Zach's 1985 Toyota Tercel DLX Hatchback

[marlinh]

Wrong pulley?

[Petros]

of all of the 3a and 4a motors, they all use very similar but slightly different plastic front cover here. you could have the wrong one, or it might be warped out from being installed improperly for too long. Plastic will slowly "creep" out of shape when warm and held under stress for a long time.

[lannvouivre]

I think the lower cover is just horribly warped, as some of the bolts on it were loose enough for me to break loose. That PO really shoulda not been in there, Irowiki!

I hope to god it's not the wrong pulley entirely, we cannot afford that right now. I think I'll go ahead and let the engine tear the cover up some more until I can afford to replace the cover. We have to be out of the house ASAP so.

[irowiki]

Pretty sure it isn't the wrong pulley!

Dan has another timing cover for you.

[lannvouivre]

I'll have to buy it a little later, unfortunately. Dad's getting pushier about us moving out of this house. The good news is, the Tercel is almost ready to roll out!

[Petros]

you can probably get by fine with that damaged cover, it is behind the pulley and will not likely collect much dust or grit through it. I have seen many that look like yours, I think my daily driver has a line there cut part way through. Just get it together and do not worry about it. If you get a good one later keep with your stash of spare parts until you have a reason to take off the front pulley for some reason, and install it than.

[lannvouivre]

I have no fuel pressure at the fuel pump (I checked at the hose going from it to the carb. This whole mechanical pump shit is weeiiiiiiird!) The car will fire up for a second with starter fluid. Timing is set correctly, and I also increased tension on the timing belt because it was all limp and I'm lucky it did not jump timing.

[marlinh]

Plugged fuel filter? Also, how long has the car sat? On one of my cars I find that the fuel drains back to the tank if it sits for a long time. Those pumps are pretty sturdy. If you have access to compressed air, pressurize the fuel tank at the filler neck. You will get fuel all the way up to the pump quicker than cranking for ages and suspecting the pump.

[lannvouivre]

Plugged fuel filter? Also, how long has the cat sat? On one of my cats I find that the fuel drains back to the tank if it sits for a long time. Those pumps are pretty sturdy. If you have access to compressed air, pressurize the fuel tank at the filler neck. You will get fuel all the way up to the pump quicker than cranking for ages and suspecting the pump.

It's been sitting about a month. I will try this compressed air wizardry. I may have to push the Tercel outside and jumpstart it, however. I have to go buy new nuts for the outer tie rods because one ran away. I'll probably get nylon locknuts like all the newfangled ones use and maybe just shove a cotter pin through the stud just to be really sure it can't back off and bite my behind if I can't get another castle nut.

[lannvouivre]

Got it to run! It is misfiring if I let off the gas. I believe I have a vacuum leak.

I was finally able to start it by jumpstarting after using a hand vacuum pump to suck gas up to the carb. I made extra-sure by pumping until the gasoline kinda spewed out the back of the pump, after which point the pump no longer worked...until the next day. Harbor Freight's tools are too chicken to break on me, except the little hand airgun attachment that blew off after I used it twice within ten seconds.

I'm going to be capping off the vacuum advance on the distributor and its feed lines as Paul says he thinks its diaphragm is toast. I haven't done this yet because Texas is actually getting rain since I really needed it to not be raining just now.

[dlb]

when you say misfiring when you let off the gas, do you mean backfire? that could be a vacuum leak, running rich, or bad ignition timing.

[lannvouivre]

when you say misfiring when you let off the gas, do you mean backfire? that could be a vacuum leak, running rich, or bad ignition timing.

Nah, it's not backfiring. I think I would notice that a little, what with no pipe after the cat! I mean it runs really rough and then if I let off too much it stalls out. However, this is way better than a no start. I think it's a vacuum leak, more vacuum caps have been purchased as of yesterday.

I have no idea how many RPMs it's running at; if I had to guess by feel/ear, without me gently pushing the gas pedal, it's running really rough at 600-800 RPMs and smoothing out at about 1000. Once we have a license plate on it, I can take it and have my old boss help me set ignition timing.

I went ahead and re-verified that I have the mechanical timing on the sprockets correct because paranoia. Right now, we just need me to finish bolting up the sway bar in front, tighten one of the lower strut bolts on the passenger's front, get the timing on the distributor set to 15 degrees or however many (need to double-check) advanced, get tumblers for all the locks and set them all to the same key, and then change the rear shocks at the very least, then maybe the fronts (that I haven't checked, but am pretty sure are still good), then get it an alignment so I can find out if the rear springs are too worn from having blown shocks. Oh, and then get the exhaust done on it.

If Zach's dad ends up buying the impala, that'd be really great. We have some old 240 Volvo front seats in good shape that we may be able to fab* a bracket up for. Zach wants the interior to be black/dark grey and to replace the odoriferous carpet. Currently, with all the humidity, it smells distinctly like a dog peed in there at least once?

*pay someone else to fab

[Petros]

sounds like the timing might need to be advanced, and/or perhaps a vacuum leak somewhere. Easier to isolate problems once it is running. sometimes on older worn carbs it will not idle good below about 800-900 rpm, it will not harm a thing to let it idle at 900 rpms rather than the factory setting.

[lannvouivre]

I got the caps on it but couldn't get it started as it had sat for a few days and I haven't run it enough to recharge the battery.

[irowiki]

http://smile.amazon.com/Schumacher-SEM- ... ry+charger

as low as $15 at walmart sometimes