And it shot fire from its hole and strained and

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gnarnold
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Posts: 325
Joined: Sat Jan 04, 2014 7:28 am
My tercel:: 1983 SR5 4x4 with a tummy tuck and a nose job and now a pace maker!
Location: jordache ,ca

And it shot fire from its hole and strained and

Post by gnarnold »

Ok hey everybody its been awhile ! Yes I 0have been neglecting the car .a quick rundown of what you have missed
A lot of running out of gas .
Realized that I am only getting 15 mpg
Quit careing for awhile
Which brings us tooooooo.
Tercies revenge!!
Current symptoms:Wont start .had a pre detonated or detonated plug i replaced the plugs and vac lines still same thing went through timing checked out good still won't fire .but speaking of fire as the
Day turned to night at 4pm(stupid daylight savings) I noticed a faint little ball of fire shooting from the carb but only if I press the gas pedal while trying to start it .also the engine chugging slows down when I do this .I cannot for the life of me figure this out any ideas ..and no it was not me saying bad things about the car in front of the car I just agreed and now look ...its birthday is coming up maybe it's a mid life crisis I don't know but I need some feed back .thanks
I used to laugh at the man with a pinto :lol: , until I became a humble servicer of a tercel :|
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Petros
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Posts: 11930
Joined: Sun Jan 28, 2007 6:31 pm
My tercel:: '84 Tercel4wd w/extensive mods
Location: Arlington WA USA

Re: And it shot fire from its hole and strained and

Post by Petros »

"mid life" for a car would have normally been decades ago, more like grumpy old curmudgeon (kind of like some people on this forum!).

you should not see back fires out the carb unless the timing is off, or perhaps the cam timing belt skipped a few teeth. This would also indicate predetonation too. Another cause could be you need a new distributor cap, when the material starts to break down it causes carbon tracks on the surface that allow it to misfire (spark goes to wrong plug, like a short circuit). hard to see, but you will see jagged lines on the inside of the cap, maybe. if the cap is old, replace it anyway, along with the wires. just to be sure, also double check your spark plug wire routing is correct.

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)
gnarnold
Top Notch Member
Posts: 325
Joined: Sat Jan 04, 2014 7:28 am
My tercel:: 1983 SR5 4x4 with a tummy tuck and a nose job and now a pace maker!
Location: jordache ,ca

Re: And it shot fire from its hole and strained and

Post by gnarnold »

Well the weirdest thing is that I drove it parkedvit and it wouldn't start the next day .battery is bad according to the auto zone people and the gauge they use .I have a quick.start charger in it and it sounds like it wants to run but can't
I used to laugh at the man with a pinto :lol: , until I became a humble servicer of a tercel :|
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Petros
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Posts: 11930
Joined: Sun Jan 28, 2007 6:31 pm
My tercel:: '84 Tercel4wd w/extensive mods
Location: Arlington WA USA

Re: And it shot fire from its hole and strained and

Post by Petros »

distributor caps can go bad in one day, and certainly if the timing belt is old, it can skip a few teeth in an instant. check your timing belt to make sure it is not bad.

I once when to start my wife's mazda after it sat in cold snowy weather for a month, usually it starts right up even after sitting. it "almost" started but stopped with a loud backfire that made the roof ring like a it was hit with a baseball bat. the muffler was blown open like an exploding cigar, the timing belt had jumped 4 or six teeth and caused the havoc. Just like that, though I suspect the belt may have stuck to the pulley and allowed it to jump teeth.
'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)
gnarnold
Top Notch Member
Posts: 325
Joined: Sat Jan 04, 2014 7:28 am
My tercel:: 1983 SR5 4x4 with a tummy tuck and a nose job and now a pace maker!
Location: jordache ,ca

Re: And it shot fire from its hole and strained and

Post by gnarnold »

Ok well I checked the plugs and this is no. 3 Image
I used to laugh at the man with a pinto :lol: , until I became a humble servicer of a tercel :|
gnarnold
Top Notch Member
Posts: 325
Joined: Sat Jan 04, 2014 7:28 am
My tercel:: 1983 SR5 4x4 with a tummy tuck and a nose job and now a pace maker!
Location: jordache ,ca

