Hello Tercel Forum,
I have a 1984 Tercel 4WD SR5 wagon with 190K miles sitting in the garage of our vacation cabin in Minnesota in an undriveable condition. My brother and a neighbor boy were attempting to replace the carburetor as a favor and the neighbor said he knew how to do it. He wound up taking apart the throttle body linkage (or that is what he said) and has no idea how to put it back together. The parts are sitting in a bucket and the car has not been worked on for two years. It is just taking up space in the garage. I am not a mechanic and there is no one in the area who knows how to put the linkage back together. I am the original owner and I love the car so much! I drove it for 26 years in Colorado and then moved it to Minnesota as a backup car. But it doesn't run well in the humidity of Minnesota and is certainly not useful at all now. I hate the thought of getting rid of it, but don't think there is anyone nearby who could fix it. The car does have some rust around the wheel wells and on the back gate, but overall is in pretty good shape. Does anyone know a good mechanic in central Minnesota? I am contemplating donating it to a charity, but I can't stand the thought of it going to the crusher!
Any thoughts folks?
Thanks
Fix, Sell Or Donate???
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- Newbie
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Sat Jun 16, 2018 5:02 pm
- My tercel:: 1984 Toyota 4WD SR5 Wagon
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- Highest Ranking Member
- Posts: 2121
- Joined: Thu Aug 04, 2005 11:38 am
- My tercel:: 87 tercel 4x4 wagon w/reringed engine, 83 tercel 4x4 wagon w/salvaged engine and 4.1 Diff's
- Location: seabeck, washington, USA
Re: Fix, Sell Or Donate???
there is a carb video on youtube for these tercels
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCzFuPqssfE
it might help ya
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCzFuPqssfE
it might help ya
Love those Tercell 4x4 wagons but they sure suffer from road noise.
- splatterdog
- Highest Ranking Member
- Posts: 1623
- Joined: Sun Mar 26, 2006 10:26 am
- Location: Minnesota, USA
Re: Fix, Sell Or Donate???
I have a complete carb you can use for reference, or if you are really bold, bolt it on. I cannot guarantee it is a working carb though.
My spare time is in short supply this summer, so making a house call to try and fix it is pretty much out of the question. I can bring the carb to Aitkin county though.
My spare time is in short supply this summer, so making a house call to try and fix it is pretty much out of the question. I can bring the carb to Aitkin county though.
- Petros
- Highest Ranking Member
- Posts: 11933
- Joined: Sun Jan 28, 2007 6:31 pm
- My tercel:: '84 Tercel4wd w/extensive mods
- Location: Arlington WA USA
Re: Fix, Sell Or Donate???
Welcome to the forum,
Your Tercel is well worth fixing. it is an easy fix for anyone familiar with this car, or you can just replace the whole carburetor assembly. I have several spare carbs, for a reasonable fee I could install one in my daily driver and verify it is a good running carb, than clean it up and ship it to you as a complete assembly.
It only takes about 20-30 min to swap out the carb, and connect all of the vacuum lines and connectors (just mark them all with tags to make sure you get them back on in the same place.
BTW, I have to add, it is foolish to disassemble something that you know nothing about, particularly since it is not likely the problem was in the carb (they are fairly reliable devices despite their complexity). Drivablity problems are usually cause by a leaky vac line or some other component, easy to fix once you locate the problem.
That is always why I always recommend to diagnose the problem BEFORE you try and fix it.
If I lived nearby I would be happy to help you out with it, but I have no plans to travel there soon (I was in your area last April, but no plans this year).
Good luck.
Your Tercel is well worth fixing. it is an easy fix for anyone familiar with this car, or you can just replace the whole carburetor assembly. I have several spare carbs, for a reasonable fee I could install one in my daily driver and verify it is a good running carb, than clean it up and ship it to you as a complete assembly.
It only takes about 20-30 min to swap out the carb, and connect all of the vacuum lines and connectors (just mark them all with tags to make sure you get them back on in the same place.
BTW, I have to add, it is foolish to disassemble something that you know nothing about, particularly since it is not likely the problem was in the carb (they are fairly reliable devices despite their complexity). Drivablity problems are usually cause by a leaky vac line or some other component, easy to fix once you locate the problem.
That is always why I always recommend to diagnose the problem BEFORE you try and fix it.
If I lived nearby I would be happy to help you out with it, but I have no plans to travel there soon (I was in your area last April, but no plans this year).
Good luck.
'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)
'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)
- LowBuckCanuck
- Top Notch Member
- Posts: 395
- Joined: Sun Apr 02, 2017 12:32 am
- My tercel:: 1986 DLX 4wd Wagon "Jenny"
Re: Fix, Sell Or Donate???
Watch some youtube videos, even without any mechanical experience, replacing a carb is fairly easy. You just have to believe in your own abilities, and make sure everything goes back in the right spot.
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- Newbie
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Sat Jun 16, 2018 5:02 pm
- My tercel:: 1984 Toyota 4WD SR5 Wagon
Re: Fix, Sell Or Donate???
Thanks Everyone for your helpful comments and encouragement!