Car died, and now won't start

[dlb]

just to verify, you removed the spark plug wires from the spark plugs and held them 1/2" or so from any clean metal surface (ie, the valve cover) and there was no spark? the engine was cranking strong and normally? if so, and you already replaced your wires recently then yes, the problem is likely in the dizzy. i just posted how to remove/install/set timing the other day. here is the post:

https://tercel4wd.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=7664#p56030

[Lil Beast]

Somewhere in the dizzy as all the electricals are in it(coil,inductive pick-up,etc) dizzy at part store I don't know in the US but in Canada there quite expensive! If you can go to a wrecker and get one that has no free play in it should be good! I hate these dizzy cause of that! It could be the coil in it my 1st suspect, then the pick up(little magnet)! Not much into electrical! Maybe you can buy separate parts for it dunno! I'm sure someone will point you in the right direction!
Check this one too: https://tercel4wd.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=7681

[serpentaria]

Yeah, I tested the plugs, and no spark, so I guess I am going to have to find a new distributor.
Luckily I found a U Pull and Pay place around town, and after checking their inventory, I found out that they have two similar vehicles, (1)1984 Toyota Tercel SR5 and another (2)1985 Toyota Tercel SR5, so I am hoping that one of them has an operational distributor, and I can get it for somewhat cheap.

Was able to befriend this chap via craigslist, a mechanic with many years of experience. His hourly rate was reasonable, and I think that after I get the "new" distributor I'm going to give this guy a call to help me.

Another beautiful weekend spent in the apartment.
Once I get this thing up and running again, I'm going to list it on craigslist, so keep an eye out...

[Lil Beast]

Once you get it to run you might want to keep it too! Very reliable vehicle! You're a bit right that a lots of mechanically inclined persons would get a old tercel! It's cause they are cheap to fix and very reliable!Very good vehicle to learn on!
Cheaper good mechanics are harder to find, you might just found one! I do that too in dead season, throw a mobile mechanic ad, it works never crazy but enough to keep me going! The pik-n-pull or pull and pay or similar yards is you're best bet to save! On the one you'll pick out make sure there is no freeplay in the shaft!

[serpentaria]

Yeah, I think if it was my second car or if I was more mechanically inclined with a garage, I would probably keep the thing. IDK, maybe if it gets up and running and it's good to go, I'll consider it. I do love the car when it is running. It's really fun to drive, plus it is a 4cylinder 4wd! However, since I got it, it has been one thing after another, and it's my only car!

Again, I appreciate the help from everyone, and thanks for letting me vent a little of my frustration here. I hope that by the next weekend, with a little help from this mechanic, I'll be good to go!

[Lil Beast]

Sometime older cars will do that! Most likely any old vehicles will do that! That's why when someone ask me about the value of a vehicle it's really hard to say cause it's overrated, if you like the vehicle it's worth it! Especially when I consider all the garbage they sell new! Mine kinda did that too everything would fail 1 after the other, fix em! The good thing it's never the same thing, unless it's routine maintenance! Even new vehicles break but it does suck when everything goes on at once!
BTW you don't really need a garage! You should see what I do in a driveway! Once you get those spark going it should go like before! Don't discourage it gets easier with time!

[Highlander]

Serpenatria- Sorry that i haven't been paying attention to this thread. I'm in Nederland (West of Boulder) if you need help- I could probably make my way down there. Before you pull the old dizzy out, set the timing mark on TDC (front of the engine down by the crank pulley) -Its on TDC when the distributor rotor is pointing around 10-11 o'clock looking at the dizzy with the cap off (if the rotor is pointing down around 4-5 o'clock, it son BDC, turn the engine one more rotation to get to TDC. When you put the new/used distributor in, be sure to set the rotor to the same approximate place so that the ignition timing remains close.
I had an ignitor go on one of mine while it sat waiting for a new engine, it can be frustrating.

[serpentaria]

Highlander! Thanks for the reply, but I had some guy from Craigslist come and help me out. He pulled the old dizzy out and put the new(er) one in. It was pretty sweet seeing this guy work. Had the old dizzy out and the new one in in about 20 minutes. Readjusted my carb in about 5 minutes. The car ran better than it's ever ran, until...

...recently...haha now it won't idle properly. I took it up to Golden Gate Canyon Park and after returning from a 5 -6 miles hike, my car was starved for juice. I was able to pop the clutch to start her up again, but when I had again let her sit for about an hour, it was dead again, and this time I was unable to start her up by poppin' the clutch; I needed someone to give me a jump.

Now, however, there seems to NOT be a problem with the electrical, in that it starts up fine all the time. I can even let her warm up, going from 2-3000 RMPs, but when I tap the gas, to bring the RPMs to the normal level just under 1000, it doesn't want to idle, and just shuts off.

Any ideas? I checked the water level in the battery, and some of the cells were low-empty. I filled those up recently, but am not sure if you have to run your car a bit to get it charged again. Would that cause the idling issue? Alternator? Bad dizzy install? Pesky Carb Issue?

Thanks again for the replies.

Highlander, I was just up with the the Tercel in your area, doing those hikes in Eldora. That entire Gilpin County area is just beautiful. Probably hit up the South Boulder Creek to do some fishing soon. Living in Nederland must be fun!

[Petros]

Could be a couple of issues, none likely related to batter or distributor. check that none of the vac lines fell off, especially that large one that goes from the base of the carb to the underside of the air filter assembly (that kept falling off I mine until I put a small cable tie on it to increase the friction holding it on). Also check the vac lines on the distributor and everywhere else. You might also just need to increase the idle speed a bit, but it is acting like a vacuum leak.

