New Tercel 4WD Owner in Washington State

[Abletobecain]

Hello all,

I just picked up this little beauty yesterday:



As you can see from my Tundra on the right, I love me some Toyota 4x4s!

Haven't officially named her yet but she's a 1983 with 251k miles.

I drove her home about 40 miles hitting up to 65 mph and she handled great.

I got her to use as a daily driver to save gas money on my commute to work and to the dog park with this guy, Harrison:



I've always loved these cars and I'm super excited to own one.

The only mods I've planned so far are pulling the headliner, fixing any potential leaks from the roof rack and covering the headliner with some kind of space/galaxy cloth. That and pulling the back seats and the side trays for the rear cover and turning the whole back end into a comfy spot for my pup.

I'm glad to have found this site as I'm sure I'll run into a lot of fun times that require assistance on my journey with this awesome little rig!

Happy Holidays to you all!

[YakSr5]

Welcome. Sweet car and Dog!

[Petros]

welcome to the forum!

nice looking T4wd. how much did you have to pay for it? where are you located?

[Abletobecain]

I got it for $700 out of Chimacum, WA but now it lives near Silverdale, WA. My dog seems to like it and I love it more everytime I drive it!

I pulled the headliner and roofrack last night and patched the holes with some gorilla tape until I have a dry enough day to reinstall the rack properly. Now I've gotta get the carb tuned. Seems like the rpm's are higher than necessary both at idle and while moving but I have no idea for sure cause there's no tach. There's an Sr5 at a junkyard here that I'm going to go see what I can pilfer this weekend...hopefully the cluster.

[Petros]

You are not far from forum member Xirdneh, he is really good with the Tercel carb.

Sounds more like a vacuum leak, or perhaps it is out of adjustment. So before you mess with the carb, check for vacuum leaks, and that all of the vac lines are routed properly and in good condition. This is more typical of a fast idle. Usually if you find and fix all the vac leaks and any misrouted vac lines it will run better and behave normally. There are a number of linkage and mixture adjustments that should be checked as well, and will help drivablity. The factory carb, despite being somewhat complex, is usually very reliable and seldom is the cause of drivablity issues.

Elsewhere on this forum is a vac diagram you can use to trace where each line starts and ends, you also check condition (cracks or leaks) of each one when you trace its routing. Do not be intimidated by it, it only takes about 15-20 min to trace every vac line on the emissions controls and fuel system. In the factory service manul (FSM), available for down load also from this forum, there is a fuel system test procedure that takes miniaml equipment to run through each check for each system, to verify it is working properly.

The last thing to do is to set the spark timing at 10 deg BTDC (rather than the factory 5 deg), and verify if the vac advance is working on the distributor. If it is not working it would be okay to cap it off at both ends, or it could act like a vac leak, give you the fast idle. It will run fine with out.

Sounds like you got a good buy for a running Tercel4wd. Make sure you change/check all of the fluids and filters, especially the gear oil in the trans. make sure it is topped up. keeping fresh and proper gear oil in the trans will make it last a long time. Replacement T4wd trans are hard to find, they were only made for this model of car and have not be made in 25 years, almost no new parts available for it. With care they last a long time however.

Good luck.

[Abletobecain]

I think you're right Petros. I've been spending a lot of time on this forum (so much great stuff!) and all of the symptoms point to a vacuum leak. I'll be searching for it this weekend when I change filters, fluids, some hoses, and a few other things. Do I put straight gear oil in the trans or some sort of mixture? I think I saw a reply of yours about using a mixture. Right now the clutch feels strong and the transmission operates smoothly but I'm still planning on giving her some new juice.

Luckily, the car came with the original owner's manuals as well as the FSM but it's nice to have the digital version from here as well. I've been driving the Terc daily since this past Sunday (I hope my truck isn't getting lonely ) and it seems to be performing better every time I start it.

I'm getting together the tools I'll need for a compression test and timing adjustment. I'm also planning on doing a seafoam treatment for the crankcase and fuel system. Should I find any vacuum leaks before I treat the fuel system?

I've been reading lots of how to articles on this site but I'm finding specific ones slightly difficult to locate. Any chance you could point me to the fuel system test procedure or a valve cover gasket replacement tutorial? I'm also trying to figure out the exact gasket I need as it's leaking slightly from the front driver's corner. It appears to me that I have the stock 3A engine.

Thanks in advance.

[Petros]

locate and fix the vac leak before you do anything else, make sure it runs properly before you do anything else. that way you will know if you may have inadvertently made a mistake with any other maintenance. You will never get it to run properly if there are vac leaks.

the fuel system test in the the FSM under "troubleshooting" in the fuel system chapter (also check the emissions controls chapter as well). it is simple enough to follow.

proper weight gear oil, or multi-vis gear oil works well by itself. do not use all synthetic, the trans was not designed for it, it is too slippery (causes gear clashes since the syncros to do not work properly) and will likely leak out all the seals. If you want to use a mix, a 50/50 mix of synthetic manual trans fluid (MTF) and conventional gear lube works well, and gives the trans the extra protection the synthetic gear oil provides.

The other mix was to do a trans flush, this is best only if necessary because your trans is giving you trouble. it will remove sludge build up, glaze and other deposits. You put in a 50/50 mix of Automatic trans fluid (AFT) and cheap gear oil. Drive it for a few days, get it hot at freeway speeds, and than drain it while it is still warm. than fill with quality gear oil, or the synthetic/conventional gear oil mix. It is a lot of extra work, but worth it if the trans is troublesome, sometimes it restores the function of the syncros (but not always) and a lot cheaper than a rebuild.

