Newbie
Posts: 12
Joined: Sat Nov 09, 2013 5:02 pm
My tercel:: 1985 4WD Wagon
Location: Burlington, VT

Re: Tercel Guru in Chicago?

Post by Wadada »

Thanks, guys. She had an independent guy who knew old Toyotas inside and out that worked on her 81 Corolla/Tercel, but he dropped off the map! She's going to try to try to track him down, but hopefully we can find the type of mechanics you suggest!
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