1988 tercel 4wd wagon

[toyotajake37]

Can you send some more photos and info to jakesooy@yahoo.com?

[TURTCEL]

Well, it is a good looking car with low miles...but now that the roof rack is not part of the deal I would say the value goes down to about $3500. Joking of coarse.

'88's are the rare ones for sure. Definitely a very nice example but $5500 will prob detere a lot of interest. Besides the low miles and great shape can you explain the justification on the price you are valueing it at? Did you do work to it that you are looking to reimburse yourself or did you buy it for a pretty penny that you would like to make back.

Usually an ad will say $5500 obo, not any offer above $5500. Just my observation.

Good luck on the sale.

Peace

[TURTCEL]

Also, I believe you have an SR5 wagon, not a DLX model...just by the pic, unless the pic you posted was of a similar car like the one you are selling. But I am guessing not.

Peace

[dlb]

can you post some more pics here on the thread?

if the car really is as mint as described, his price is not out of line with other low miles, mint condition tercs. i find the problem tends to be each person's interpretation of the term 'mint.' i've seen vehicles that the owner's swore up and down were mint, only to find leaks, rust, dents, broken gauges, broken light lenses, etc. i shouldn't need to tell anyone that any one of those things preclude a vehicle from being mint, but i guess i do need to say it considering how many times i've run into it.

anyway, the car looks really nice and i'd like to see more pics. good luck with the sale. if you have no luck on here or an craigslist, you might try ebay. some folks have had great luck selling excellent and mint condition tercs there.

[tercel4wdrules]

I believe it's this car: https://tercel4wd.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=6706. I saw this car on craigslist not too long ago.

[rer233]

sure looks like the same car to me- right down to the dimple in the right lower tailgate area!

[TURTCEL]

Wht don't you post some pics of the interior, engine, and close up body pics all the way around?

You are advertising a car for over $5 and you have only posted picks of the back end, some odd angle side pics, and one showing the front/ left side from across the street. There are obvious dents in the rear hatch and it woud be hard to tell if there was damage on the front right a the way back if the previous owner repaired anything (if it was the same car in the other post).

I read the other post on the simiar car that other members think it may be. I have a sneaking suspision that they might be right. It is advertised as "MINT", gotta watch how you word and present an add. Details like these can possibly make purchasers leary about dealing with you, especially if they are traveling a ways away and woud be surprised at the actual car when they got there.

Be totally accurate in your presentaion and the sale will go fine. Still, though I can't understand your price...give us justification otherwise it just seems like a used car lot deal to anyone looking at your add. Detais,pics,details,pics,details,pics...these are very important.

"Runs good with no issues", is a strrong statement. Even when these cars run their best now, I would be surprised to find one that had no issues. Has the timing belt ever been replaced? I would imagine that to be questionable since it is just now at its mileage time to do the belt, but age wise it should have been done a long time ago. Also what does the inside of the radiator core look like? most people use tap water in their cooling systems which causes deposits to build up and coolant should be done once a year since it's propeerties eventualy break down.

I am not trying to beat your add into the ground. It just seems like you have a lot of holes in it to fill if you really want to get anywhere close to your asking price.

Peace

[Petros]

the price is a bit high it seems, but not unreasonably so if it as good as stated. One sold on ebay a few years ago that had about 36k miles on it for $10,800, so this is not out of line. It should have at least 150,000 more miles on it before any major issues come up, if the miles on it now had normal care and maintenance.

this is too expensive for me, I like to buy fixers that I can alter and tweak without feeling guilty about it. This would be a nice example to keep in original condition.

[dlb]

wjlee, even with just the dents on the rear hatch, this car is not mint. no harm in attempting to sell it for what you're asking but if there are other similar dents, scratches, minor rust, etc, i would probably only call it very good condition. tercs in very good condition tend to fetch $2500-$3000. that is assuming it is in perfect working order with no clunks, knocks, starting issues, hot/cold running issues, etc. any of those and the price just comes down more. theoretically, anyway.

[ARCHINSTL]

Seller - and new member - wjlee asked me to delete his posts, as he decided to keep the car.
Those were all of his posts.
Tom M.

[peculiarodor]

Hello everyone...
Well, i am the NEW owner of this tercel. Picked it up, drove her home and am loving it. I picked it up off wjlee, a good guy and very easy to deal with. May have spent a bit too much, but my wife and i intend to be the last owners of this car and drive it for another 150k miles. wjlee provided me with the receipts that the previous owner to him did at 63,390 ( i bought it with 65k). The work totaling $2400 (!) parts and labor included:
spark lugs, new CLUTCH, FUEL PUMP, WATER PUMP, TIMING BELT and tensioners, camshaft seals, pcv seals, valve cover gasket, crankshaft oil seals, belts, oil and coolant, plus the labor associated with all this. wjlee did an oil/filter change, transfer case and differential oil change and smog just before selling to me. My issue, however, is this:
-The car kicks out some white smoke on cold start in the a.m., then will high idle with some more white smoke until i tap the accelerator, then she runs fine with no smoke as long as it's not the first a.m. start of the day, BUT....
-On warm starts she doesn't start well. Needs to turn over a bunch to get going.
-She's burning some oil and looks to be seeping a bit of oil from the head gasket towards the backside closest to the firewall.
-Engine temperature is fine. It fluctuates but never gets above midlevel and the aux fan cools it right down and have taken her up plenty of steep and sustained grades.
-There is no evidence of oil in the coolant and the coolant level has remained normal and unchanged.