It should be fairly easy to find and correct by someone familar with these cars.

You should also have the battery and alternator checked. Many auto parts stores and battery stores will check both of those for free for you. THey check battery for capacity by putting a cyclic load on it, and the alternator for output capacity.

Good luck.

[dlb]

agreed on the vac leak issue. check thoroughly for disconnected and/or damaged vacuum hoses. maybe the fella inadvertently loosened something that finally popped off while driving up to golden gate canyon park.

if your battery charge runs low (which would happen from running low on fluid) it will take approx 20 minutes to recharge it with normal driving. the easiest way to tell a bad battery is that it will not crank or start without a jump but once running, it will continue to run fine. this is because there is not enough juice in the battery to start the car but once the engine is going, the alternator will create enough power to keep things going. the battery will not hold the charge coming from the alt. though, hence the inability to start again once stopped.

when an alt. goes bad typically, you will notice lights and heater and other electrical components start to fade and die while you are driving. this is because the car is operating solely off the power in the battery and the alt. is not recharging the battery quickly enough.

there are some exceptions to both those examples but they are the most common and obvious cases.

you can check to make sure that your dizzy did not come loose after being installed. grab the cap and try gently twisting it; it should not move. if it does, you will need to disconnect and plug the vac advance hoses and use a timing light to reset the timing. the 12 mm bolt that secures the dizzy in place should not be overtightened but it should be snug.

[Highlander]

Ditto on the large vac line to the air cleaner- If the air filter isn't bolted to the valve cover (and most are in some state of disrepair) then it is possible for it to have shaken off during the twisties in GGSP. AS DLB suggested, check the tightness of the dizzy. PM me during the week if you need some help, I don't have access on weekends.

[Lil Beast]

I would say to look at the dizzy to make sure it's tight maybe it did got tighten enough I realize it need to be somewhat real tight as when I go rallying I set my timing different and when I 1st started to do that one time the car was going super nice until in the middle of the hill it start to struggle and at the checkpoint I checked for what was wrong and the dizzy got loose and lost it's timing so I set it back and all got normal! Just mentioning as that guy set your timing and might not tighten back enough!

[serpentaria]

Yeah it was the dizzy, which was a few clicks off. The fuel filter was probably the original from '84, so we switched that out as well. The carb was re-adjusted, but now the idle runs too high. It's idling @ around 2000 RPMs. There are two screws on the carb that adjust this -is that correct? One of those screws adjusts the idle?

Everything else is running smoothly, although I wanted to tackle this oil leak. It's a lot more than just a couple drops overnight. I'm losing a lot of oil, and so I am wondering if there might be a way to see what is causing the leak. My guess is that you'd first have to steam clean the engine? How would I proceed with this? Thanks.

[dlb]

yep, there are two screws that adjust the idle. the fast idle screw is lower down on the carb and looks like a shaft with a slit in the end as opposed to a normal screw. it keeps the revs up as the engine warms up. the idle screw is a little higher and looks more like a normal screw. if you use a flat blade screw driver with a short handle you can get at it without having to remove the air cleaner assembly. i would get the engine warm and then adjust the idle screw until the revs are around 900 rpm, and then when the engine is cold you can set the fast idle so that when you step on the gas once and then start the car, the revs are up around 2000. there are procedures for setting both of these in the FSM if you want to be more precise about it.

for the oil leak, disconnect the spark plug wires and bag them and the dizzy up tight. then spray the whole engine with heavy duty cleaner/degreaser. let it sit for 5 minutes and then hose it off. reconnect the spark plug wires and run the car for a while. it might run a little rough if water gets inside the dizzy cap but you can either disconnect it and dry it out or just wait it out. after maybe an hours worth of driving you should be able to see where the leak is coming from. if you can see it coming down to the pan from the front but not the point of origin, remove the timing belt cover to check under there. if you can see if coming down from the back but not the point of origin, it might be coming from the rear crank seal. replacing that requires removing the engine or trans, but post your findings or even some pics and we'll help you from there.

good luck!

[Petros]

the larger screw that is closest to the carb housing is the warm idle speed (that is on the same side of the carb as the throttle cable crank). Turn it out a turn or so to bring the idle down.

The other idle adjustment on the this same side is the cold idle, that only works when the choke is activated (when cold). Adjust that so it idles around 2000 rpm right at cold start. Jabbing the throttle pedal as it warms up should drop the idle down in steps as it warms up. When fully warm the throttle stops on the warm idle screw already mentioned.

There is another adjusting screw on the front of the carb (side oposite where the throttle cable attaches). This you only need to adjust if the idle speed drops off too much after you release the throttle and it returns to idle. It slows the throttle to keep it from slamming shut too fast.

The most common places for an oil leak, in order from most common to least, is as follows: valve cover gasket, fuel pump gasket, distributor o-ring, front main seal, rear main seal, upper cam seal. Cleaning it helps to isolate the source, but if you just take a close look at the source of motor oil, you will find it is one of these. Very rare to find a crack that leaks oil.

Oil will run around the oil pan and make it look like it is leaking from the pan gasket, again this is pretty rare. More likely it will run down on to the edge of the pan and follows the seam around.

If it is a crank seal you might try the oil additive that will soften and swell seals as a temp fix. It does not always work, and it will not work on a leaky gasket, but replacing a rear main seal is a major operation, and the oil seal stop leak might buy you a bit more time to get to it.