88 T4wd Adventures in Mesa Arizona!

[joemcdonough89]

Hey there everyone!

I've been an onlooker of this wonderful forum for the last several months but I figured that it was probably about time that I start being more active and finally speaking up! My Tercel 4wd fixation started with a CL notification on my phone that led me to an '88 SR5. I had previously been looking for a wagon or a 4x4 separately, then I fell in love when I found them both together. I couldn't believe that I had never seen such a combination before, what a practical vehicle that would make! Anyhow, I didn't want to pass it up and I drove it home that day. Long story short, the engine seemed to have had a bad connecting rod bearing and made a terrible knock when the proper weight oil was in. The rack and pinion had a atrocious leak...and the title turned out to be VOID. I put it on the back burner for awhile until I found an '85 SR5 locally for $500: I drove it home. I've spent the last four months doing a "restoration" in order to get the '88 ready for the road. I've sold off all of my possessions, left my house and my career in order to hit the road and seek an adventure. I'll be Alaska bound at the end of the month.

I've learned a ton about my Tercel over the last few months, mostly thanks to the wonderful tutorials and comments on this forum. I would love to get more involved with the Tercel 4wd community and try and offer what little experience I have to anyone who could use a helping hand. It would be amazing to meet some local members! I'll try and attach some pictures of the current condition of my '88. Thanks for everything and remember that every road leads to adventure!

Joe McD

[dlb]

wowee, that engine looks CLEAN. super nice in general. let us know your route on the way north and hopefully you can stop by and post pics with lots of various members. i'm on vancouver island, which is a beautiful place with much to offer, but it would be a ferry trip out of your way. you're welcome to crash here for a night if you decide to check it out.

btw, 88's are quite rare. does it have any obviously different features?

[Petros]

welcome to the list!

great story, make sure you take pictures along the way and post them on a road trip diary thread!

If it were me I would wait until April or May to go to AK, a bit cold this time of year. Getting stuck or a break down would be a dangerously cold "camp out". I am about an hour north of Seattle, you are welcome to stop by our place for a few days of rest or repairs on your way north. Keep us posted.

[joemcdonough89]

Thanks for the offers guys, I plan on taking you both up on them! Its funny that you mention the weather: Right now I'm covered in aluminum chips from machining a mounting bracket for a Webasto diesel bunk heater to keep me warm on the cold (-30F) nights! My twin brother and I plan on living out of it for awhile, so I'm trying to make it practical. That's the only thing that I'm waiting on before I hit the road Would you guys have any tips about preparing for the cold winter driving? On hand experience is what I've been dying to hear!!

dlb: Thanks for the compliments on the motor. I had no idea that the '88 SR5 was considered to be rare. I don't know a whole lot about them to notice any obvious differences, but I'll try and post some more pictures this weekend and see if you can point anything out.

[ARCHINSTL]

dlb: Thanks for the compliments on the motor. I had no idea that the '88 SR5 was considered to be rare. I don't know a whole lot about them to notice any obvious differences, but I'll try and post some more pictures this weekend and see if you can point anything out.

I think the '88s were only made for a few months (or at least very few made it to North America). The T4WD was getting a little long-in-the-tooth by then, and Toy probably just wanted to rationalize its production lines - the Gen III sedan had been made with an East-West drivetrain since '87, so the '87-8 wagons were the only North-South FWD/4WD drivetrains in its entire system.

Welcome to the Club! DO continue with a log!
Tom M.

[Petros]

for extreme cold weather I would flush the cooling system, and perhaps a separate one for the heater (they get build-up that is not easy to flush out) by allow vinigar to sit in it for 3-4 hours and than flush. put in good anti-freeze. I would lube all the locks, and perhaps pull out the shift lever and blow out any moisture with compressed air and fill the linage chamber with grease. A few members had moisture collect in there because of a torn boot, and than when it freezes you can not move the shift lever. you might consider synthetic gear oil in the diff, and a 50/50 mixture of synthetic and conventional gear oil in the trans, and good quality multi-vis oil in the engine crank case.

you need to get either head light guards, or those plastic films over the glass lenses. They can get damaged on gravel roads and they are hard to find replacements. You might also check behind the door panels to make sure the plastic liners are glued to the doors, without them you get icy drafts into the car through the door (I do not know why most mechanics just throw it away when they service inside the door, they are necessary!).

