Hello all.
Been learning a lot about my car, but both my clutch and starter are completely done for as of today. My questions are, how to replace a clutch and starter in a couple hours. What clutch do you guys recommend? Ill drive my dads tercel tomorrow; order my parts, and then the day after replace everything.
Also the vacuum advance for the distributor; there are 3 lines. Only one sounds like its sucking. Where does this one go? I did my timing today because my car needed it. I was backing up a hill after JUST starting it after a cold night. Stayed on the gas and the clutch was all the way out. It was running below what a normal idle would be. I killed it. My dad got her running but i took it the shop i work at and under investigation the timing belt jumped a tooth (my dad suspected that) and we set the timing to 5* with it idling with vacuum dis. lines disconnected and plugged. I may have misplaced the two on the right. Please help me. I got school and work. My car is everything to me. thanks guys... and girls.
there are some write ups in the "Repair Guides" section on removing tranny/transaxle
look for the ones that recommend removal of Input Shaft to make removal and re-installation as easy as it can be
get a clutch kit "clutch, pressure plate, bearing for end of crankshaft and throw-out bearing"
around $110.00
Love those Tercell 4x4 wagons but they sure suffer from road noise.
the starter is easy to replace. disconnect the wires, remove the two 14 mm bolts, and pull it out. ta da.
the vacuum advance hoses are as follows:
- lower port goes to port on carb
- upper port with big hole goes to manifold vacuum
- upper port with small hole goes to HAC (high altitude compensator)
you should suck on the hose going to the port and confirm they hold vacuum. if you can suck air through, they're broken and need to be replaced. until then, plug the hoses that should go to them.
when you check the upper diaphragm, suck on the port with the big hole while plugging the port with the small hole. if you don't plug the second port, you will just suck air through and get a false result.
your timing belt should not have jumped a tooth unless it is severely worn or damaged. if that is the case, you should replace it.
changing the clutch is a big job, but straightforward. the extra work comes from having to disconnect both front CV axles and the rear drive shaft, not unusual for any 4wd vehicle.
You will have to unbolt the starter to change the clutch anyway, so it will not ad any extra time to put in a new one when you do the job at the same time.
I highly recommend using both new clutch parts and a new starter, not remanufactured. the remans never last long and often are bad right out of the box. Use the Aisin brand if you can find it (that is the same as teh factory supplier). Napa has a decent kit that uses the Aisin brand pressure plate and t/o bearing, but they use an aftermarket disk and pilot bearing. But Napa usually gives their parts a lifetime warranty (but it is lot of work to pull out a bad clutch, so getting only quality parts is worth the slight extra cost). It will last the longest and not likely give you any trouble for many years, my factory starter lasted well over 200k miles worth of driving, rebuilds often only last about 20k, if not junk out of the box. And the factory quality clutches also last a very long time, over 100k miles, some even have driven them over 200k miles with careful clutch technique.
I would also replace the rear main seal on the engine once the trans and clutch is out, it is easy to do, and if it goes bad you will have to do all of the same work over again to get to it, they do not cost much (like $20). You might also consider replacing the cv axle seals and the rear seal on the transmission, it is easy to get to when the trans is out of the car and they do not cost much. This does add extra work, but it will save you a lot of work later, with a car this old almost certainly the seals will eventually give up, if they are not leaking already. Do it now and it could save your trans from getting damaged because all the lube leaked out.
Make double sure you get all 4 liters of gear oil back in the trans after you get it all together. I once trashed a good trans (as have others on this forum) when I thought it was full because it was overflowing out the fill plug. It fills slowing as it spreads to the different internal compartments in the trans, front diff housing, and the rear transfer case. There is a detailed thread on this topic in the repair guides section.
I'm getting into this project myself after a recent failed camping trip due to clutch failure. One thing with the starter...I'm unable to locate any new ones, even on rock auto. Everything seems to be a reman. Any other places to check?
go with a reman if that is all you can get. Usually the remanufactured starters are reliable, pretty simple device, and a reasonable bet, though I would prefer new one if I could find it, I have not found any new starters either and have used remans with good results for the last ten years.
Ive had to remove my transmission a number of times to do work and change one out because I didn't fill it all the way with gear oil before like petros said. I find its all about the order that you remove stuff to make it as easy as it can be also it is always good to have a mother person to help you get it all lined up I recommend you use xirdneh method where you remove the input shaft this makes things so much easier when you are lining it up. Good luck it with everything your doin it should take about 6-8 hours with help it may a little faster but for your first time you will learn a lot about the car and how easy it is to work on compared to other cars
What is wrong with your starters? If there is just a "click" under the hood when you turn the key, it's probably just the starter contacts are worn down. If you don't have a lot of money, or if you have a hard time finding a replacement starter, or if you're just cheap like me, or if you have a moral obligation to repair things instead of throwing them out, you can replace just these contacts. They're 2 small pieces of copper and they cost probably less than $5. I don't remember ever changing the whole starter on any car I've ever had. I just replace the contacts. Here's a link to a basic guide to replace the contacts:http://www.yotarepair.com/startercontacts.html. I don't think there's a specific part number for our starter contacts. They're pretty generic and can be found just about anywhere. It might help to remove the contacts first and then bring them into a auto parts store to get the right sized replacements. When you get a rebuilt starter and turn in your old one for the core refund, they probably just replace these $5 contacts in your old one and then sell it to the next person as a rebuilt starter.
Warwagon, did you manage to get the job done? Curious how long it takes someone learning about cars to do the clutch.
I was also wondering if there was a reason no one has suggested hoisting the engine to get to the clutch? A secret tercel owner over in western NC who used to work at a bike shop with me suggested that route. There are some cheap engine hoists on craigslist around here, or I might end up building a wooden frame with some scrap lumber and rigging up some pulleys to get the engine out.
I have done it both ways, because I had to remove the engine for other reasons. both are major operations taking lots of time and requiring difficult reaches and skinned knuckles, but I find it a little easier to pull the trans from under the car to replace the clutch. Even thought I hate working on my back under the car, it is still my preferred method to replace a clutch.
If there is some other reason to remove the engine however, like repair a leaky pan gasket or replace the rod bearings, than pulling the engine will allow you to do the other work and replace the clutch.
thanks guys... and girls.
