cooling system. water pump?

[timothygodden]

new to the tercel. bought an 84 tercel 4wd sr5 about three months ago and love it. been having trouble with it overheating and blowing all the coolant into the overflow reservoir and then into the engine compartment. it use to be an occasional issue but now it happens every time it warms up. i did the thermostat and radiator before this became a regular issue. changing the water pump next. will that fix my issue? or is there something else going on that i am missing?

[Petros]

Welcome to the list!

Sorry to hear about your problems, but do not bother with the water pump, that is not likely the issue. If your radiator is good and not plugged up, and the thermostat is working properly, and the upper and lower radiator hoses are not pinched, the only other thing that can do this is a bad head gasket. did you overheat the car recently, I have found they do not tolerated getting overheated without blowing the head gasket, they are sensitive to it (unlike some other types of cars).

Pull your spark plugs and compare them, likely the number one or two spark plug is all clean as compared to the rear two. turn the engine over with the starter a few times with the spark plugs out, if you get a jet of vapor or droplet spray from one of the spark plugs holes, that means the gasket is shot. See if you get a lot of white smoke out the exhasut the quickly dissapates, that would be steam, you will not see this however unless it is a bad leak.

It is a big job to replace the head gasket, but as bad as more modern cars. It will give you a chance to do a few internal mods to improve the cooling and the combustion as well. You also might consider having your valves reground and new valves seals installed while the head is off.

If there are no other problems that need to be fixed, the head gasket can be replaced in 3=4 hours using hand tools and only cost you a head gasket and a perhaps an exhaust head pipe gasket. Use the procedure I created in the "repair guides" section of the this forum (not the one in the FSM), here is the link:

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

[timothygodden]

thanks. it most definitely is the head gasket. i'm blowing a giant plum of steam out every time i start it. thanks for the step by step it's gonna save me a lot of time. gonna rip it apart today hopefully have it running right by tonight.

[TURTCEL]

Sorry to hear that you have encountered the dreaded Terc head gasket problem. It seems that Petros has come up with a really great process and up grade for the head gasket job. I am very interested to hear how your repair goes.

If my Terc ever has a head gasket blow I will definitely be repairing it the Petros' way. Extra cooling passages that should have been there in the first place are silly to have to add but it's good that we have the option to do so on our own. Good luck on the project. it sounds like you are anxious to get it back on the road quickly. Just make sure you don't rush the job for the sake of driving it the same night.

Head gasket jobs are not too difficult but are definitely time consuming. A lot of precise detail on these jobs so don't take any short cuts...saved timed can cost money and more time if a problem arises from the first job.

Peace

[timothygodden]

ha ha. well i got into the engine bay and first thing i find is my water pump belt was fried it just looked fine cause it was wedged across the pulleys. swapped the belt and it's fine driven it a hundred miles and no over heating or spewing of fluid so far. i'm gonna keep an eye on it and take it slow but this car is one tough S.O.B more proof i should keep it running forever. thanks for your help i'll use this repair guide for when my gasket does finally go.

[Petros]

watch for an oily build-up in your radiator, or you motor oil turning into a frothy chocolate milk like substance. Or if you find you have to add coolant to the radiator every few days or once a week or so. It means the head gasket is compromised, you can still drive it but better plan on replacing it before it goes all the way. I have driven on leaky head gaskets for several months, I just kept adding coolant, but it eventually goes all the way, and it usually means the gasket between two adjoining cylinders is blown out and it will barely run (see the pictures in my head gasket thread, the link is posted above). So if the gasket is damaged, you may not have long until it becomes undrivable. Sometimes people get lucky however, and it will hold up just fine, so keep an eye on it. Good luck.

[TURTCEL]

ha ha. well i got into the engine bay and first thing i find is my water pump belt was fried it just looked fine cause it was wedged across the pulleys. swapped the belt and it's fine driven it a hundred miles and no over heating or spewing of fluid so far. i'm gonna keep an eye on it and take it slow but this car is one tough S.O.B more proof i should keep it running forever. thanks for your help i'll use this repair guide for when my gasket does finally go.

That is awesome news man. But like Petros says you need to keep a very close eye on the oil and coolant for a while. Don't forget...you did say that there was huge plumes of steam on every start up, so for only the belt to have been bad would be a freakish miracle.

And for the positive miracle side of the story, a bad belt only being the probem would be great.

Keep us posted on the car and any cool adventures that you take it on.

Peace

[timothygodden]

ended up doing the petros head gasket replacement. working great no more pouring oil and coolant in the rig all the time.