You should also take tire chains with you, that is too far to drive with studded snow tires (poor gas millage and rough ride). Do not get cable chains, they are almost useless and too flimsy, get good quality tires chains. Practice putting them on and off and verify they do not rub when the car is loaded or the front tires turned. You can get by with only two for the front wheels, but four wheel tires chains would be the ultimate in traction.

You might also buy a removable pan heater to warm up the oil before you start the car in really cold mornings. these are heater coils with a 110 V cord (you need to plug it into a wall socket), and a strong magnet that you attach to the oil pan overnight to keep the oil warm.

Sounds like a fun adventure. Make sure you have good cold weather walking boots and clothing in case you get stuck somewhere and need to walk to get help.

[joemcdonough89]

Update!

My brother, my pittie (Wyatt), and myself left for our Alaska adventure early last week. We shot right up to Moab and camped out there for about a week while seeing some of the sights. It was a valuable learning curve as we struggled to work out the nicks in our gear. We haven't had any mechanical issues persay besides a dead battery (caused by the diesel heater) but luckly I brought a spare. We have had terrible gas milage (20-25) and have struggled to climb the hills. The milage isn't a new thing, but I was hoping it would have improved being all hwy driving. Any suggestions? I also need to adjust the choke for the cold weather.

I came across another T4wd in Moab and was stoked about it! The odometer read 754k (unless I misread) and I was desperately trying to find the owner to ask him about it. I hope he's a member! We just made it into Paonia, CO to visit some family and I came across another one of all places! This one seemed to be around '84/85 and the odometer read 350k. Hopeful numbers

Right now we're just resting up and trying to come across a better rooftop carrier, as our current system is a bear to unpack every night. I need to figure out the amperage draw on the heater as I haven't been able to run it all the way through the night. I'm going to try and gather all of the info on it and make a posting, I think it would be interesting for other members who see some cold weather. I learned a ton from Petros' previous post, and I'm all ears to any other suggestions or tips. Thanks again guys and I look forward to meeting some of you along the way.

[larry mcgrath]

The reason fir your poor milage is all the weight your carring and the air drag from the stuff on the roof. Moab it a great place, if you can eat at the Italian restrant in the center of town you wont be sorry. keep up the log and pix Good luck Larry

[dlb]

you might check for vacuum leaks if you have time. look for any hoses that are not attached, cracked, or incorrectly routed. also, if you suck on the hoses going to each diaphragm (vacuum advance unit, choke breaker, throttle positioner, etc), they should hold vacuum. if they do not hold vacuum, the diaphragms are ruptured and are vacuum leaks. you can block them for now and replace the diaphragms later.

other common causes of poor mileage are tire pressure, wheel alignment, ignition timing, air filter, dizzy rotor, cap, wires, and spark plugs, and dragging brakes. your cargo and loaded roof rack are definitely part of the poor mileage but 20-25 mpg on highway, even fully loaded, is really low. i got 29 mpg in my corolla all trac a few months ago and that was loaded to capacity, going over some extreme passes.

[TURTCEL]

Update!

My brother, my pittie (Wyatt), and myself left for our Alaska adventure early last week. We shot right up to Moab and camped out there for about a week while seeing some of the sights. It was a valuable learning curve as we struggled to work out the nicks in our gear. We haven't had any mechanical issues persay besides a dead battery (caused by the diesel heater) but luckly I brought a spare. We have had terrible gas milage (20-25) and have struggled to climb the hills. The milage isn't a new thing, but I was hoping it would have improved being all hwy driving. Any suggestions? I also need to adjust the choke for the cold weather.

I came across another T4wd in Moab and was stoked about it! The odometer read 754k (unless I misread) and I was desperately trying to find the owner to ask him about it. I hope he's a member! We just made it into Paonia, CO to visit some family and I came across another one of all places! This one seemed to be around '84/85 and the odometer read 350k. Hopeful numbers

Right now we're just resting up and trying to come across a better rooftop carrier, as our current system is a bear to unpack every night. I need to figure out the amperage draw on the heater as I haven't been able to run it all the way through the night. I'm going to try and gather all of the info on it and make a posting, I think it would be interesting for other members who see some cold weather. I learned a ton from Petros' previous post, and I'm all ears to any other suggestions or tips. Thanks again guys and I look forward to meeting some of you along the way.