Re: And it shot fire from its hole and strained and

Post by gnarnold »

I forget which one this isImagel
I used to laugh at the man with a pinto :lol: , until I became a humble servicer of a tercel :|
gnarnold
Top Notch Member
Posts: 325
Joined: Sat Jan 04, 2014 7:28 am
My tercel:: 1983 SR5 4x4 with a tummy tuck and a nose job and now a pace maker!
Location: jordache ,ca

Re: And it shot fire from its hole and strained and

Post by gnarnold »

Image
I used to laugh at the man with a pinto :lol: , until I became a humble servicer of a tercel :|
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splatterdog
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Location: Minnesota, USA

Re: And it shot fire from its hole and strained and

Post by splatterdog »

#3 always seems to be the trouble maker..

Skip the platinums and replace as needed. When T4 #1 started to foul #3, I just did plugs once a year. Cheap and easy..
gnarnold
Top Notch Member
Posts: 325
Joined: Sat Jan 04, 2014 7:28 am
My tercel:: 1983 SR5 4x4 with a tummy tuck and a nose job and now a pace maker!
Location: jordache ,ca

Re: And it shot fire from its hole and strained and

Post by gnarnold »

Image
I used to laugh at the man with a pinto :lol: , until I became a humble servicer of a tercel :|
gnarnold
Top Notch Member
Posts: 325
Joined: Sat Jan 04, 2014 7:28 am
My tercel:: 1983 SR5 4x4 with a tummy tuck and a nose job and now a pace maker!
Location: jordache ,ca

Re: And it shot fire from its hole and strained and

Post by gnarnold »

Image
I used to laugh at the man with a pinto :lol: , until I became a humble servicer of a tercel :|
gnarnold
Top Notch Member
Posts: 325
Joined: Sat Jan 04, 2014 7:28 am
My tercel:: 1983 SR5 4x4 with a tummy tuck and a nose job and now a pace maker!
Location: jordache ,ca

Re: And it shot fire from its hole and strained and

Post by gnarnold »

Image
I used to laugh at the man with a pinto :lol: , until I became a humble servicer of a tercel :|
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: And it shot fire from its hole and strained and

Post by Petros »

I have never had good luck with platinum plugs, I use standard NGKs, cheap and reliable. I have never had good luck with champions, and will never use them again.

plugs look like they have been overheating, if so they might be internally damaged. Go with standard NGK plus. Though that is not likely your problem, keep looking .

the cap looks fine on the outside, hopefully no internal problems (that you will not see).

One forum member had once discovered the pin holding the gear on the end of the distributor shaft had failed and allowed the gear to go out of alignment. Seemed and odd thing to happen, but would also cause the spark to fire a the wrong time making it backfire.
'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)
gnarnold
Top Notch Member
Posts: 325
Joined: Sat Jan 04, 2014 7:28 am
My tercel:: 1983 SR5 4x4 with a tummy tuck and a nose job and now a pace maker!
Location: jordache ,ca

Re: And it shot fire from its hole and strained and

Post by gnarnold »

Image heres what it sounds like
Last edited by gnarnold on Fri Jan 20, 2017 6:09 am, edited 1 time in total.
I used to laugh at the man with a pinto :lol: , until I became a humble servicer of a tercel :|
gnarnold
Top Notch Member
Posts: 325
Joined: Sat Jan 04, 2014 7:28 am
My tercel:: 1983 SR5 4x4 with a tummy tuck and a nose job and now a pace maker!
Location: jordache ,ca

Re: And it shot fire from its hole and strained and

Post by gnarnold »

Image
I used to laugh at the man with a pinto :lol: , until I became a humble servicer of a tercel :|
gnarnold
Top Notch Member
Posts: 325
Joined: Sat Jan 04, 2014 7:28 am
My tercel:: 1983 SR5 4x4 with a tummy tuck and a nose job and now a pace maker!
Location: jordache ,ca

Re: And it shot fire from its hole and strained and

Post by gnarnold »

Imageuh q
The sound of the engine jj
I used to laugh at the man with a pinto :lol: , until I became a humble servicer of a tercel :|
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