Stopped at Synth's while on my way home last night...

[Petros]

I was down at the Center for Wooden Boats on lake Union in Seattle on a beautiful Sunday afternoon, enjoying the warm weather and the sailboats. I left to head back north about 5:30 pm, on the interstate (a bit over an hours drive to get home), and soon I was down on power, it was running on three cylinders, and the temp was rapidly rising. And it was making a bad noise. I took the first exist, which was in the Univeristy district in North Seattle. It was hot, I let it cool and the neigbors gave me some water for the radiator, I started it and it was running bad, like an old steam engine, along with billows of white smoke coming out of the exhast. I got it to idle rough, pull first spark plug wire, it died. Restarted, pulled no. 2 spark plug wire, it died. Restarted and pulled #3 spark plug wire, no change. Definintly a head gastket.

I thought about limping it home, I have a spare Tercel or two there, but I still need to fix this one and I just do not have time this week (and there was lots to do at home that night anyway). I considered that Synth did not live far, and I gave him a call, sure he could help. What a life saver! He even has a set of new 3a gaskets, and everything else I would need.

So I proceeded to refill it with water about every half to 3/4 of a mile, allow it to coast down hill engine off when I could (most of the Seattle area is very hilly, North Seattle is no exception). It would climb into the red in a matter of about 2 or 3 minutes of up hill run (and there were lots of those). It was only six and half miles to Synth's house according to my GPS, I considered calling AAA since I am a member, but they sometimes take more than an hour to show up. It was less than 20 min drive with a good engine, but I thought it would be faster if I just kept refilling the radiator. I took the number 3 spark plug out to see if would prevent it from blowing coolant out the rad overflow (it did not slow down the coolant loss noticeably), and it made the car really noisy. Everyone on the side walks in North Seattle, at bus stops, and other cars would turn their heads to see who was making all the noise. the steam cloud coming out the back would dissipate within a few min. (after all the coolant was gone), but I was making about 3/4 to a mile between water stops. I was worried I could do more extensive damage, but I had to get to Synth's before it got too late.

I rolled down hill the last 4 blocks to Synth's place, rolled right up to the shop. Arrival time was about 6:40 pm. We both pulled out our tools and started pulling things off the very hot engine, even manage to get the head completely clear of the engine when it was still too hot to handle without gloves on. Did everything in my head gasket replacement procedure, resurfaced the top of the block and the head by hand (no significant warpage, that was a relief), cleaned all the parts, installed a new (but modified) head gasket (thank you Synth for having one waiting for me! I always keep an extra around too), and new exhaust head pipe gasket, new oil filter and engine oil, and put it all back together. Only thing that gave us trouble was for some reason the timing belt would not index on the lower crank sprocket, took some pushing and pulling the belt to get it back in the cogs. Filled with new fluids, we turned the key just before 10 pm and it fired right up. Running good except for one thing, for some reason my catalytic converter had blown out, and it was making a terrible racket. Oh well, it was running good now and I will worry about the exhaust later (the exhaust has been slowly falling apart for the last 4 years, it has not had a rear muffler since Dec 2008).

I called my wife to let her know I had to stop at Synth's just to replace a head gasket, and I would be home in about an hour.

It was actually kind of fun to visit with Synth during an otherwise frustrating repair, best time I ever had doing an emergency roadside repair. I would have bought him dinner if I did not have to get home and get to bed for a busy Monday. We settled up for the parts I used, and did not mind paying at all (less than the cost of a fill-up in fact). The location and convenience of having him willing and ready to help on a Sunday evening was the best I could have hoped for, and he gets great prices on the parts he buys too. And it all went as well can be expected.

After thinking about the head gasket, I had noticed that it was using a bit more coolant than normal over the last few months, and my fuel economy was dropping a bit with each tank (24 mpg with the last tank, normal mixed is 26-28). And when the weather is hot I must use premium fuel, or the ping will do in the gasket. It is just the price of premium is so high, it is hard not to buy the mid grade (usually okay in cool weather, but it did just heat up that day, the warmest of the year so far in fact). So I buy premium fuel for the rest of the year anyway.

I did have the whole exhaust pipe replaced from the head pipe back on Monday (I did not want to spend a lot of money on the exhaust since I will be building a custom exhaust for my 4age swap, but this could not wait or I might get a noise violation). I had a nice stainless muffler I got at the wrecking yard I was meaning to install anyway, now it is in place, and it all runs normal. Without the failed and bundled up catalytic converter in the way, it should have more power and better economy as well. But I do not want to push it until I retorque the head gasket later this week, and adjust the valves.

Thanks Synth, I owe you for the great help. Saved me a lot of trouble for this very busy week that I have scheduled. I have a black carpet set for you waiting in my garage, next time I am down in Shoreline I will drop it off for you.

[dlb]

nice story. tercel brotherhood unite! mad props to synth, def.

[North of 64]

A great story - gotta love this family

[dlb]

ps, have i ever mentioned that i've never met anyone with worse head gasket lucket?

