Looking at a 4wd manual tercel with a blown tranny

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thisguyuknow
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Looking at a 4wd manual tercel with a blown tranny

Post by thisguyuknow »

Hi all, i am going to take a look at an 84 tercel wagon locally. I know nothing about these vehicles. This one supposedly is in excellent shape but has a bad tranny, i am hoping to find someone that has a good tranny or at least get a price on a replacement tranny before i go check out the tercel . it will give me an idea on what im getting into and what to offer.
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helipilot77
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My tercel:: 1984 SR5 wagon
Location: Seattle, WA

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

Post by helipilot77 »

The transmissions on these are the hardest part to get ahold of.
. / TOYOTA
./_| |/|/ |]
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Petros
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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 »

welcome to the forum,

the tranny is hard to find, though they are still around but you may have to go out of state to find a good one. you will pay anywhere from $250-600. A few want more, but that is too much.

sometimes they can be rebuilt, depending on what failed. There are a few on this forum that have rebuilt them, and have spare parts for the trans. but you can not get new transmissions parts any more, they have not made any since 1987. All of the used ones will be the same age, but if they are cared for they do hold up well. I have known people that have over 400k miles on their Tercels, including the trans. the only "magic" is to change the gear oil every 30,000 miles as the manual recommends, and never allow it to run dry of gear oil. what happens is sometimes a seal will develop a leak and the owner does not notice until the bundle up their transmission.

Where are you located, and how much is the Tercel4wd? how many miles is on it?
'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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Jonymoto
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My tercel:: 1983, DLX 4wd wagon with 4.1 manual gearbox, tow bar). Manual steering. 313,000 kms. Tercel 4WD SR5, 1987, 500,000kms. Other car - 2003 Rav4, AWD, 2l manual, Peugeot 407 Diesel (93,000 miles) in Ireland for use when on holiday there.
Location: Melbourne, Australia

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

Post by Jonymoto »

Just my 2 cents worth. The later trannies have a different ratio on the differential to the 84 tranny. So you will have to swap the diff from the 84 to the later tranny otherwise you won't be able to drive in 4WD, or change the rear diff to a later model as well.
When you lose, don't lose the lesson - The Dalai Lama
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ARCHINSTL
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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: Looking at a 4wd manual tercel with a blown tranny

Post by ARCHINSTL »

Welcome to the Club!
Where are you located?
What the prior commenters posted about our 4WD trannys is certainly valid.
I change the transmission lubricant in my Goldie every 4-5K miles: Yes, I am paranoid about it! I want her to outlast moi!
Tom M.
T4WD augury?
"Oh, do not ask, 'What is it?' Let us go and make our visit."
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Petros
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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 »

actually if the front diff/bellhousing assembly is not damaged, it can be unbolted and swapped onto the transmission. So if it is the main gear box that is trashed, than you can swap out the tranny and use the old front diff assembly so the ratio will match the rear.

OTOH, if it is the diff that is damaged, you will need to find the same ratio from diff assembly, or swap out both the front and rear.

BTW, occasionally there will be symptoms that appear to be a bad transmission, but turn out to be something much easier and less costly to fix.

One forum member had an axle shaft break off at the axle stub, so the car would not drive forward. A simple CV axle change fixed it. Another time I have seen broken input shafts, which you have to pull the trans to change, but you do not need a rebuild. I have also seen a badly broken up clutch, which was making a really bad noise that appeared to come from the trans, cause a perfectly good Tercel4wd go to the wrecking yard. A new clutch costs less than $100, and a number of hours to swap it out.
'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)
thisguyuknow
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Re: Looking at a 4wd manual tercel with a blown tranny

Post by thisguyuknow »

Here us the tercel in question
http://neworleans.craigslist.org/cto/5869031879.html

Otoh i did find one in Houston for 2k ready to go but it is much further from me than slidell. I am located in mobile al.
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ARCHINSTL
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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: Looking at a 4wd manual tercel with a blown tranny

Post by ARCHINSTL »

Well, ANYwhere in the Southland means NO (or little?) rust, which is certainly a plus!
Pursue it!
Is the one in Houston as nice?
Tom M.

