Stuck in third?

How-to's and repair secrets for your 4WD can be found here. Have a question? Ask it in here!
Post Reply
User avatar
SirFoxx
Top Notch Member
Posts: 335
Joined: Sun Feb 05, 2017 5:42 pm
My tercel:: 1981 Toyota Tercel w/ 7age

Stuck in third?

Post by SirFoxx »

Hello once again--

Close to me, there is an sr5 tercel for sale. The seller says that the tranny is stuck in third gear. Any idea what could cause this? He also said he would let the car go for $300. Is it worth it? If I got it, I would probably make the best of the two, and sell the rest.

https://stjoseph.craigslist.org/cto/6193221369.html
1988 DLX 4wd Tercel Wagon w/ weber (RIP)
1985 4wd Tercel SR5 (RIP)
1986 Base 2dr Hatch (RIP / PARTS)
1986 DLX 4wd Tercel Wagon with ???
1985 DLX 2dr Tercel Hatch w/manual swap
1981 2dr Toyota Tercel w/7age (RIP)
1981 3dr hatch Toyota Tercel w/Turbo 4AGE
1981 3dr hatch Toyota Tercel SR-5
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: Stuck in third?

Post by Petros »

yes, worth getting, maybe even saving it from the crusher. depends on how severe the damage is on the front.

There are a few things that can cause it to get stuck in gear, usually you have to pull the transmission and dismantle it to fix it. I had one stuck in second gear, manage to get it home and I found another transmission for it. but when I took the stuck one apart there was no obvious reason it was stuck in second. there is a spring loaded detent for each of the shift rods that I suspect could hang up. when you take it apart you have to remove the detents to slide the shift rods out and it may not be obvious why it was stuck.

forum member Xirdneh has also find another cause that can be perhaps repaired without pulling it apart but by pulling out a plug in the side of the case. I do not remember the details.

the parts alone are worth more than the price, but except for the crunched front end it does not look too bad. Though the sellers claim of 45 mpg is a unlikely, we do not know what else in the ad is BS. you can not test drive so there could be a number of other things wrong with it.

We can likely find another transmission for you somewhere if you do not want to fix the bad one, and it rest of the car is worth fixing. In good running condition, and with the body work repaired, a car like that would sell for $3000 or more around here.

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)
xirdneh
Highest Ranking Member
Posts: 2121
Joined: Thu Aug 04, 2005 11:38 am
My tercel:: 87 tercel 4x4 wagon w/reringed engine, 83 tercel 4x4 wagon w/salvaged engine and 4.1 Diff's
Location: seabeck, washington, USA

Re: Stuck in third?

Post by xirdneh »

If your tranny is the late one (around 1985-1988) it has screws holding the aluminum shift forks to the shift rods. The screw for 3rd/4th gear fork has a habit of loosening and sometimes falls out. This could be your problem especially if you had symptoms of weird shifting leading up to getting stuck in 3rd. Pull tranny only(leaving transaxle aka differential in car) watch YouTube video on tranny disassemby and take it apart to find out.
Love those Tercell 4x4 wagons but they sure suffer from road noise.
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: Stuck in third?

Post by Petros »

xirdneh wrote: Fri Jul 07, 2017 9:39 pm If your tranny is the late one (around 1985-1988) it has screws holding the aluminum shift forks to the shift rods
the listing says it is a 1985, and based on the seat pattern that is correct. so it has the aluminum shift forks, and you likely found the cause. Actually I think that can be fixed without tearing the whole transmission down, but you have to remove it, pull off the case, and than fix 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)
User avatar
SirFoxx
Top Notch Member
Posts: 335
Joined: Sun Feb 05, 2017 5:42 pm
My tercel:: 1981 Toyota Tercel w/ 7age

Re: Stuck in third?