Is this a blown head gasket? (god, i hope not).
If so, what can i expect to pay for that?
I have already put over 2000 miles on her but would really love to avoid putting money into the car right now, so soon.
thanks again!

[dlb]

welcome, PO. nice username, btw.

a bit of white exhaust on cold mornings is normal. it is condensation from the combustion chamber burning off. as long as the coolant level doesn't drop, you don't see oil in your coolant or vice versa, and you don't notice any funny loss of power issues, i would assume the head gasket is fine. if you're still worried, get a compression tester and check compression on all 4 cylinders. two neighboring cylinders with low compression are often a telltale sign of a failed HG.

carbs are finicky things so minor issues with both very cold starts and very hot starts are not uncommon. once warm, how much cranking does the engine require to start? if it's less than 2 or maybe 3 seconds, once again i wouldn't worry about it.

seeping oil is another one not to sweat. if it's actually dripping onto the ground, then i feel it is worth fixing. the distributor, fuel pump, and valve cover are all common sources of oil leaks. best way to track oil leaks down is to tightly bag the distributor and spark plug wires, spray the engine with engine cleaner, let it sit for a few minutes, and then thoroughly hose it down. drive the car for a few minutes or however long it takes for your oil leaks to show themselves, and you should know then exactly where the leaks are coming from.

for burning oil, a compression test will help you figure out if it's your rings or valves that are the problem. read the FAQ for how to do a compression test w/ leak down.

https://tercel4wd.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=7442

your engine temp sounds perfect.

even if you did need a new head gasket, they're easy to do on these cars. petros even posted a guide with lots of pics in the guide section of the forum. don't know what it would cost to have it done but you would be better off to do it yourself. with old cars, they will nickle and dime you to death if you can't do a lot of the maintenance yourself.

[Petros]

No need to double post, I answered most of your questions (I repeat them below). Also, hard to start when warm is likely the crappy ethnal blend gasoline, so either you have to restart right after turning it off, or wait until it cools down further. One think that might help is to open the hood when you get a fill up (when it is hot out) to let it air out some. Than close it right before the start. Otherwise you have to crank and crank until the is enough cooler fuel from the tank circulated through the fuel pump to get it to run.

welcome to the list!

Your head gasket is likely just fine. All cars put out some vapor in the morning until they warm up. If you are not losing coolant from the radiator, than it is likely just normal condensation in the exhaust system left over from the previous days driving.

head gaskets never leak oil, the oil is almost certainly coming from the valve cover gasket, or from a few other easy to fix places. The valve cover gasket is an easy replacement, first you might try snugging down the valve cover bolts to see if that stops the leak. NOT TOO TIGHT, you can damage the cast aluminum valve cover (which have seen cracked because of over tightening).

There also is a "half moon" rubber plug at the back of the valve cover gasket for the cam bore that can also leak. A new one comes with the valve cover gasket set, install it with some sealant and it should stop the leak. The other common places for it to leak is the o-ring on the distributor, and also the fuel pump gasket. they leak and will run around the gap at the head gasket making it look like it leaks oil. the fuel pump is also easy to fix, use lots of sealant on both sides of both gaskets. the distributor o-ring is also fairly easy to replace, the problem is you have to remove the distributor (easy part), replace the o-ring and than get the distributor installed correctly so the timing is proper. If you are not confident using tools that you might want to have someone else do (not really difficult, there are procedures on this forum to walk you through it if you want to give it a try).

Doing it yourself will save you a lot of money.

[peculiarodor]

Thanks guys, I would like to do the work as i am mechanically inclined, but i have only the one car for two people so i'd rather not get into it without having another ride for the fam. There are some little power issues in that it will hesitate when i ask a little more from her, but then after a quick lag, she'll pick right up. it feels like a fuel line issue (like clogged filter) and i assumed it might be a carb thing. thoughts? good to hear you don't think it's headgasket. the oil is definitely not heavily leaking, really just a seeping and the engine itself is spotless. which manual do you recommend for this car?

[Petros]

the factory service manual for the 1985 on this site for free down load should be good for most of the systems in your car, the only thing different would be the wiring color coding in the wire diagram and the composite headlights. I have also used a Chiltons, but the annoying thing about it is it covers up through the fuel injected Tercel, which has a completely different engine and suspension, brakes and body, so you have to wade through each section to find the correct information. but chilton's pretty much just copies the FSM anyway and only adds a few pictures.

You will not disable your car by replacing the valve cover gasket nor the fuel pump gasket, they are easy and fast to do. The distributor o-ring is not hard either, but a few members have had trouble getting their car started because getting the timing correct when they reinstalled it became a bit of an ordeal. For some reason they could not quite grasp what it was they needed to line up to get it to run right, but they eventually figured it out. Not hard, just takes the correct knowledge, and there is a procedure thread for that with pictures. but you can save that leak for last. Of course you can do like most people if the leak is not bad, just check your oil level regularly and otherwise ignore it.