Tercel4WD.com

Since you have the feedback version of the carb like me, I wonder if you could put a volt meter on the oxygen sensor connection and see if your idle mix is rich or lean. If I remember right, the feedback system is disabled at idle, but the oxygen sensor should still be putting out its milivoltage. I...

I just double-checked the manual and if I'm reading it right, the Canadian manual trans version and the 3A have the smaller gap for some reason. Mine is a 3AC automatic.

According to the manual, the spark plug gap should be .043". I think the gap for my 6-volt ignition system 1st gen Tercel was .031".

Maybe the difference with my cars is that I never rebuilt any of the carbs. Many people seem to have some issues and decide to rebuild the whole carb and then it never runs right after that. On my '81 1st gen Tercel, it came stock with a 6-volt points-type distributor. I replaced it with a 2nd gen e...

As for the ethanol blended fuel, the idea is supposed to be that it has less energy, but atomizes better for a quicker and more complete burn so power output is at least the same. I haven't noticed any difference between straight gasoline and ethanol-blended gas in my cars. Pretty much everything fr...

I have a feedback carb on my '84 wagon. It idles rock steady as does my '81 Tercel, as did my '83 Tercel hatchback. The idle speed is as per the FSM for the automatic Tercels. The only time any of them idled a bit rough or occasionally stalled at idle was when they had vacuum leaks. Bumping up the f...

The automatic ones have a section on the bottom that is a transmission fluid cooler. It has small inlet and outlet pipes for hoses from the trans. If that is the only difference (eg, mounting points are the same), these pipes can just be left disconnected and it should be fine.

According to Wikipedia, there are several versions of the 3A engine, all with different horsepower at different rpms and different torques. I always assumed that the higher horsepower ones lacked the horsepower-killing emissions requirements of the North American ones, but maybe they have different ...

Years ago I got 2 new front tires from Canadian Tire for my Tercel. They installed them while I waited in the store. They made an announcement in the store PA for me to come to the auto service desk. When I got there they told me that my tie rods were worn out and ready to fail and needed to be repl...

At that highest temperature (above 89), when you factor in the pressure drop across the filter, that's probably hot enough to boil off water. Maybe this condition would apply if you were sitting at idle for an hour with a clogged air filter (so reduced air flow), in the sun, in Death Valley. Or mayb...

Looking at those temperatures, I wonder how often the air temperature in the air filter housing would ever get that high in our climate. 29 degrees C, I can see, but over 50 degrees? That's almost too hot to touch. I'd be curious to put a thermometer in the filter housing and see how hot it gets.

I don't think that system has any effect on the fuel-air mix or does anything to lean out the mix. According to the FSM diagram, it just acts as a switching valve to direct vacuum (or shut it off) to the flap diaphragm. When the HIC valve is open, the vacuum to the flap valve diaphragm should be dea...

My old '84 Camry had an economy button for the auto transmission that changed the shift points to sooner for better fuel economy. At least I think that's what it did. I never really noticed much of a difference.

Nordical25 wrote: ↑Wed Jan 11, 2023 1:07 pm

What's the "Economy" light for? (edit: I just realized you already answered this). It seems like a strange system since it would require an extra switch and wiring just to let you know how far you were pushing the gas pedal.

A belated thanks for the linkages photo. I can't remember how I set mine up, but when I have the time and motivation, I might try disconnecting the linkages one by one and moving the levers manually and feeling the airflow to see where the max airflow for each setting is and then making sure that th...