Post by SirFoxx »

Petros wrote: Sat Jul 08, 2017 5:11 pm
xirdneh wrote: Fri Jul 07, 2017 9:39 pm If your tranny is the late one (around 1985-1988) it has screws holding the aluminum shift forks to the shift rods
the listing says it is a 1985, and based on the seat pattern that is correct. so it has the aluminum shift forks, and you likely found the cause. Actually I think that can be fixed without tearing the whole transmission down, but you have to remove it, pull off the case, and than fix it.
xirdneh wrote: Fri Jul 07, 2017 9:39 pm If your tranny is the late one (around 1985-1988) it has screws holding the aluminum shift forks to the shift rods. The screw for 3rd/4th gear fork has a habit of loosening and sometimes falls out. This could be your problem especially if you had symptoms of weird shifting leading up to getting stuck in 3rd. Pull tranny only(leaving transaxle aka differential in car) watch YouTube video on tranny disassemby and take it apart to find out.
I think this is what I will do. I picked it up today. Built in Dec '84, sold as '85. The screw falling out makes sense since it is in gear, but the gear lever is still in the neutral slot. It's not like I have experience doing this sort of thing :lol:

Aside from that, I will need a few parts for the front end, such as marker lights, head light buckets, and most importantly, the e-fan for the radiator. Would you happen to have any of these parts that you'd be willing to let go of petros..?
1988 DLX 4wd Tercel Wagon w/ weber (RIP)
1985 4wd Tercel SR5 (RIP)
1986 Base 2dr Hatch (RIP / PARTS)
1986 DLX 4wd Tercel Wagon with ???
1985 DLX 2dr Tercel Hatch w/manual swap
1981 2dr Toyota Tercel w/7age (RIP)
1981 3dr hatch Toyota Tercel w/Turbo 4AGE
1981 3dr hatch Toyota Tercel SR-5
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: Stuck in third?

Post by Petros »

I might have some of them, I will have to check. get the trans fixed first and in the mean time I will get a chance to sort through my boxes of parts.
'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)
User avatar
SirFoxx
Top Notch Member
Posts: 335
Joined: Sun Feb 05, 2017 5:42 pm
My tercel:: 1981 Toyota Tercel w/ 7age

Re: Stuck in third?

Post by SirFoxx »

Well, I got the tranny out today. Acutally, only half of it. I split it under the car rather than taking the whole thing out. A little easier, but still a pain in the rear. I will probably tear into it tomorrow. (Any luck finding those parts petros...? No rush! :) Oh, if you also find the later style front badge, lmk! I still have the older style one you sent me!)

Here are some pics!

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image
1988 DLX 4wd Tercel Wagon w/ weber (RIP)
1985 4wd Tercel SR5 (RIP)
1986 Base 2dr Hatch (RIP / PARTS)
1986 DLX 4wd Tercel Wagon with ???
1985 DLX 2dr Tercel Hatch w/manual swap
1981 2dr Toyota Tercel w/7age (RIP)
1981 3dr hatch Toyota Tercel w/Turbo 4AGE
1981 3dr hatch Toyota Tercel SR-5
xirdneh
Highest Ranking Member
Posts: 2121
Joined: Thu Aug 04, 2005 11:38 am
My tercel:: 87 tercel 4x4 wagon w/reringed engine, 83 tercel 4x4 wagon w/salvaged engine and 4.1 Diff's
Location: seabeck, washington, USA

Re: Stuck in third?

Post by xirdneh »

There are some utube vids for taking it apart
Love those Tercell 4x4 wagons but they sure suffer from road noise.
User avatar
SirFoxx
Top Notch Member
Posts: 335
Joined: Sun Feb 05, 2017 5:42 pm
My tercel:: 1981 Toyota Tercel w/ 7age

Re: Stuck in third?

Post by SirFoxx »

Soooooo I got it apart. I think I found out what happened, but not the how or why.

During the disassembly, when you slide the extension housing off, you have to twist the shift shaft up so you can get the "finger" out of the shift dogs. When I was disassembling it, I forgot about that, but it slid off anyways.

