terc #6

[irowiki]

A heat gun is invaluable for this stuff, I thought my radiator was flowing good too, but there was a good 3 inches that were "cold" compared to the rest of it.

[dlb]

yes, i have a heat gun. what were the temps that you recorded, ie what was hot, cold, and normal? i actually PM'd marlinh with this same question earlier this morning because that was something i wanted to investigate.

[irowiki]

It was 150-180F (65-80C) in the hot areas of the radiator and 80F (26.7C) degrees on the "cold" areas. Mine happened to be plugged in the 3 inches below the inlet from the engine, I think that was the big killer!

Small drives like the commute to work, it'd be fine. Even around town, it'd usually be fine. Highway driving, blam, all the way up to the redline. If I cranked up the heater all the way, it would go back below half even on the highway.

[dlb]

the rad was the culprit. it passed both the heater-on-full-blast and temp gun tests but i swapped it out for another rad and bing, temp is down just below half. the bad rad was apparently pretty new so i'm guessing the PO had used tap water in it.

[irowiki]

So even with a somewhat clogged rad, the heater didn't bring temps down at all? Interesting.

[dlb]

been slowly working away at the car in my free time. am now focused on working out carb gremlins. once warm, all is well, but when it's cold the rpms hunt slightly and it bogs and backfires on hard acceleration. if i hold the choke slightly closed though, there is no hesitation or backfire. having already done the timing, spark plugs, spark plug wires, vacuum hose routing, checking of diaphragms, and replacing of the fuel filter, i wasn't sure what where to look next. so i read up on the causes of backfiring and realized that a plugged fuel line could present the same way as a plugged filter. being sure this was the cause of the problem, i disconnected the fuel line at each end and blew it out with compressed air. but nope, still had the cold bogging.

next, i thought maybe the TVSV is stuck in the hot range, which would completely disable the AAP and cause a lean running condition when cold. i removed the TVSV and brought it inside to test. i needed a hose for blowing through the ports though so i grabbed the short one between the AAP pipe and TVSV. then i noticed something weird about the hose. it had a hard bulge in it. you can see it here.



i couldn't see what the bulge was but remembered a friend who used to be a mechanic say that he would sometimes shove BB's from pellet guns into EGR diaphragm hoses to disable the EGR but keep it looking stock. so i cut the end of the hose off and found some kind of similar plug in there.



dug it out with the needle nose pliers and yup, the tiny plastic plug was definitely put there intentionally.



so i'm lucky i happened to take a really close look at that hose. i don't think i would have figured out why the AAP wasn't working, otherwise. also, my TVSV test showed the TVSV is worn out and doesn't reach the third and final heat stage so i'm going to track down a new one.

however, the cold bogging problem is STILL there. the slight hunting rpm on cold idle sounds like a vacuum leak but i can't find anything else wrong or missing so it must be coming from either the carbon can or EGR. i just removed the 19mm banjo bolt from the manifold end of the EGR pipe and will be replacing it with a normal bolt to see if the EGR valve is the problem. it's going to feel really good when i solve this eventually.

and here's a cute pic of the cat, having a time on my shoulder.

[ARCHINSTL]

BIG cat! How big?
Tom M.

[dlb]

BIG cat! How big?
Tom M.

i just took the happy guy on the scale with me and he's about 5.5 kg, or 12 lbs. not sure what the average weight of a cat is but i would say he's at the heavy end of normal. he's also part manx and has 'thumbs' on his front paws. he's an excellent hunter, and even keeps dogs off the property. pet him or pick him up though, and he melts. such a cutie.

[ARCHINSTL]

Ahh - I just now noticed the extra digit!
Yes, he is a "husky" cat.
Tom M.

[dlb]

after working through all the emission stuff on the car and determining that the carb itself was the problem, i rebuilt a spare carb i had which generally ran like hell on an old terc. this was my first carb rebuild and it was pretty easy. the only visible problems i found with this one were a dead bee in the float bowl and the fact that someone had messed with the idle mixture screw. after putting it all back together and in the car, it started up great but then started to run like crap after maybe 20 seconds. it would start missing a lot and eventually want to die, then come back, and repeat. it would rev up just fine though. the fuel cut solenoids were already removed from this carb when i started working on it so i thought maybe i had put them in wrong. i took them out, swapped them, tried again. once again it started and ran well for about 20 seconds and then it wanted to die. this was more pronounced though, like boooooog/SURRRRRGGE/booooooog/SURRRRGE. i had read a post on here that described mixed up fuel cut solenoids acting like that so i swapped them back and looked for something else. i had tightened the carb base nuts when i first put the carb on but now found them a little loose. did them up good and snug, things improved but there was still some missing so i let it warm up and adjusted the idle mixture as per the FSM. after that, it ran really well. went for a drive and all was good. i'll try it again tomorrow after it gets good and cold tonight.