[oldfaithful]

Has anyone used Royal Purple Gear oil? Is it worth the money to change it? It claims to have GL-4 and GL-5 properties which our transmissions need to work properly.

[splatterdog]

RP should do fine. These transmissions deserve premium lube. You may have to experiment to see what your trans prefers. I had Redline 75w90ns in mine last winter. Last night I found a little water had got in from all the ice fishing last season, even with a good shifter boot(spent 3-4 weekends a month on the ice last season). All I had on hand was regular Redline 75w90. The NS is supposed to be more appropriate but after only 10 miles of driving I prefer the regular. Getting back in first without a complete stop when cold is better and my light 3rd gear crunch is almost entirely gone. Nothing on the drain plug magnets is always nice..

Do be prepared to run some cheap regular gear oil for a flush. T4 #1 with about 160k operated just fine when I got it, but had metal gravy for lube when I got it. I was ashamed I drove it a few days before checking it. Amazingly it's still working the same with well over 300k on it. Think I did 3-4 "flush" changes over a month before syn went in.

[Petros]

I used Royal Purple MTF in my tercel with a lot of hard miles on the trans. It was noisy, leaked out the seals, and caused the syncros to act worn out (gear clash with most shifts). I was worried I would run it out of oil, so I drained half of it, and added 2 quarts conventional gear lube. So it was running about half and half. the problems went away, and have used it ever since. Not as costly to run half and half too.

[oldfaithful]

Thanks guys,I just put this transmission in a couple months back, I flushed it all out good before I installed it, the gear oil that was in it wasn’t too dirty looking. I use 85-90wt. Carquest lube which I had always used in the old transmission changing it every 100,000kms. the reason I was asking about the RP was I would use it if it gave the much more protection, but where you Petros said you had the problems you indicated I think I’ll just leave what I have and change it when it is due. The Old Girl turned over 900,000 kms. last week, gotta live to see the million kms. I’m talking about me living not the car, I know the car will make it, lol.

[Abletobecain]

Hello again, and thanks for the tips. I wasn't able to get after the fuel system like I wanted to this weekend but I did get the fluids and filters changed. I also scored a brand new 10 x 20 canopy from goodwill so I can work on the Terc in all this rain. I got in touch with xirdneh too and will be hopefully be able to swing my Terc over to him someday soon to have a lookover.

I made it to the parts yard and I was a bit miffed cause they had an 86 SR5 with 75k less miles than my DLX for only $95 more! I talked to the owner and he said I could have it next week for $700 if it's not sold by then. I'm less than two weeks into owning a Terc and I already want another...what kind of addiction is this?!

So I have a couple more questions...

First off, I thought that my power steering was low on fluid or something but now I'm thinking I just don't have power steering? Is that common on the DLX's? I googled and searched the forum but I couldn't find a good diagram of where the PS fill/reservoir is and I darn sure couldn't find it in my engine bay.

Second, I scored the SR5 cluster and it almost feels like a different car with the clock and tach in there! The only issue is that the temp gauge appears to be broken. Any ideas on how to fix it? It moves freely and jumps if I tap on the cluster cover. I'm wondering if I can open up the cluster and reconnect/fabricate something to get it working again? While I'm in there can anyone explain how to adjust the miles on the odometer without breaking anything? My Terc put on over 50k miles in an afternoon from the cluster switch and the math is getting too complicated for my brain.

I also got a nice new looking headliner with no sag from the parts yard so I'm scrapping the idea of recovering the old one. I'm curious, does anyone know if some slight condensation inside the roof is common? I patched all of the luggage rack holes in my roof with some good window flashing but there is still a tiny bit of moisture on the inside of the roof. Not large drips or drops but tiny little beads...I'm wondering if I should worry about it or not. I also found some well nuts at Lowe's so I'll hopefully be reinstalling the luggage rack soon. When I'm doing that I'd like to get rid of the rust around the holes. However, I've never really done any auto paint work. Do I just wire wheel/sand off all the cancer and coat it with a good primer then paint?

Lastly, the 83 parts car I'm pilfering has some decent stuff in there. Front seats are gone but the back seat is pretty nice...blue plaid. I grabbed the mud flaps if anyone needs a set. I also got the inclinometer housing and bracket but the inclinometer was already gone. Womp. I managed to pull the washer/light switches because it had the intermittent setting which mine does not. However, when I plugged it into my car the intermittent setting just acted like low. What else would I need to give my Terc the intermittent? The wiper motor?

Alright, that's all for now.

Thanks again.

[Petros]

"I'm less than two weeks into owning a Terc and I already want another...what kind of addiction is this?! "

and so it begins...

[Petros]

warm moist air inside the car will condense on cold surface like windshields and bare metal. but you should not have moisture droplets if the inside is just as cold as the outside. That does sound like condensation, a leak would just give you wet spots, or a few large drops.

There are rust stopping primers to use on the metal once you sand off the loose rust. Apply a number of coats of primer, than several coats of color. Rustolium is most well known, but there are other brands as well. One primer I like and have used (I do not remember what it is called), it is clear and turn rust black. It chemically reacts with the rust to run it black, and seals it into the clear coating to act as a primer.

[Hteverow]

First off, I thought that my power steering was low on fluid or something but now I'm thinking I just don't have power steering? Is that common on the DLX's? I googled and searched the forum but I couldn't find a good diagram of where the PS fill/reservoir is and I darn sure couldn't find it in my engine bay.

Your PS pump is located on the front of the engine, in between the engine and the radiator, towards the passenger side but pretty central. It's got a bare silver metal cap that's got a built-in level-reader. I think mine has "Toyoda" stamped into the cap.