Got into the gear box section, and the bolt that backed out on my '88 was still in place in this one. My friend, who helped my get the evil c-clip off, noticed one of the gears was engaged, so we put the tranny back in neutral.

Turns out it was stuck in fifth. After some brain storming, I think I figured out the what. It would have appeared that the shift "finger" slipped out of the shift dogs, and got stuck behind them, allowing the stick to appear in neutral, but not allowing it to put or pull it out of gear. As to the how or why, I have no freaking clue. I'm going to reassemble it tomorrow and see if it shifts through the gears fine.

Side note, I will need a new Speedo gear though. Mine is absolutely destroyed. My tranny had a 90* elbow for the cable, and it got mushed by the p.o., prolly causing us cable to bind and destroy the nylon gear. Oh, and I'll need a new Speedo cable as well.
1988 DLX 4wd Tercel Wagon w/ weber (RIP)
1985 4wd Tercel SR5 (RIP)
1986 Base 2dr Hatch (RIP / PARTS)
1986 DLX 4wd Tercel Wagon with ???
1985 DLX 2dr Tercel Hatch w/manual swap
1981 2dr Toyota Tercel w/7age (RIP)
1981 3dr hatch Toyota Tercel w/Turbo 4AGE
1981 3dr hatch Toyota Tercel SR-5
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: Stuck in third?

Post by Petros »

I had a Tercel4wd stuck in third, when a shop pulled it apart he found nothing wrong either. sometimes too much wear allows the shift finger to get on the wrong side of the dogs, but there was no significant wear on any of the linkage. So who knows why it happens.
'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)
User avatar
SirFoxx
Top Notch Member
Posts: 335
Joined: Sun Feb 05, 2017 5:42 pm
My tercel:: 1981 Toyota Tercel w/ 7age

Re: Stuck in third?

Post by SirFoxx »

Figure I would wrap this up. Got the tranny in, and it works! The carb has seen better days (surging idle, backfires during deceleration, and it likes to diesel when turned off), and the vacuum lines are hard as rocks. Aside from that, the car still has some life left in it. Still need to clean the interior as well.

Someone on the FB page mentioned that a "woody" tercel appeared in a local junkyard, and I jumped on that opportunity to get some parts. I am currently awaiting the second shipment of parts, but they are mainly interior pieces. The first shipment was all the parts for the front end.

When looking around a local junkyard, I found in the back of a mid 90's corrola a new set of electric fans. Coincidentally, the radiator fan was the same diameter as the old one. The downside is that the '85 was missing the entire fan assembly, so I had to zip tie the new one on. The radiator is original, and has a bad case of fin rot. It will get replaced soon.

The first gear syncro has also seen better days. It can be a bit difficult to get it into first, but if you feather the clutch a bit, itll slip into gear. Not overly concerned with it as of right now.

I found out recently while trying to diagnose an overheating issue that the head gasket needs to get replaced. Not only is it gurgling exhaust out of the radiator, but the coolant is a nice shade of poop brown. Absolutely disgusting >.<

Front end needs some work. Shocks / struts are meh, rubber sway bar end links bushings are nearly shot, rubber brakes lines are cracked, ball joints are loose, and the brake pads have like 5% pad left on them. Simple stuff since I already had to do it once to my other wagon.

Aside from all that, its in decent shape. I may keep this one as my nice wagon, and use the '88 as my daily. I'm not sure how long I'll keep it as I already have the other wagon, and my '86 town car to keep up with.

Image
1988 DLX 4wd Tercel Wagon w/ weber (RIP)
1985 4wd Tercel SR5 (RIP)
1986 Base 2dr Hatch (RIP / PARTS)
1986 DLX 4wd Tercel Wagon with ???
1985 DLX 2dr Tercel Hatch w/manual swap
1981 2dr Toyota Tercel w/7age (RIP)
1981 3dr hatch Toyota Tercel w/Turbo 4AGE
1981 3dr hatch Toyota Tercel SR-5
Post Reply