10986 tercel 3a engine oil drain and excess oil

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junkers
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Posts: 1
Joined: Fri Jul 10, 2009 4:57 pm
My tercel:: 1986tercel

10986 tercel 3a engine oil drain and excess oil

Post by junkers »

Tercel 1986 3a engine
Owned it for a month, starter died, went to wrecker got another, started up fine.I drained the oil while up and about a liter came out, probably because I had the car up on a jack. Nevertheless I put 4 liters in and drove it a few miles and it started smoking. Took it home and found out after that it takes up to almost 4 liters to fill.the rad overheats and spits out steam and oil spits out of the dipstick when I remove the dipstick , the car ran fine before this oil change but what I need to know is why this is happening? Could it be the distributer, I never marked the position and I dont have a timimg light or money to pay a mechanic after my current expenses in this car.I was told that the position can be done by ear. Ok what is it suppose to sound like when its in the right position?Man o man
keith
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Joined: Sat Sep 30, 2006 1:04 pm
Location: Tennessee

Re: 10986 tercel 3a engine oil drain and excess oil

Post by keith »

You go from an oil change to the distributor. What happened in between?

You don't set timing "by ear". There is a method to set the timing without a timing light and it is very accurate.

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Petros
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My tercel:: '84 Tercel4wd w/extensive mods
Location: Arlington WA USA

Re: 10986 tercel 3a engine oil drain and excess oil

Post by Petros »

sounds like you put too much oil in it. Overfilling will cause it to smoke and foam up the oil. It should be okay once you get the oil level down to below "full". overheating is likely unrelated, unless you are running really retarded timing (causes it to run hot). hopefully you did not drive it long enough to damage the exhaust valves. But you may also have a bad radiator, or thermostat possibly.

Good luck.
'87 Tercel 4wd SR5 (current engine swap project)
'84 Tercel 4wd (daily driver, with on going mods)
'92 Mazda MPV 4wd (wife's daily driver)
'85 Tercel 4wd DLX auto(daughter's daily driver)
'01 Honda Civic (other daughter's daily driver)
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