1981 Tercel Part Desperately Needed

[Kamren]

Hi Petros, I wish you were nearby too. I think she is getting worse. She now sometimes stalls when waiting at a red light too long. I took her to Canadian Tire and I was told that its not the distributor doing the stalling but the carburetor, which means I have another problem. I hope that is the problem and that they have the part to fix it rather than the problem being a symptom of the distributor problem.

[dlb]

Silicone in place of a distributor o-ring is utter lunacy. Whoever that guy is, he obviously doesn't understand how it fits into the head and how to adjust timing. You were right to doubt him.

Do you mean the way the wiper fastens to the wiper arm is the problem? Most wipers come with universal adapters that work for all the different common styles. Despite being older, this shouldn't be a problem for your car. Again, I think this is a case of inept Canadian Tire staff. You really need to find someone who is experienced with working on older cars. Maybe put an ad on Kijiji, Craigslist, or whatever online ad site is popular in your area. I have had good luck with wanted ads for all kinds of things.

Yes, stalling at idle does sound like a carb issue. All the more reason to find a real mechanic sooner than later.

[marlinh]

There is another Tercel member in Ontario. Can't think of his name but he is north of Toronto, I think. He may be able to recommend someone.

What is the idle speed when in gear and stopped? It may be too low. Or the choke and throttle plate are gummed up and need to be cleaned with carb clean. Or the idle speed just needs to be tweaked a little bit.

These other car show people drive old cars too don't they? If someone can work on anything older they should be able to tackle your car. It can't be that hopeless for you. Wish I could give you a hand.

If you wipe the bottom of the distributor carefully from the block to the cap, carefully monitor where the oil starts to come from. If it comes from the base, it is the o ring. If it comes from between the cap and the distributor then it is most likely internal.

[dlb]

There is another Tercel member in Ontario. Can't think of his name but he is north of Toronto, I think. He may be able to recommend someone.

I was thinking about that too, Marlene. Is it Jarf you're thinking of? Here is his member profile.

memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=1391

Karmen, maybe you should send Jarf a private message (aka 'pm') like Marlene suggests. He's a helpful, knowledgeable guy.

[Kamren]

Hi dib and marlinh, thank you for that recommendation. I just sent Jarf a pm message. Hope I get a response. Do I have to go anywhere special to retrieve a pm message? Or does it come to the same place as all my other messages such as these?

Marlinh, in answer to your question I do not know what an idle speed is much less where to look for it and if its normal or not. And I don’t know anything about anything being gummed up. Canadian Tire never even mentioned either of those options as a possible cause. And I am just not mechanically savvy to know anything.

As, far as the wiper blade goes, its not the arm or the part that moves the wiper that is broken. It’s the blade with the rubber on it. It just popped out while making a left turn and the piece that attaches to the arm broke. And all the blades that were tried at Canadian Tire did not fit or attach to the arm. He told me that if he cant find a blade then he will have to replaced the whole piece which means a new arm and blade. I would prefer not doing this as I would rather keep all her parts original. So, in addition to trying to find a distributor, if that is what I need, I now have to find an original blade as well. SMH.

[Kamren]

....And Marlinh, thanks for explaining the origin of the leak and what it means. Nobody at Canadian Tire told me that or even tried that. So, thanks for telling me.

[marlinh]

You Tube is a wonderful tool to use for learning new things. Here is a short video from one particular manufacturer of carb clean that shows you what you can do with the carb installed. You can't hurt anything by doing this and it may improve your idle performance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8Sjc-32zGs
If you do a search you can watch more videos to give you confidence. The trick to spraying carb clean down the barrel of the carb is to try to keep the engine running, but even if it does stall it should restart right away. Make short sprays with the can, don't just spray the whole thing continuously. You don't have to remove the whole air cleaner to clean the linkages if you don't think you can. Just spray around all the moving parts you can see. Just because you aren't mechanically inclined doesn't mean you can't learn basic skills. Also, if you have some knowledge under your belt you can talk to a mechanic and be more able to weed out the BS'ers. You already seem to be able to do that. Do try to find another shop. Canadian Tire doesn't have the greatest reputation even out here in BC.
Yes, It was Jarf I was thinking of.

