My first field repair

[irowiki]

So we're going on vacation, had the wagon loaded up with myself, wife, baby, mom, and sister. Cargo area was stuffed!

About halfway to Albuquerque the tachometer started bouncing around. From 4k to 5-6k down to 3k, this kept up for about thirty minutes, then it stopped and stabilized. There was no difference in how the car was running while it was bouncing around. After the tach stabilized, I noticed random hesitations when going up hills but didn't give it much thought.


I didn't think about the tach thing again until we got on I-25. I got up to 80 MPH (4500 RPM?) at some point trying to clear traffic. The wife commented on how well the car was running at that speed except for some vibrations.

Bam. Tachometer instantly went to zero. At first I thought the tach was acting up again, but I quickly realized throttle inputs were doing nothing. Still had plenty of fuel. Interestingly enough the lights on the dash didn't come on until I put the transmission into N from D (lockout torque converter?). I managed to clear four lanes of interstate and make it down an exit while coasting, randomly trying to start the car. No tach activity while trying to start.

At the bottom of the exit was a nice place to put the car. I my toolbox out, got under the hood, first thing I figured was the timing belt. Pulled the top of the timing cover off, belt looked good. Saw gas in the sight glass on the carb, figured the fuel pump was probably fine.

Took a spark plug out, put it to the valve cover, no spark! So I started taking the distributor cap off, and noticed that the little silver thing on the front of the distributor that attaches to one of the screws, one of the wires was broken! At some point someone repaired the wires with the little plastic crimp things, and it broke at the crimp.

Well crap. Full car, 200 miles from home with a baby, dead on the side of the road.

Fortunately I had a spare distributor that I got from Peter. He said it came from a junkyard tercel and might be marginal. So I turned the crankshaft until the rotor pointed upper left, took the bad distributor out, managed to get the oring off, swapped that and the dust covers onto the spare, and after two tries, managed to reinstall it with the rotor pointing to the upper left still.

Put everything back together and the car started on the first crank, nice and strong!

Elapsed time, about an hour. Funny thing is nobody stopped to see if we needed help or anything.

Drove all the way from Albuquerque NM to Amarillo TX (300 miles) with zero issues. In fact, the car seemed to run better and have more power up hills, so maybe the old distributor was going out anyway?

What is that little silver thing?

Will post pictures of the distributor later.

[Gottolovem]

Great job on the repair I carry an extra distributor And fuel pump everywhere.
DID YOU SAY 80 IN AN AUTO I never run my auto over 70 the autos were not built for that kind of top speed.

[irowiki]

Yes, 80! It was only brief, I usually top out at 70, maybe 75.

[Gottolovem]

I think I read somewhere that peak horse power in a 3ac motor is right around 4200 rpm.
I don't think it was deigned to run continuously at that rpm.
Where is your tac at when your at 70ish mine doesn't have a tac I'm guessing around 4000.

[irowiki]

About 4k at 70, 4.2k at 75, maybe 4.5 at 80?

She seems to like 70 better than 75 at least until we got lower in elevation.

[Gottolovem]

Yea mine is comfortable around 70ish I live at 5000 ft.

[irowiki]

Sr5 cluster into a DLX is a nice easy upgrade!

[dlb]

that's some excellent work, paul. nicely done. it feels good to fix stuff, especially on the fly like that, hey?

i've always assumed that little wire was a ground for something but not sure what. didn't know it was so important though. that's one to keep in mind.

[danzo]

About halfway to Albuquerque

Sounds like that could be a cool country tune.

Funny thing is nobody stopped to see if we needed help or anything.

That's pretty much a sign o' the times nowadays. Look at the bright side - at least you didn't get jacked. If you broke down in Detroit most likely you wouldn't be able to tell us about all this. At any rate, I'm glad to hear the fix went well and you and yours got back on the road safely.

myself, wife, baby, mom, and sister.

Five peeps in a T4 has got to be something of a record. Can anyone here beat that?

[marlinh]

Good for you Paul. Break downs are never fun, great that you were carrying extra parts. I too have always wondered what that silver thing was too. A condensor (like in old points ignition) or a noise filter? Whatever it is I think it provides a ground for something in the distributor. Does someone else know?

[TURTCEL]

I believe that it a condenser of some type, maybe a noise suppressor for the radio or maybe like a condenser like on an old points type ignition.

Peace

[tercel4wdrules]

Five peeps in a T4 has got to be something of a record. Can anyone here beat that?

Six young men (most over 6' tall)- 4 crammed on the rear seat and I'll probably never do it again.

[Petros]

this is why it is a good idea to carry a spare distributor on a long trip, no matter the malfunction in the distributor one swap out and it is fixed. It also makes for a good diagnostic tool when stumped, swap it out and if it still does not run you know it is not in the distributor. Also, the tach works by a signal from the distributor, if it jumps around or goes to zero, good chance a bad distributor signal would cause that (could be other malfuctions too, but this one thing that would cause a bad tach signal).

I told you that distributor came out of a junk yard car, I picked it up as a spare. I did not ever say it was "marginal", I said it is unknown condition but the distributor likely came out of running car and is good, that the Tercel distributors are very reliable and it is likely a good distributor. I happen to know that particular car it came out of had a bad clutch (and likely why it ended up in the wrecking yard, the previous owner decided it was not worth fixing). You can leave it in your car indefinitely (I would trust it long term), and than fix your existing distributor when you have a chance, and use it as your back up.

Also, consider that you got your car back on the road in less time it would have taken a tow truck to get to you (wait times are typically one to two hours), and it cost you nothing to get it running again. Good job!

Also, excellent decision to get it off the interstate and down an off ramp. working on cars on the side of a freeway or high speed highway is very dangerous, too many drivers strike parked cars because they are not paying attention. Never work on a car at the edge of the highway, get it off the highway, or at best way off the road way onto a wide gravel shoulder if possible. Any highway patrol officer can tell you horrible stories of having to pick-up the remains of some poor guy who was trying to change a tire on the edge of the freeway (sometimes with his wife and children watching from the car). Not a thing to be taken lightly.

[irowiki]

Ah Peter, the "marginal" was my term You had said it was untested and such, it wasn't a reflection on the actual condition.

I'll keep it in the car then, and try and fix the old one. Will post pictures of it later. The replacement has been going great!

I had three ladies anxiously awaiting, while at first I figured I'd have to be towed to a parts store or something. Then I was worried I'd get the timing off!

Getting off the interstate was pure luck, as we had only just gotten into town after a ten mile stretch of no exits! I would have put the car into the dirt on the side of the road if needed.

[Jooseppi Luna]

Fortunately I had a spare distributor...

I think this is what separates the average T4 owner from the average American .

I always stop to see if help is needed... only one time this past year have I actually had to do anything, and it was to call AAA for a man who did not have it... his old Accord had died. When I pulled over, he asked me to try jumping it, but I asked to look under the hood first. Pulled out the distick -- lumpy oil. Tried to wipe it off, but the crud was baked on... smelled burnt. No more oil came out when I re-dipped.