Walla Walla pasture find 87 wagon

[dhally]

My 2004 Honda Accord's transmission is slowly failing, so I had been thinking about what kind of vehicle to get, to replace it. I recently retired, so was thinking of a small SUV to explore the Blue Mountains, the Cascades, and Idaho. But at the same time, it would be my around town car, and wanted to get at least 30 mpg. I was looking at Suzuki Sidekicks and SX-4's, as well as the new Jeep Renegade (exPENsive).

Then a couple weeks ago I was cruising craigslist and saw a 1987 4wd wagon for $350 !!! The young owner told me it was running OK up until 2 years ago, when it lost power. A local mechanic diagnosed a blown head gasket, so he parked it in his mom's pasture and got another car.

So I got a wild hair and my son-in-law's towing rig and drove the 50 miles over to Walla Walla to pick it up. I've never done major repairs on cars, but I've done everything to dirt bikes - it can't be harder, eh?

First stop was to pick up some trailer tackle for the SIL's trailer. He only had chains, and I didn't think a Japanese car would like those much.


The tires were pretty new, but flat. Luckily they pumped right up and still holding. Tackle worked well, although I also found the Tercel had some pretty nice front tow hooks.



I put a new battery in, but it wouldn't start, so I got some help and pushed it into the garage. Seems like everything is there, but it will need LOTS of cleaning and repairing to make a DD.



Bluewood is the local ski hill - the PO works there.


There is just something cool about this logo:

[dlb]

welcome to the forum! great pics, looks like a great score for $350.

[Mark]

It's pretty unusual to fine one like yours with no rust, even around the fenders.

[irowiki]

Yeah, those tow hooks are how they hauled them over from Japan.

Just a fair warning, with the AT 4WD, expect more of 25 MPG. Less if you're used to driving harder.

[Petros]

welcome to the forum,

great save! these cars are easy to work on and parts are still available and cheap. head gasket is a common problem if it was overheated, these engines are sensitive to getting too hot (like a lot of japense engines). Get a new thermostat (a good quality one, not the communist made cheapies), and carefully inspect the radiator and all hoses, replace if questionable. Or you might have it overheat the first time you get it to run because of the same reason it overheated the first time that damaged the head gasket. Also, I have found that thermostats often go bad if the car had been sitting without running for several years, do not take chances, with the head off replacing the t-stat is very easy.

Likely the head is okay to use without resurfacing if it was not badly overheated (a machine shop can check if it is flat if you do not know how to do it yourself), you should replace the 4 exhaust valves with new ones (not too costly) and all the valve stem seals while the head is off. Well worth it.

read my guide to replacing the head gasket here: viewtopic.php?f=7&t=6059

I suggest a few modifications to make the head gasket more durable. Also, if not warped too much I show a method of hand surfacing the head to get it more flat and better surface finish than they can give you in a machine shop. Saves money too.

If you are not in a hurry, you can get the parts you will need for cheap at Rockauto.com

good luck.

[ARCHINSTL]

Welcome - and also to the OF Retired Terc Owners (Sub) Club!
Lots of helpful members here and a FSM to d/l.
Looks pretty rust-free; what a plus!
Tom M.

[dhally]

The one thing I DID check before buying was rust, after pre-reading this forum. Our area in Eastern Washington is quite dry, and I think this car has lived here since new.

I've already bookmarked the head gasket thread - I love the hand milling concept! My SIL is a diesel technician, and works on cars a lot. He should be able to help me with the technical parts. When I told him I bought a Tercel he rolled his eyes. Then when I told him it was a 4wd wagon, he relented and admitted it might be "OK".

[dhally]

(I am copying this post to this thread, to keep my entire project in one spot.)

Compression test:
No. 1 175-176psi
No 2-4 177-178

Was able to get the engine running with starter fluid, and it kept running, so spark and fuel are at least present.

With these compression numbers, other forum members suggested it may not have a blown head gasket. Read on for more info!

Photos of the plugs. No. 1 has some grungy stuff on it, the others look sorta OK.
No. 1-4 left to right

[irowiki]

Looks like you're running rich!

[dhally]

I finally got around to looking at the Tercel some more - drained the coolant and removed some stuff to start removing the head.

I looked at the top of the pistons as suggested here. They all appear similar. They are not steam cleaned. If anything, No. 1 is grungier than the others.

Here is the coolant. There does not appear to be any oil floating on top after sitting several days. No solids. It does appear brownish, where I'm used to seeing more of a greenish color.






As I removed the alternator, belts, and covers, I noticed several items missing or installed wrong. All the belts, including the timing belt, appear brand new. Hmmm... maybe the PO replaced the timing belt and the reason it didn't run right was improper installation???

So I checked the cam timing. The mark on the crank pulley is hard to see, it is mostly covered by the timing belt cover. Is this normal? How can you see it when timing the ignition?


I can't look straight through the hole, but it does appear that the camshaft is timed properly. I can see a smaller triangular mark directly behind the round hole in the pulley.

[dhally]

Looks like you're running rich!

Yes it does, but I haven't even started to worry about details like that yet... Right now just trying to get it basically running to see if it's worth more effort.

[jimcrazy]

pic

[dhally]

I do have the manual. I can't look directly through the hole in the pulley because the freon piping is in the way. In the manual it appears that the hole in the pulley should be straight up. Mine is not straight up. In the manual it shows one triangular mark on the head. I see three triangular marks. Two of them can be seen in my photo. There is one smaller triangular mark in between the two larger ones.

Can anybody advise on which triangular marks I should be using? I can't seem to find any actual photos, just drawings from the manual.

[irowiki]

You can bend the AC lines slightly to look.

[dhally]

I found this picture on Autozone's web site.