'85 AT Tercel-

[AlexWho]

I have an '85 FWD AT Tercel. Around 115K on the car. I'm new to these cars, and I haven't done in depth repairs, so any fair warnings/tips would be greatly appreciated. I have a lot of questions, so bear with me, or skip the post.

My overall impression on this car is that it has not been cared for well, over the past few years. I replaced the cooling fan sensor, radiator hoses, thermostat. The PCV valve was junk, grommet fell apart. The oil and air filters were dirty.

For now, the car cools nicely on I-5/ freeway, then it goes from 1/3 to 1/2 (temp gauge) at stops/standing traffic. It's not slurping/guzzling coolant. But, the coolant has a trace of oil in it. (I did reuse the coolant when I changed out the cooling fan sensor.....2 weeks before I'd flushed the system when changing old radiator hoses out.)

I'm going to get a Blok Check/tester to see if the head gasket' needs to be replaced. The coolant has a trace of oil in it.
There's an oil leak from the front of the valve cover gasket, and a good layer of sludge on top of the front of the oil pan gasket.

If the car needs a head gasket repair, it's out of my league. I need someone that's decent.
I don't know of any good mechanics in the North Seattle/Lynnwood area. I used to have a good mechanic, but he retired.
I've taken a car to #1 Japanese Auto, and was not impressed about how they were not so #1 about other things that proceeded to break after their fix....and they nickeled and dimed over everything. Who to go to, without getting fleeced? Preferably in Seattle, or Lynnwood. ????
Insight on the car? Mechanic?

PS
This forum has been a great help so far. I bought the Chilton's for this car: not so helpful.

[Petros]

Welcome to the list!

If you are keeping coolant in it enough where you only occationally have to add it, the fluctuations are not from a leaky head gasket. If you have a single row radiator (most likely) this is actually normal behavor, when air flow is low (in slow traffice) the temp will climb to above half way and the fan switch will kick in and bring the temp back down. this is normal behavior. It might also climb a bit on long up hill runs.

However, that does not mean your head gasket is not a problem. If it does not consume coolant too much, nor have billowing white clouds of steam out the tail pipe, you likely can drive it a bit longer without any consequences, except it will eventually get so you can not drive it once it fully blows out.

It is not so bad to replace a head gasket, I have done it lots of times and wrote up a detailed procedure for you here:

https://tercel4wd.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=6059

It will save you a lot of money to do yourself, even if you have to buy a torque wrench and a few other tools. Expect it to take you most of a weekend, but it can be done much faster with experience, about 3-1/2 hours. See this post here about that:

https://tercel4wd.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=7886

If you do not want to take it on, both list member Synth, in Shoreline not far from you, and myself do low cost car repairs for list members. See if Synth can fit you in, he learned my method working beside me in the link above. I can do it for you as well, but my schedule is more than full until late July.

You might consider coming to our meet in Arlington next saturday, june 23rd.

good luck.

[dlb]

welcome, alex.

there are a few other ways to test for a bad head gasket. get a compression tester (they're $15-$20) and do a compression test as outlined in the FAQ thread, found in the 'general' section of the forum. also, when the car is cold, remove the rad cap and start it up. if you see/smell bubbles of exhaust coming up through the coolant, that indicates a bad head gasket. it's possible that the oil you see in the coolant is leftover in the coolant system from past tragedies and your head gasket is fine. the temp fluctuations you mentioned are totally normal: when a car sits, there is no air flow over the fins of the rad to cool the coolant, so it will heat up quickly. the fan should then come on, cool it back down, and the cycle will continue as long as you are idling. no worries there.

try the other tests i mentioned and if the car passes those, doesn't need coolant regularly and is not acting up in any other way, i think your head gasket is fine. i should also note that most times i've filled the coolant on a vehicle, they tend to need to be topped up over the next few days of driving as air bubbles work there way out of the system. after that, the coolant level should stay constant.

and ditto on what peter said. doing a head gasket is honestly not too big a job on these cars. sounds intimidating but it's not so bad.

[ARCHINSTL]

Whoa there, AlexWho !
You reported Petros' post; to the best of my knowledge, this is the first time this has ever occurred about any member, let alone Petros - he is one of the stalwarts of the Club and always willing to impart knowledge.
I read your complaint - it was unwarranted - completely and wholly.
I would suggest rereading his post; in no way did he call out your actions or your car.
Tom M.

[AlexWho]

? Reported Petro's post? Uh-oh.
Unintended big mistake. Sorry.
I'm new to 'blog-ging': 'me-dinosaur'--- to technology. Apologies.

Thanks for the very helpful tips: I'll try the other gasket tests before buying the $50 kit.