TURTCEL here...not sure what your route plans are for heading North but me and my family live in Twin Falls, Idaho. We are in the middle Southern area of Idaho. If your travels bring you this way then hopefully we can meet up. I have an '87 DLX 4wd with a manual trans if you find that you need a part along the way. I am also very familiar with these Tercs now and could help you look into any issues you may have with it.

Let me know if you make it this way. I am about 3 1/2 hours from Salt Lake City, UT.

Peace

[joemcdonough89]

TURTCEL: Thank you very much for the offer and I would take you up on it in a heartbeat if you were closer to my route. We're heading straight up to Yellowstone from here then going right up to Calgary then getting on the AK HWY.

I just got inside from checking on the vacuum lines like dlb had suggested, and everything seems to be holding pressure just fine. I have new tires, alignment, plugs/wires, and I have the ign timing set to 5deg btdc. I will say that the carb has had it's limiter cap removed and the fuel mixture screw has likely been tampered with. When it's running, the exhaust sure does seem to be a bit on the cold side, which I would think would be running rich. Do you guys think that this would account for such lousy milage? I was getting around 20mpg in city driving before I left for the trip, UNLOADED. Any help would be appreciated as it's going to cost an arm and a leg getting up there as it is!

[dlb]

20 mpg city while unloaded is definitely bad. check the AAP using the FSM test. it's in the emission control section. usually a ruptured AAP will cause poor running when cold but my last terc ran pretty well throughout its heat range with a bad AAP.

if you have a timing light with you, advance the timing to 10* (with the vac hoses disconnected and plugged—reconnect them when done), or just advance the timing a bit and listen for pinging while driving. if you hear pinging, it's too far advanced and should be retarded in increments until you can't hear pinging anymore.

what about air filter and dragging brakes? to check the brakes, jack up one corner at a time, step on the brake pedal and release it, and then try to spin the tire that's in the air.

when you mention 'limiter cap' on the carb, are you referring to the plug that prevents you from altering the fuel mixture screw?

here is a good guide on setting the mixture screw. it's from the weber website but the steps are the same.

http://www.redlineweber.com/html/Tech/c ... _best_.htm

[joemcdonough89]

I had replaced the air filter, front rotors, and brake lines right before I had left. The brakes don't appear to be dragging but I will most definitely check them the way you suggested. You're right about the limiter cap, the small AL plug to protect the screw from backing out or being adjusted. I also couldn't see the float level height through the sight window. Do you think I would need to adjust it for the high altitude? It looks like I have a long day of work ahead of me!

[larry mcgrath]

The timing needs to be set at 10 deg btdc (this is more critical the higher in elevation) the idle mixture screw you refer to needs to be set in this manner - turn the screw CW until it bottoms out count the turns (DO NOT TIGHTEN---- how do you say hard-- ------- to tight you'll damage the tapered seat in the carb ---turn the screw CCW 1 1/2 turns. This seting will get you Real close to where the idle mixture should be set. Your coment about the exhaust being cold is intresting, best way to check this out is with a gass analizer --- I dout you have access to one of these machines-- that being said --The next best method is to pull the spark plugs and see how they are burning Black and soot covered indicates a Rich mixture --the plugs should be a real light tan in color. Best wey to do this is after the car has been driven at a higher speed on a flat stretch --when you leave Moab and head North you will then head west there is a LONG strech 100 +miles of straight highway ,good spot to do this . when you pull the plugs keep them in order so you can determen if you have a cylinder running diff than the others. All that being said I live in Butte Mt on your way to Yellowstone, I hope you realize that the roads are pretty much all closed at this time of year.I hope this info has helped out PM me and I'l give you my number and we'll talk, not only about your car but the part of the country your in , have vacationed in that area several times,great National Parks in southern Utah . Larry

[Petros]

I would not think the idle adjustment would affect cruise fuel economy, only idle and just off idle. You can set it by "ear" like we did the "old days", as it idles, turn in until it runs rough, than count turns and move out until it idles rough, than put it about half way between. should be good enough. You can also set timing by ear, advance it a bit at a time, than drive it and accelerate hard. Keep advancing it a little at a time until you can hear ping or pre-ignition (a crackling sound deep in the engine), than back it off a little to where it does not ping on hard acceleration.

Also, all that junk on the roof will also affect your fuel economy in a very bad way. Try to put it all inside until it is time to sleep, than put it up on the roof. It will stay safe and dry inside too.

If your plans take you out west to the Seattle area you are also welcome to stop by my place. I can help you sort out the engine too.