[marlinh]

Why not call these guys? If they cant help you maybe they can send you to someone who can.

https://www.vintageautoandcycle.com/about.html

[irowiki]

You mean the wiper itself, or the wiper arm?

Walmart should have the wipers.

[Petros]

stalling at a stop is either the idle speed is too low (simple adjestment), or there is a vacuum leak. the vac leak is an easy fix, but finding it could be troublesome.

sealing the o-ring with silicone actually somewhat works, I did it once when i did not have a replacement o-ring (applied it on top of the old o-ring).

it is best to just get the correct size o-ring and replace it. use a bit of silicon on it to protect it from damage when installing it.

[Kamren]

Hi Irowiki, its the blade. It just popped and broke while making a left turn. I went to Canadian Tire and the man opened up every single 15 inch blade he had and none of them fit. So, I doubt that Walmart would have anything that fits and I strongly doubt that they would let me open up and try each and every blade that they have AND I know that I would not even know how to install it. So, getting and replacing the blade seems that it will most likely be as difficult as getting and replacing the distributor.

Thanks, Marlinh, for that contact info. I do think that I actually was at their shop a couple of y ears ago for something totally different such as for paint and they could help me at that time. I have an unusual color that even with the color code indicated under the hood it just cant be found. I totally forgot about them. I will go there maybe next week and see if they could help. Thanks again.

Hey Marlinh, I watched that video link you sent and, to be honest, there is no way I could ever do any of those things. I cannot dismantle anything because I am afraid of not being able to put it back together again. But I did watch the video and I even watched the other videos after it. I liked the video with the SeaFoam. That stuff seems pretty amazing if you know how to use it. I am sure my car could appreciate getting the SeaFoam treatment. I do not think that they have that at Canadian Tire. And I only go to Canadian Tire because I have no body or no where else to go to. I wish I had a proper mechanic that I could trust taking her to.

....and I also reached out to Jafra, I think was his name, and I never heard back from him. Oh well....

[irowiki]

You should just buy the o-ring off of RockAuto and then you would be able to go to a mechanic and tell them that they need to take the distributor out replace that o-ring and put it back together and just make sure it's timed properly.

Here is literally what they need to do


Remove distributor cap
Turn engine with crankshaft pulley until rotor lines up with the number one spark plug position
Remove distributor
Replace o-ring lubricate new o-ring
replace distributor lining rotor backup with the number one spark plug position
Replace distributor cap

Done

while you're at it buy a new rotor and a new distributor cap and they can put that on at the same time







You should be able to find a wiper blade on car-part.com... I can dig out a link tomorrow


anyone can fix cars I mean I started with the car just like yours knowing nothing and swap the radiator and a few months later I did an engine swap so....

[marlinh]

Try that shop I sent you the link for. They appreciate older cars and I am sure would be willing to help. Ask them to check if the carb looks gummed up and ask if you can watch so you can learn. Places that don't allow the customers in the back I don't trust. They will throw all this liability crap at you and not let you see what they are doing or what they find. Good luck and keep us posted.
Did you clean the distributor area and find where it is leaking from?

[Petros]

I do not think I would trust anything they tell you at Canadian Tire. They should just tell you they are not familiar with your car, rather than try and be helpful with guessing, and likely giving you bad information.

It is very unlikely anyone there even knows about carburetors, or distributors on older cars. But these adjustments you need are fairly routine, any mechanic familiar with older cars should know what you need right away.

[Kamren]

Hi, Irowiki. Thank you for outlining the steps for fixing the distributor. I took a snapshot of what you wrote so that I could show it when I find a mechanic. And of all the things you said one of the hardest was finding and having a mechanic. I wish I could have found that older mechanic that has worked on Tercels when they were new and has experience with older cars. I have yet to find this person and if I could I would show him your directions. I am also afraid to order the blade from online as none of the blades sold at Canadian Tire did not fit and they had a lot that he tried. So, I don’t know what to order from online unless I order everything and hope one of them eventually fit which I cannot do. I am hoping that if I find a mechanic then they would know the right blade that would fit. I did not look nor know where it might be, but is there a part number on the blade? Or was it a generic blade sold at that time? It might be easier if it had a part number to do a search for the right part.

And I know I mention Canadian Tire but that is the only place I know. I don’t know where else to go at this time and I have to go somewhere.