Just got my first 4x4 Tercel!

[neonsport]

The cooling fan is mounted to the car itself, not the radiator, and it's in front, between the radiator and the grille.

As far as gas mileage, you're right, that's horrible. Is your Tercel an automatic or a standard? I've never pulled more than 28mpg on the highway from an automatic Tercel, but a good running stick should get close to 35.

To work out the mileage problem, you're going to have to address the knocking first. There's no point in trying to work on the finer points till you know the engine isn't going to throw a rod tomorrow. Once you have that taken care of, look at the common tune-up parts. Are the plugs, cap, rotor, and wires in good condition? What brand are the plugs? Tercels are picky about what kind of spark plugs they like. NGKs were good for a couple of MPGs in mine. Check the timing, and make sure that's set close to spec.

Your biggest MPG issue in a Tercel wagon will probably be the carburetor. The newest of the wagons are not turning 20 years old, and carburetors don't age well. I picked up the 5mpg I'd lost on mine by installing a remanufactured carb. I could have rebuilt mine, but I got a good enough deal it wasn't worth the trouble.

[Jts]

The knock could very well be a bad rod bearing. You can try unplugged plug wires one at a time, to see if it goes away. Also, I had a similar sound that turned out to be a loose alternator mount bolt. Try taking off both belts to see if its the accessories.

As for valve adjustments, the proper setting should leave a little space for the rocker to "click" back and forth between the valve and cam. Make sure you can feel and hear a click. No click is very bad. Too much slop means poor running.

As for mpg, I average 27-29 on my 6 speed. Never broken 30 mpg yet. Advancing the timing, new plugs, wires, cap and rotor helped ALOT. I did just the plugs and wires at first. Didnt feel i needed the cap and rotor. I was wrong. Either way, make sure that knock gets taken care of first, or else you might be dumping money into a hole. Might need some major engine work.

[gervin]

The car is the manual version.

I'm going to try the unplugging of the plug wires one at at time to see how she responds.

[gervin]

Yeah I unplugging each wire one at a time. The knock was the same through out. I guess I will start trying to figure out if it's any of the belt accessories.

[Neu]

Well so I just picked up my first ever 1988 Toyota Tercel. It has 170k on her and I picked it up for $350. I got the good price because of a loud knocking/tapping noise. It taps at idle and they get louder the higher the rpm. I have attached a short video clip of the engine idling and this is with a warm engine. I cannot locate exactly where the noise is coming from but if I had to guess I would say the entire top. I'm hoping this is just in need on a valve adjustment. But I guess we will see.

Here is the link to the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kl_BlKI-YB8

Thanks in advance!

P.S. This car dominates in the snow without snow tires!!!

I bought my 1985 tercel for 150 dollars, had the ExACT same knock. sounds like a wrist pin man, which is bAD, only way to really fix it is to rebuild the engine, which is seven hundred plus bucks, or just buy a junkyard motor, I got one for 300.


in the long run, the knock on mine blew a hole out each side of cylinder 3, and a few holes in the oil pan.

[takza]

Should be in front of the radiator. Only time you should need one in winter is idling off road.

Use a length of vac tubing and listen towards the back of the valve cover around the fuel pump.

[riceburner]

Well so I just picked up my first ever 1988 Toyota Tercel. It has 170k on her and I picked it up for $350. I got the good price because of a loud knocking/tapping noise. It taps at idle and they get louder the higher the rpm. I have attached a short video clip of the engine idling and this is with a warm engine. I cannot locate exactly where the noise is coming from but if I had to guess I would say the entire top. I'm hoping this is just in need on a valve adjustment. But I guess we will see.

Here is the link to the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kl_BlKI-YB8

Thanks in advance!

P.S. This car dominates in the snow without snow tires!!!

I bought my 1985 tercel for 150 dollars, had the ExACT same knock. sounds like a wrist pin man, which is bAD, only way to really fix it is to rebuild the engine, which is seven hundred plus bucks, or just buy a junkyard motor, I got one for 300.


in the long run, the knock on mine blew a hole out each side of cylinder 3, and a few holes in the oil pan.

I would agree that it sounds like it's coming from the lower end.

[Typrus]

700 to rebuild...??
I got a longblock from S&S Engines, balanced and rebuilt harmonic balancer for right around $2000 shipped. Is that worth it? Probably not to most.

Try out importperformanceparts.net
They source pretty decent parts, not to mention you can get your hands on hi-perf bearings for the 3AC and a high-volume oil pump.

[mcenter]

If you were REALLY lucky, it could be the crank whacking a place where the oil pan had been dented in.
But , thank you for making the the slight noise coming from my 4ac sound much more benign.

[keith]

If your worst fears come true and you need a new engine, I may have a deal for you. Ours just got wrecked last night and it looks like I'll have a 4AC, with 17,000 miles after reman. It was remanufactured by Proformance in Springfield, MO. Its a good engine, strong running and uses no oil (ok at 17k, it shouldn't) and I have both a California carb and a Weber for it.

[gervin]

Well so I just picked up my first ever 1988 Toyota Tercel. It has 170k on her and I picked it up for $350. I got the good price because of a loud knocking/tapping noise. It taps at idle and they get louder the higher the rpm. I have attached a short video clip of the engine idling and this is with a warm engine. I cannot locate exactly where the noise is coming from but if I had to guess I would say the entire top. I'm hoping this is just in need on a valve adjustment. But I guess we will see.

Here is the link to the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kl_BlKI-YB8

Thanks in advance!

P.S. This car dominates in the snow without snow tires!!!

I bought my 1985 tercel for 150 dollars, had the ExACT same knock. sounds like a wrist pin man, which is bAD, only way to really fix it is to rebuild the engine, which is seven hundred plus bucks, or just buy a junkyard motor, I got one for 300.


in the long run, the knock on mine blew a hole out each side of cylinder 3, and a few holes in the oil pan.

Well let's just say that your right lol. My engine finally blew a few days ago. We are in the middle of a huge snow storm so I haven't had time to even tow the car home yet. But there was definitely oil dripping from where I'm guessing was the oil pan lol. I think I am going to search around the local junkyards for a newer engine and hopefully someone can do a swap for me for decently cheap.

[gervin]

So generally speaking which is usually cheaper? Swapping my blown engine with a better used one or having a shop rebuild my blown one?

[Neu]

So generally speaking which is usually cheaper? Swapping my blown engine with a better used one or having a shop rebuild my blown one?

Rebuild on one of these is base 21.9 hrs (alldate, the standard for this) so any shop, lets say 50/hr(low for a shop) price. $1095 not counting parts, rebuild kit is roughly 500$ depending on where you find 'em. so at least 1300, conservatively.

Junk yard engine? 300 is what i got mine for, i did the replace myself.

[gervin]

Wow you found a great deal. I guess I will just have to keep my eyes peeled for an engine. I have been having trouble finding one.

[Neu]

Wow you found a great deal. I guess I will just have to keep my eyes peeled for an engine. I have been having trouble finding one.

a good junkyard should be able to find one for you, just call the bigger yards and ask if they have any in their other yards too.