Looking at a 4wd manual tercel with a blown tranny

Need a car part and don't know where to get it or how to install it. Look here!
DeadlockRiff
Newbie
Posts: 4
Joined: Tue Jun 21, 2016 2:19 pm
My tercel:: 1983 Toyota Tercel SR5 Wagon

Re: Looking at a 4wd manual tercel with a blown tranny

Post by DeadlockRiff »

I'm not entirely sure, I gave it a fresh oil change prior to letting someone else use it for about 2 weeks. It blew the rod when they were chugging up Hill to their home.

I did a rear main seal and rear cam plug before I started driving it. I didn't see any oil loss after that. It must've been prior damage from the rear main seal leak I presume. My only hint is the one time the oil light flickered when coming down from high rpm to idle (after dropping idle).
User avatar
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: Looking at a 4wd manual tercel with a blown tranny

Post by Petros »

that is what I noticed it on my truck when I first got it, after warm up the oil light flickered on and off at idle. I put an oil pressure gauge on it to see what was going on. when cold it went up to 40 psf, ran about 18-20 psi, but at idle dropped down to 5-7 psi when the light would flicker on. I put two cans of STP in it and kept driving it, hoping for the best. one hot summer day it started a mild knock, oil pressure slowly dropped 18 PSI, 16, 12, 10 as I drove it, and than "bang"!. I felt engine parts bouncing off the floor boards from under the car, and I saw them bouncing on the road behind me in a blue cloud. I felt like a race car driver who blew an engine, the cars behind be were swerving to avoid the engine parts bouncing up off the road surface.

when I first discovered the low oil pressure, I had to either risk driving it and trashing the engine, or take the time to rebuild it. I was in the middle of trying to get a house built, and working full time. I bought it to haul building materials around for the house building, and had all my "spare" time full with working, building a house, and with a toddler at home. My thought process was, take the time to rebuild the engine now, or risk trashing it so I had to replace it. With those "miracle" oil additives I thought I might "avoid costly repairs" (like it says on the bottle). I got to replace and rebuild it anyway. I found a long block engine at a wrecking yard for only $100 (a rebuild-able core, not a good engine), so it was not that costly a gamble. More of a inconvenience.
'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)
Post Reply