Long term t4wd owners: Q's about elect. component durability

[4wdchico]

Was looking to increase the reliability of the t4wd's electrical system in a few different ways. But since i don't have very long term experience myself, I was hoping to get some feedback first.

So, if you long term owners could please respond to the following, I would much appreciate it:

How often do the igniter/ignition coil/ headlight relay fail?

Has anyone seen a t4wd's distributor modified to accept boosting from a MSD or other ignition amplifier? If so, did it by any chance result in coil failure?


Thanks

[brianp]

I burned out something in my distributor, the igniter or coil or something, because of a loose spark plug wire. Besides that, I haven't had anything that you mentioned fail. Never added any ignition booster, seems to work fine on its own.

[Petros]

I have owned and driven two T4wd, both with over 200k on the odo, I have had one distributor assembly fail to spark once, do not know the cause I just replaced the whole distributor since I had one and it as faster just to swap it out with another used one.

In that time I have also only one alternator fail, also swapped it out with a used one.

I have never had a starter fail.

[splatterdog]

I've had 2 ign coils on 2 cars go right at around 20yrs/200k.

2 alternators on the 84 in the almost 10 years I've had it.

NEVER had an ecm,tps one two or three,cmp,ckp,ks,digital egr or dpfe system,maf,map,iac,tcs,etc failure.

Oh, and a few light bulbs, and corroded but fixable door jamb switches.

Not too bad for an old s***box!

Ever look at newer wiring diagrams? JUST the engine can have as much or more wiring than our entire car.

As far as keeping up reliability, check connections for tightness and corrosion, paying close attention to all the ground straps. Adding relays can greatly reduce amp draw thru old switches too.

Almost forgot, the 84 also needed a rad fan too.

[sdoan]

On the '83 I had to replace brushes in an internally regulated alternator twice about 90,000 miles apart. Had to repair the electrical wires to the back hatch. The rear window defroster grid was down to 3 conductors at the end. Sometimes the light to illuminate the heater/vent panel would not light up with the rest of the lights. The last couple years I had it the starter would sometimes spin without engaging the ring gear, but I think it may have been a weak battery. This car had 280,000 miles when I sold it.

The 1984 does not have a working rear window defroster or license plate light so probably needs the wires to the back hatch repaired. The '84 also occasionally does not light the dash and rear lights when the lights are turned on. It seems to be a poor connection - probably because of the goofy trailer wiring that was added by the previous owner. Poor connection in the light socket to the LH rear marker light. I've put only 10,000 miles on this car.

[Highlander]

My '83s both had alternator brushes go at about 200k, the '85s haven't had any problems other than the light for the heater/defroster giving up the ghost-even after replacement. Fuel guages on the '85s go funky- we tend to go by elapsed miles from fillup to fillup. Oh, and the first '83 had an electrical fire along side of the engine- check your harness and make sure its properly restrained and not shaking all over. The insulation wore through from rubbing on the block and shorted to ground one night (only 1 mi from home at least). Lots of smoke, freaked the wife out, fire dept came , etc., etc., etc. Had teh same issue with the ox sensor in the Yo d'Or, too much length, not enough support- wire failed. All in all better than our GMC van-dash lights out, fuel guage inoperable, power windows won't, etc.

[xirdneh]

my wife and i have driven tercels since 1988 (one car 1988-1988 , 200,000 miles) (second and third,his and hers, 1998 to present)(fourth 2000-present)
i also take care of three for friends and family

1. never had any problems with distributor electrical on any of them. (have replaced vacuum advance unit on all)
2. replaced at least three bad starters
3. resistor for heater core blower fan in all cars has various speeds that do not work (all cars have at least one or two speeds that work).
4. window wiper switch has gone bad on two
5. blinkers quit working on two (was not the flasher unit and not the switch , seem to be a short somewhere that i cannot find because fuse blows when used).
6. back up light on one does not get juice ( fuse is good)

[Petros]

I forgot to mention I too had and electrical fire. The wire bundle on the left side (driver's side) of the engine, just below the distributor, shorted and caught fire. Made a mess of the harness an all plastic components on that side of the engine. Still managed to drive it home after I separated the wires and wrapped them with black tape, and replaced the fuses with gum wrapper foil

The wire insulation gets brittle and cracks, even in places you can not see them inside the bundle wrap. With enough handling the cracked insulation eventually allows bare wires to make contact. I think about the only think you can do is keep a eye on all the wiring, and wrap with electrical tape or heat shrink tubing if necessary, or replaces the bad parts all together. This has required more maintainable on my car than the major components have, although it is an easy fix as long as you stay ahead of it. I do not know if something like Armorall would keep the insulation soft, but it might be worth a try.

[xirdneh]

[quote="Petros"]I forgot to mention I too had and electrical fire. The wire bundle on the left side (driver's side) of the engine, just below the distributor, shorted and caught fire. Made a mess of the harness an all plastic components on that side of the engine. Still managed to drive it home after I separated the wires and wrapped them with black tape, and replaced the fuses with gum wrapper foil quote]


Had the same thing happen. Was in a mall area so I ran in and bought some black tape, hastily wrapped the bare wires and started it up.

[hberdan]

Had to replace alternators on all my Tercels, and rebuild the starter motors; one Terc had to have the rear wiper motor replaced, another had to have the heater blower motor replaced. All had/have bad gas gauge sending units, and all had/have problems with dash lighting burnouts, idiot lights that don't work, etc. But nothing regarding the wiring itself. All the Tercels lasted over 250k miles, so no complaints. The current one is over 322 k miles and still running, albeit without a working gas gauge, no idiot lights for the ebrake, and no night lighting for the heater control panel.
Never had any problems at all with headlights/relays. One Tercel had it's ignition switch replaced, but no coil problems.

[Shannon]

I had trouble with the headlight relay. If I drove for a long distance at night, I would risk it burning up. Meaning it would blow and there would be a burn mark between the plugs. No headlights. Stuck. So I started to kept a spare in the glove box for these breakdowns. Finally, I have a brand that hasn't blown for a long time.
I have had good luck with autozone products, i.e., starter, alternator, etc..

[garyfish]

A couple people in this thread have mentioned that the light bulb illuminating the heater/vent panel doesn't work. I have the same problem (all the other dash lights work), and can't seem to find the location of the bulb -- even after I had the whole lever/switch assembly exposed.

Can anybody provided any tips on where the bulb for the heater panel is located?

[keith]

If you have distributor problems, the best thing to do is to replace it with a quality reman unit. The center shaft bushing wears out so if you spend money on coils, ignitors etc., you will end up buying the reman anyway so the money spent on the other parts will be lost. The distributor should last 200k or so.

[toughtercel]

own four cars for past 13 years , ingation / coils still orginal , it sure last a long time , BUT when i bought alternaters and starters made from boosh brand , and they are life time warrenty , ohh sweet buy them for my car and my wife car , they are troublemaker , i have to replace it every time between one month old to 10 month old ,recently i swap another starter for my wife it only last a month "WHAT" i had it , so i bought other brand which are new built and last longer , i guess other brand might be rebuilt from collage kids .

[ARCHINSTL]

garyfish -
Check out this link: https://tercel4wd.com/forums/viewtopic.php? ... er+control
waynehoc has some XLNT pix of the control panel. The third one has a view of the light holder and wire.
Have fun...
Tom M.