[Petros]

The only reason the head gasket is an issue on my car is that I pushed it the engine way too far. I did normal power boosting tweaks to the engine, and it has not yielded a lot more power (I get perhaps 10 more hp over stock, maybe a bit more). I had also accidentally overheated the head bad, and had to take several more cuts off of the surface. So now the compression ratio is much higher than I planned. I was going for 10.5:1, but I ended up with 11.25:1. This head will not take that much extra compression, it is a poor design for tweaking. I would never recommend going that high in CR.

And that is the reason I want to do a 4age swap, double the power, better reliability, and likely better fuel economy. And I get rid of that whimpy carb and obsolete 8 valve head.

[GLet71]

I'm going out on my first road trip in my Terc with my wife and newborn in a couple of days, so it looks like I'll stop at CAA to get some roadside coverage; no shining lights like Synth around here! Great story, and even greater community~

[dlb]

where are you road tripping, glet?

[GLet71]

I found a Clipper Tripper kevlar canoe for $950 in Cranbrook. It's only a couple hundred km one way, but over the Salmo-Creston pass. My temp seems to run a little high at times, but I have a new thermostat I'm going to install before I go to see if that helps. I have a coolant flush as well, but not sure if I have enough time to get that done. I will take the scenic route up the east shoe of Kootenay Lake on the way back to avoid going over the summit.

I've only had this new Terc for a couple of months, and still don't feel it is running 100%. I now have the funds to put what I need into it, but I also have a newborn son that I am spending all the free time I have with. My boy is definitely my new priority; ain't life grand!

[North of 64]

I'm going out on my first road trip in my Terc with my wife and newborn in a couple of days, so it looks like I'll stop at CAA to get some roadside coverage; no shining lights like Synth around here! Great story, and even greater community~

I had to put a piece of 3/4 inch plywood under the front of my son's car seat so that it would sit level on the back seat when in the forward facing position. Also if you need the metal piece to anchor the carseat to the car, I have an extra I can mail to you.

Safe Journey

[GLet71]

Thanks for the offer on the anchors Elizabeth! It'll be a while before Nico is ready to face forward, but I will keep you in mind~

[Petros]

The story continues: I had put almost 100 miles on the car since it got the new head gasket as of this morning. With the new head gasket and now exhaust system (sans catalytic converter), it runs more powerful than before, but idle is a bit rough (Synth thought one of my spark plugs is bad, could be, but off idle it runs smooth and powerful). I was going to change spark plugs, and maybe wires too, later when I will adjust the valves. I had a very busy and important day on Tuesday (today), two major projects to submit for my clients back to back, I could not be late this morning to those appointments or there would be serious consequences.

I was driving to the appointment with plenty of time to get there, smooth and powerful. But while on the fwy I notice my charge light comes on, blinks off, than on. Sometimes if the voltage regulator sticks, you shut the engine off, and than clutch start it while coasting, and it will come back on, unsticking the regulator. No such luck, I figured I could make the appointment on battery power if necessary, and change out the alternator tonight. But than I notice the temp is quickly climbing into the red zone!!! Oh no, I am gong to ruin that new head gasket!!!! I shut it down and coasted to the shoulder. I was going over in my mind if I can still make the appointment. When both alternator goes out and temp rise, it is almost certainly the fan belt. I popped the hood on the shoulder of the freeway. Coolant boiling out of the coolant recovery tank, and the fan belt is loose! still there in one piece, but just loose. ???? I put a wrench to the alternator bolt, and it was tight, so it did not slip. I quickly reset and tightened the fan belt, started it and the temp came down, all was good. I could only pray I did not damage the head gasket, I drove to the appointment watching the temp like a hawk. It stayed in the upper half of the gauge, but well below the red zone, figured I must have lost enough coolant to make it run warm. Gasket appears okay so far, after driving almost another 100 miles today, still okay. I will retorque the head soon, just in case.

I just barely made the appointment on time, with nothing to spare. the submittals went well and all was good. Since the car had cooled off after the appointments I added about a quart of filtered water, temp was normal after that for the rest of the day.

The only thing I can figure is the fan belt was set with it up on the rim of the drive pulley and neither Synth nor I noticed it. It ran just fine for about 100 miles, but it than jumped back down where it was supposed to be and went slack. This has happened to me once before with similar results. I have never had this kind of problem on other cars, it must be something these poly-V belts are prone to doing, with the old V-belt it is either in the groove, or not. Both Synth and I had doubled check the belt tension when we got it back together, but I guess neither noticed it was not on the lower pulley properly (it was on the alternator and water pump pulley properly, or I would have noticed).

So, lesson learned, ALWAYS check the poly-V belt is seated properly on all pulleys! It could cost you dearly if it is not.

[So_Powerful]

'I will take the scenic route up the east shoe of Kootenay Lake on the way back to avoid going over the summit."

I've taken this road before. If it is the one that goes to Kimberley. I started overheating my brakes on the kootney lake side on the 14% grade. You get funny looks from truck and SUV drivers bouncing along that road. Beautiful country though and worth the detour.

[GLet71]

Don't worry about it S_P, made it over no problem!