Worried about my transmission

[redtercel]

I am so pleased to have joined the tercel 4wd community. I have a 1988 Tercel SR5 Wagon and have only put 150 miles on it and have encountered some major problems. I bought the car from a college student who didn't drive it any more and was pleased with the test drive, the car drove well, sounded good, was pretty clean and was $600 bucks. The only thing I encountered on the test drive was that it was hard to shift from 4wd. I came home and read about it on the forum and decided that since I was trying to shift on the asphalt that it wasn't a major issue. So I went back and bought it. I was hoping that the car would be a good mountain car and that it would take me on dirt roads for the summer. The 4wd seemed an asset, plus I saw some videos on youtube that cinched my decision if you haven't seen these videos you should check out:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=T9H6n3Dmeqs&feature=related (this kids laugh alone make the video worth watching)
and this just shows how tough a Tercel is:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Q3xr41P2mXg&feature=related
But besides my desire to have a Tercel, but my desire to drive this car doesn't solve my problem. As I stated before the car shifted smooth and worked well, with the exception of the difficulty of switching back from 4wd. I took the car to be serviced and had them check things over, I don't have a place to live so changing the oil is a bit of a pain. They changed the oil and then I had some bad news and had to leave suddenly to visit my Grandmother in another state, only having the car for a few days I was wary of an interstate road trip and left the car to sit for two weeks. After I returned back to retrieve my car it fired right up and drove fine, I had driven about 10 miles before I had needed to shift to 5th gear, but when I went to shift to 5th it felt as if I only owned a four speed. I could not physically move the shifter to the 5th gear spot, it didn't grind or make noise it just wouldn't go over. The rest of the forward gears shifted fine, when I arrived I turned off the engine and tried the gear box out, no fifth and no reverse, it feels as it the transmission just doesn't have them. The tranny smelled hot when I got out. So today I jacked it up and took a look underneath, there is old oil on the transmission but no drips. And for all my might I cannot open the filler hole to check the level. I can open the transfer case filler plug and it has oil, but the odd thing is that the drain plug was very loose, and here is what I fear, I took my car to be serviced at a local station that has had some really bad reviews (I found out later) and I fear that since the oil drain plug is partially concealed by some plastic cowling that the service attendant removed the drain plug and drained some of the transaxles fluid before realizing the mistake. Then not being able to remove the filler plug didn't fill it up. And since it is a shady service station they didn't tell me the mistake. I very well could have a fluid leak (not caused by these mechanics, but then I don't get to blame anybody but myself). So I am wondering if have a low fluid level would make my car exhibit these symptoms? I find it strange that the car shifted so well then without any prior warning the car would refuse to shift into 5th or reverse. From my reading on this tercel4wd.com it seems that these cars are great but have a weakness in the transmission. Has anybody else had a similar problem or any suggestions?

[Petros]

NOt likely only ten miles, even without any oil in the trans would cause that unless it was about the fail anyway. But you should see if you can talk to the guy who actually serviced the trans and get a strait story from him. Usually a worn trans gets slowly worse (harder and harder to shift) unless you had a sudden failure (not common but possible).

There is a process for draining and refilling the transaxle (you can find it in the archives). All of the compartments are internally joined, so not likely you had one chamber totally drained with oil in the others. Getting all of the compartments fully filled is so important I would not trust this to others, though it sounds like you need to get help (with proper tools) to get the drain and filler plugs loosened. You might also try a ATF/gear oil mix flush (also to be found in the archives), and then see how it works.

Even with a questionable trans it sounds like you made a pretty good buy for only $600.

Good luck.

[keith]

Another possibility is the shifter linkage. Usually the problem occurs in winter when ice forms in there but sitting around for a couple of weeks with water in the chamber could have caused some rust to form. I would investigate anyway.

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=2382&p=18841&hilit= ... age#p18841

This link should help

[redtercel]

Well here is what happened. I was struggling to get the refill plugs off to check the level and to verify that I didn't have any fluid, but after finally muscling and opening one I found my fluid level was full... there went my earlier speculation! So I had to go back to the drawing board. I took Keith's suggestion and started my way into the linkage system... it wasn't very long until bingo! the whole cup where the shifter sits was full of rust, the shifter knob was even rusted into its seat. I read many sections about this very problem and was very envious of those swiveling ratcheting wrenches. So I cleaned out as much rust as I could and poured gear oil in the linkage and moved it all around and 5th and reverse came back! So here is my new theory (since I am all about the speculation) when I bought the car we had been having a cool wet summer and so the water that was sitting in the linkage system didn't inhibit how the car shifted but when I left the car to sit in the hot sun for two weeks that water evaporated and rusted the mechanism. So for anyone who hasn't replaced the boot would be wise too. Because now this problem could appear not only in the freezing weather but now the summer as well. Thanks for the advice and I am so happy to be shifting all the way.

[ARCHINSTL]

Congrats on the resolution!
I know it is nice to be able to shift again, but also - isn't it a nice feeling to have just resolved it by yourself without again resorting to a shop of whatever quality? That is the case with many T-Wagon problems; they are easily resolvable (well, frequently easily resolvable, anyway...).
This is a great Club with many helpful and knowledgeable members, Thank Goodness!

You will learn a great deal about mechanics by owning a T-Wagon, Grasshopper.

Incidentally, it is a shame that the pictures by Iain and comrepair323 have been removed - they were very good and were "worst case" illustrations to make one a believer.
Tom M.

P.S. Before you do any more transmission filler/drain plug removal work - visit the thread on using ground-down box end wrenches - the flats on these plugs are VERY easy to round off...