P.S. Welcome to the Club!
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
thisguyuknow
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Re: Looking at a 4wd manual tercel with a blown tranny

Post by thisguyuknow »

ARCHINSTL wrote:Well, ANYwhere in the Southland means NO (or little?) rust, which is certainly a plus!
Pursue it!
Is the one in Houston as nice?
Tom M.

P.S. Welcome to the Club!
http://houston.craigslist.org/cto/5876514649.html

Besides a dented fender its lower mileage and currently running. But idk i really was looking for something around 1k doesnt need to be pretty just running reliably, i hve a monthly trip to tampa fl (about 1kish round trip) wanted to avoid wear and tear on the jeep and get decent gas mileage.
thisguyuknow
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Re: Looking at a 4wd manual tercel with a blown tranny

Post by thisguyuknow »

So what im getting is i will have to find a used trans from a part out. That could be costly or take a long time to find. Even at 850 obo im not sure this one locally is something bi want to get into then. I dont want to dish out almost a grand for a car thats going to sit forever in my front,yard cause i cant find a tranny.

I like that one in houston but i dont particularly know how id cost effectively move it from houston to alabama
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Petros
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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 »

"only a cracked case", that means a $1000 repair, no easy fix. Not worth it, it is a parts car worth perhaps $300 unless he provides the transmission. A good transmission is not cheap, unless you get lucky and find someone parting one out of their back yard.

the Houston Tercel is much better, very low miles and in working condition. only bad thing is dent in fender. But it should give you at least 100k more miles of mostly trouble free service if you do all of the maintenance properly, and much longer if you are willing to do heavy maintenance like clutches, engine rings, brakes and bearings, etc. You might offer the Huston car $1600. That one you can fly or take the Greyhound bus into town and drive it home without issues (just check all your fluid levels, including the transmission gear oil). The Huston car is also the much nicer SR5 model that has better seats, the better instrument cluster with a tach and inclinometer, and the better outside trim (though that is less important). YOu will not regret the much better SR5 seats.

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

Post by thisguyuknow »

Ill take a look at the,one in Louisiana next week just for grins.

Sr5 does sound nicer but he doesn't have interior pics so may not be nice inside... Do these things have cruise?
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4wdEconoBox
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My tercel:: 1985 Toyota Tercel SR5 4WD
Location: Talladega, Alabama

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

Post by 4wdEconoBox »

Howdy howdy from a fellow Alabamian! I'm in the Talladega area myself, few minutes from the superspeedway actually. Just keep your eyes open, they pop up every now and again for pretty good prices. I sold one of mine to my buddy and hes thinking about getting rid of it soon. Needs a few things done to it though, headgasket, tie rods, new rack, master cylinder, and a few other things. I'll let you know if he says anything about it again, good luck!
DeadlockRiff
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My tercel:: 1983 Toyota Tercel SR5 Wagon

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

Post by DeadlockRiff »

If anyone was wondering, I bought the wagon in question. Threw a transmission in it and it ran like a top for about 2 months. Just threw a rod over the weekend. *sigh*
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Petros
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My tercel:: '84 Tercel4wd w/extensive mods
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Re: Looking at a 4wd manual tercel with a blown tranny

Post by Petros »

That is too bad. how did you manage to do that? usually the low end on these engines are indestructible, unless of running it out of oil. which may have happened to you. So how on earth did you manage to run it out of oil? Or was it the previous owner who did the damage? leaker, or fast oil burner are typically what happens, leading to severe engine damage if you do not check the level daily. Best to fix leaks or seals as soon as possible, much cheaper than replacing an engine.

I once bought a beater 3/4 ton toy pickup at an auction for $200, running strong but discovered it had very low oil pressure (2 at idle, and about 12 at higher rpm). I kept driving it, but on hot day it too threw a rod. the PO appearanetly did not beleive in changing the oil, really dirty oil wore out the bearings so there was so much clearnace it could not maintain oil pressure.
'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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