1984 Toyota Tercel wagon DLX 4wd

[Buyser]

Would anyone know of any Good Terc Mechanic in southern California. I live on the central coast in San Luis Obispo county. I am looking for someone who has good familiarity with these. Any insight i appreciate. Thank you for your time

Stephen

[Gottolovem]

what trouble are you having?

[Petros]

that would be difficult, most mechanics have never even worked on a car with a carburetor, let alone the obsolete vacuum operated emissions and fuel control systems on these cars.

The best thing you can do is learn to work on it yourself, not only will you save money, but also the trouble of taking it back and forth, paying a mechanic each time, to learn how to work on a 35 year old car and all of its systems. Eventually he may get it correct, but likely he will tell you to get a newer car.

The local mechanic told my wife it was not worth fixing her '92 Mazda, mostly I think he did not want to work on it. It is a perfectly good 4wd minivan (that yo can not buy any longer) with a few routine maintenance items that need fixing. I ended up do the work anyway.

We are here to help guide you on all your car repair adventures! You can actually do a better job yourself, with our guidance, than a local mechanic that does not want to work on it anyway.

If you do not want to work on your car at all, than the best bet is to look for an established independent repair shop, with an older owner, or a senior mechanic, that used to work on mid '80's Toyota (or at least Japanese imports). You might get lucky and find an Toyota enthusiast that would want to do a good job for you, but you will only find that out if you interview them first, and see how interested they are about working on such an old car. You will be taking a big gamble, I have seen lots of perfectly good Tercel4wd end up in the wrecking yard because a mechanic told them it was not worth fixing, because they did not know how to diagnose the car properly.

good luck.

[Buyser]

Thank you for the insight. I am not mechanically sound but have learned a few things having this 84. I have taken my vehicle to a mechanic whom had been certified in the early 80's w/ Toyota. He is somewhat familiar with the vehicle but not entirely. Yes i have had to take the vehicle in several times to address the same repair. Here is my issue. I will start my vehicle in the morning and at that point it will turn over promptly. However i will then wait 45 seconds minimum to get the fuel circulating, if i do not allow the vehicle those 45 seconds the terc will stall out. Throughout the day my start ups seem to lag because the fuel has a problem circulating. I have addressed all parts needing repaired. The only part that has not been completely rebuilt or addressed is the carb. I think this may be the issue. I did purchase the mechanic a carb kit but i dont believe that has been favorable. Thank you for your time

[Gottolovem]

Are you sure that it's not drowning rather than starving for fuel?
If your vacuum lines are correct i would focus on the carb next . Who rebuilt the carb they can be fussy

[Buyser]

Prior to turning key, i press down gas pedal slowly down then release slowly as well just 1 time. I guess the choke opens correctly at that point, i dont know if the choke is adjusted to specs however. I believe i had been told that it had been adjusted properly. I dont know how to check if that is correct or not. I dont feel drowning is taking place. after i wait those 45 seconds after first start in morning, my path of streets take me up to speeds of 35mph. The vehicle does not seem fluid( minor drops in fuel) hesitation , 100% at that point. once i reach the 101 which would be a mile give/take from home, the rate of speed at that point becomes 65. The vehicle climbs to that speed then has no problem stalling when i return to per say a red light, the idle at that point is good. It happens with the first startup and kind of abbreviated each start up throughout the day. If i were to drive to the gas station which is a mile off from home from the first start in the morning, the vehicle will turn over instantly and beautifully with no hesitation after refueling . This is what makes me believe the fuel just needs a bit of time to move through the system. The carb has not been completely rebuilt i guess, just a carb kit. Thank you guys

Stephen

[Petros]

that is not the correct start procedure for a caborated car with a choke.

when fully cold, I jab the throttle pedal fairly quickly to the floor two times, while at the same time turn the key to crank the engine. It usually starts instantly. I than let it fast idle about 5 to 10 seconds, than slowly give the throttle a number of low reves to speed warm up. Than I am usually ready to drive off unless it is really cold (like below freezing), so I keep slow pumping the throttle (so RPM rises and falls between about 1000 and 3000 rpm) until there is no hesitation. It is a way to a fast warm up so it can be driven without waiting around, the whole process takes less than 20 seconds on a normal day (as little as 10 secs most days), perhaps about double that on a freezing morning.

When you start an older car from cold, you need to reset the choke (push the gas pedal to the floor at least once), and provide some extra liquid fuel down the cold intake to initiate start up (ad one or two more pumps of the throttle pedal). The accelerator pump will squirt fuel down the intake when you pump on pedal while you crank the engine over.

You would never start a modern fuel injected car this way, but it is actually the best way to start an older carburated car, it will use up less fuel, less wear and tear on the engine, starting system, and other engine parts, and warm it up the fastest so there will be minimal wear on the internal engine parts caused by the cold start.

If you have a large flat spot or hesitation in the throttle response on cold start up, likely you have a vacuum leak or something in the carb is not working properly (accelerator pump, the auxiliary accelerator pump, or the choke). These are all things fairly easy to check, and most take next to nothing to fix.

I drive mine daily year round, and know when it is working properly and what "normal" behavior is. Try this start procedure and than get back with us.

Good luck.

[Buyser]

Thank You Petros! Stephen