Your thoughts?

General discussion about our beloved Tercel 4WD cars
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BaileySims
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My tercel:: 1983 Tercel SR5 4WD
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Your thoughts?

Post by BaileySims »

So recently, ol' reliable started to have a bit of a smoking issue. I started doing some checks last weekend and couldn't pin point it. For some reason, all of the intake and exhaust bolts have all backed out of the head, tightened those up and it stopped smoking from under the hood.

Now, here's where it gets weird for me. Normally on start up, it smokes a little making one seem it's the valve stem seals because it goes away when it's warmed up. Cylinders 1, 2 and 4 have oil on the spark plugs. Jump back a few years when I was putting this thing together, I replaced every seal and gasket from top to bottom. Replaced all bearings and I had only replaced the piston and rings on cylinder 3.

Seeing as how only cylinders 1 2 and 4 have oil on the spark plugs, what are the chances that it is the rings? I haven't run a compression test yet but I will try to do so as soon as I can get around to it.
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Petros
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Re: Your thoughts?

Post by Petros »

might try a seafoam treatment, followed with "Restore", before you change the rings.
'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)
larry mcgrath
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Re: Your thoughts?

Post by larry mcgrath »

Why would you EVER rebuild an engine and not replace all the piston rings, rings are cheap.
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BaileySims
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Re: Your thoughts?

Post by BaileySims »

I was beyond broke when I decided to rebuild it.
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BaileySims
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Re: Your thoughts?

Post by BaileySims »

Also, the compression was 145 on all cylinders. I forgot about this post.
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xirdneh
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Re: Your thoughts?

Post by xirdneh »

I just removed the head on a tercel and all but two exh/intake manifold bolts/nuts were loose. One was half way out. This car was smoking a bit too. Compression on number 1 & 2 were 178-180 on cold engine. 3 & 4 were both 150 , head gasket was leaking water into those two. I made a steel plate and gasket with air hose fitting on it and bolted to cover cylinder. Dumped 100 psi in there then shut the air off and timed how long of took for pressure to drop to zero. All cylinders took 14 seconds. Then I tested them again after squirting light oil around piston to drain onto rings. Got same results. I figured if pressure went up (took longer) it would mean those rings are bad. Not sure if this was a good idea or not?
Last edited by xirdneh on Wed Jun 14, 2017 8:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Love those Tercell 4x4 wagons but they sure suffer from road noise.
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Petros
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Re: Your thoughts?

Post by Petros »

it is pretty normal to have intake and exhaust manifold bolts work loose, because of the extreme temperature cycling. I try to check the torque on mine when ever I have the chance when I am doing other maintenance that exposes the manifold bolts and allows me to check them. the gasket also compresses a bit like a head gasket. It should be retorqued if you replace the head gasket the same time you retorque the head when you install a new one.

Looks like your rings are all good, and all exhaust valves are good. the test you did is known as a leak down test, it helps you isolate the source of low compression. if you hear hissing in the intake or exhaust manifold it means the valves are leaking, if you hear it coming out of the oil pan (from the dip stick tube), or out the radiator, it means your head gasket is bad and leaking into the water jacket or the oil return.

At peak combustion pressure the cylinder reaches well over 1000 psi, so if you have a compromised head gasket it may not show up in a compression test or leak down test. if you are loosing coolant, have steam in the exhaust on start up, and you find water in the cylinder, almost certainly the head gasket is bad. could be cracked head or block too, but you will have to pull it apart either way.
'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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