Dying Dizzy?

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SirFoxx
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Posts: 335
Joined: Sun Feb 05, 2017 5:42 pm
My tercel:: 1981 Toyota Tercel w/ 7age

Dying Dizzy?

Post by SirFoxx »

Quick question--

I was on my way to work this morning, and noticed that my tach started bouncing around 3-5k erratically, then the car started shuttering for a few seconds, then the tach and engine was fine. This happened every gear shift for the first 5 minutes, then it started losing power real bad. I pulled over, expecting the engine to stall. But no, it idled fine.

After calling my boss from the side of the road, I pulled away and it drove fine all the way back home. My question is, what in the dizzy could be dying? I've replaced the cap, rotor, and coil already in the past few months. My thoughts are either the condenser or the pickup coil...

On a side note, I replaced the coil awhile ago because I noticed that my spark was orange. The new coil didn't change the spark color. Could these two issues be connected or no..?
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
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Petros
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Joined: Sun Jan 28, 2007 6:31 pm
My tercel:: '84 Tercel4wd w/extensive mods
Location: Arlington WA USA

Re: Dying Dizzy?

Post by Petros »

perhaps. you should have a bluish white spark, that makes a strong "snap, snap, snap" sound when it is tested.

you might check all our contacts and connections, almost sounds like a loose connection.
'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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garyfish
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Joined: Sat Nov 19, 2005 4:22 pm
My tercel:: 1985 Tercel SR5, stock; 1987 T4WD DLX wagon, manual tranny
Location: North Coastal California

Re: Dying Dizzy?

Post by garyfish »

check out this thread... sounds like yours could be a similar issue

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=9750

if you get a chance at some point, please check back in here with a brief status report to let us know if and/or how you resolved the problem
1985 Tercel SR5 4WD wagon, 300K
1987 Tercel DLX 4WD wagon, 6-speed manual, 274K -- got this one running Jan. 2015 (had been sitting for 2 years); this has been my daily driver since 2016
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SirFoxx
Top Notch Member
Posts: 335
Joined: Sun Feb 05, 2017 5:42 pm
My tercel:: 1981 Toyota Tercel w/ 7age

Re: Dying Dizzy?

Post by SirFoxx »

I got the motor back in my car (again) and tried the dizzy after replacing the pickup. It was acting like the timing was waaaaaay off, and after trying to start it, you could hear an audible clicking from the dizzy itself. Not sure what would be making a clicking sound aside from electrical arcing. My next step is to get a icm for it, and figure out how to get the old one out. For now, I swapped the dizzy from my '85 into my '88 so I can at least drive it for now.
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
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