since i didn't wind up taking the other carb apart, i'm not sure what its problem was. the only thing wrong i noticed was neither fuel cut solenoid had an o-ring on the tip. not sure how big a deal that would be but i'm sure it wouldn't be a good thing.

now to find a fully functioning TVSV and deal with a clunk in the back end.

[dlb]

all done! i got off to a fast start on the car but progress slowed as i waited on parts, then the weather got cold, then i was busy with work, then the holidays...anyway, i finally got to finishing the last details lately and then cleaned it up. the algae took some serious scrubbing, and it could use more for sure. the algae really hid some of the dings but it's still in ok shape.























most of the repairs on this car were pretty straightforward, primarily front end and brake stuff, but i did learn more about the carb as i had to rebuild one for the first time. it went really well and was as easy as i imagined it to be. it runs great now. i've also decided that on all future project tercs, even if it runs well i will remove the carb so that i can check all the intake and exhaust manifold bolts. this is the third car i have found at least several to be a little loose on.

here's the breakdown of costs to fix it up.

car - 100
registration, tax, transfer fees - 60
gas - 25
wheel cylinders - 30
left park brake cable - 16
right park brake cable - 35
shifter bushings and sway bar bushing & collar - 135
various parts from colin (exhaust, CV axle, brake pads, rear sway bar, radiator, trim pieces) - 80
rotors, strut cartridges - 200
strut mounts, passenger side brake caliper, exhaust gaskets, rad hoses - 245
shifter retainer - 22
vac advance - 20
brake fluid - 20
steel brake lines - 5
gear oil - 30
thermostat - 15
rad cap and valve cover gasket - 30
floor mats - 5
brake master cylinder - 45
coolant, de-ionized water, plugs, wires, oil, oil filter, fuel filter, wiper blades, seat covers - 155
right rear brake hose - 20
dome light switch - 5
EGR bolt, air filter - 12
radiator - 125
carb kit - 50
gas - 30
4wd shifter seal - 5
driver side brake caliper - 75

total cost - 1595

i just listed the car for $1800. might be a little bit high for the condition but i don't care. considering all the parts and time i put into the car, i feel it's worth it. i also hope the price keeps it from going to a new owner that will just beat on it and kill it sooner than later. i always hope they go to a home that will look after like i would and keep them on the road for as long as possible.

[dlb]

i've been taking this thing on short drives occasionally and love it...except for the nagging rattles and a passenger side clunk in the front end that i can't find. i replaced most of the front end components, checked the ones i didn't, checked all of the bushings and motor mounts, and have gone back over things a few times making sure that every nut and bolt is done up snug and yet the dang sounds persist. it's tough to be sure but i think both sides have an inner tie rod-ish rattle when going over gravel or washboard, and the passenger side has a loud clunk that seems to occur randomly. i've tugged on the wheels a number of times and can find no play in the tie rods or ball joints.

does anyone have any suggestions on anything else to check that i might have overlooked, or different methods of checking certain components?

[marlinh]

Door hinges, and Petros has a problem with the frame flexing on his. And let me say, those clunks are loud. I heard them myself.

If you had loose tie rods you should be able to find it when you check the front end.

When you did the struts, you had no play in the cartridges when they were installed?

[rer233]

Did you check the steering shaft u-joints? I had pretty much the same type rattle on gravel roads in my '83 work beater. Swapped the lower steering shaft (which i bought years ago from toyota) out of Old Gold and... no more noise!

Just a thought.. Good Luck!

[dlb]

thanks for the ideas, marlene and rich. i checked the door hinges, steering shaft u-joints, and frame for cracks, all to no avail. i will continue my investigations when i get the car back from my friend who is borrowing it while he car shops.

incidentally, my buddy filled it up today and the car got 12.2 km/L (almost 29 mpg) with probably 60% hwy driving. i'm very pleased about that. hoo-ray for successful carb rebuilds!