87 Tercel wagon e l gear won't work

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Miles
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My tercel:: 87 wagon

87 Tercel wagon e l gear won't work

Post by Miles »

I just got 87 Tercel wagon 4 wheel drive everything works great 245,000 miles I just can't get it to go into e l gear I put it in 4-wheel drive still won't do it any advice would be greatly appreciated thank you
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NWMO
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Re: 87 Tercel wagon e l gear won't work

Post by NWMO »

Miles,

Any description of what it does, noise it makes, etc. when you try might be helpful. Can you confirm you are getting into 4WD? light on dash? etc.?

The other thought would be, how do you know you are NOT getting into EL? I've never needed to use EL, but have tested mine for functionality. As I recall, while a little lower geared, I don't remember a huge difference, though the 85' does include an EL indicator to let you know. I would expect the 87' to as well.

Chris
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xirdneh
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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: 87 Tercel wagon e l gear won't work

Post by xirdneh »

describe what happens when you shift to EL
does shifter refuse to move into EL gear position? (only experienced this once and it was bad pressure plate. but it also had some trouble going into first and reverse too)
does shifter move into EL gear position but there is nothing there when you let clutch out? (that would be something inside tranny is broken or disconnected)
Love those Tercell 4x4 wagons but they sure suffer from road noise.
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Petros
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My tercel:: '84 Tercel4wd w/extensive mods
Location: Arlington WA USA

Re: 87 Tercel wagon e l gear won't work

Post by Petros »

Welcome to the forum!

if in EL there should be an "EL" indicator light on your instrument cluster. there was one member who could not get their recently purchased Tercel4wd in to four wheel drive. turns out some unscrupulous person put in a FWD trans, than traded the car into a used car dealer. It would not hurt to verify you indeed have a 4wd trans in place. check to see if the rear center diveshaft to the rear wheels is still in place.
'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)
Miles
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Joined: Wed Dec 27, 2017 1:20 am
My tercel:: 87 wagon

Re: 87 Tercel wagon e l gear won't work

Post by Miles »

Four wheel drive works good I live in Montana is 2 feet of snow it just doesn't go into the e l position shifter moves over one more knots from first but not up an indicator light does not come on
Thank you for your replies
Miles
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Posts: 3
Joined: Wed Dec 27, 2017 1:20 am
My tercel:: 87 wagon

Re: 87 Tercel wagon e l gear won't work

Post by Miles »

It goes into every other gear just fine just not to El and it is in 4-wheel drive when I try does not make any other noise
xirdneh
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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: 87 Tercel wagon e l gear won't work

Post by xirdneh »

sounds like an internal tranny problem. this could be checked while tranny is still in car. would have to drain tranny oil, remove driveline, remove shifter, remove rear tranny mount, then tranny extention housing. with that removed you can look into back end of tranny and inspect EL gear and its shift fork. that being done you might be able to determine whats wrong but would probably have to pull tranny to fix it.
Love those Tercell 4x4 wagons but they sure suffer from road noise.
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Petros
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My tercel:: '84 Tercel4wd w/extensive mods
Location: Arlington WA USA

Re: 87 Tercel wagon e l gear won't work

Post by Petros »

IF what Xirdneh says is correct, and if the trans is not giving you any other trouble, i would drive it as is. I very rarely use the EL, though I have to admit when I needed it, it was very helpful with such an underpowered engine. If you need to pull the trans in the future for other repairs (clutch, rear main seal, etc), than you can pull apart the trans housing and get a look at it.

Anything is possible on a car this old, might just be the EL detent is stuck with sludge (because it is rarely used) and doing a ATF flush may unstick it. do it when you do a gear oil change (make sure you do it regularly as per FSM). If it has not been done since you bought it might be worth changing the gear lube anyway.

The ATF flush works like this: drain the old gear oil, and install 2 quarts cheap gear lube, and 2 quarts of Automatic Trans fluid (AFT, the pink stuff). drive for a day or so (100 miles or less), get it warm on the freeway, but drive it gentlemanly (ATF is only about 5 wt oil). Than drain it all out while still warm. Than refill trans with quality gear lube, or 50/50 synthetic and regular gear lube (It is not recommended to use all synthetic gear lube, this trans was not designed for it).

That usually improves the performance of the shifting, cleans out sludge and deposits. It may unstick the EL detent if it is all gummed up.

there is a thread in the repair guides section on changing the gear lube (the procedure not obvious, so read up on it). Make sure you get all of the lube in it as required. and watch for seal leaks, and check the gear oil level regularly (difficult because you have to crawl under the car and pull a plug). It is VERY important you keep the oil level up, and change it regularly, it will make the trans last a long time. Blowing a trans because you did not keep after transmission leaks means a very costly and difficult search to find a replacement. They have not made any transmissions since 1987, so good ones are getting hard to find, and costly.

Keep yours in good condition by keeping it well lubricated with clean gear oil, it will make it last a long time, may be indefinitely. Also, be gentle on it, no heavy towing, no "speed shifting", or slamming it into gears, or otherwise driving like an adolescent male, or you will likely break something in the trans.

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)
xirdneh
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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: 87 Tercel wagon e l gear won't work

Post by xirdneh »

I have been driving the 4wd tercels since 1988 and have used the EL gear once. That was to go up a short loose gravel hill that the little engine could not handle in 1st gear and 4wd.
Love those Tercell 4x4 wagons but they sure suffer from road noise.
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