White corrosion on plugs & oil leak in carb

[nessanater]

So I got my oil changed recently and while I was there I asked the guy to look at my spark plugs. I've had a little trouble starting in the mornings for a little while now, since it's been cold, and it's still pretty cold. So the plugs has some white corrosion/ powdery buildup on them. He said it's because I'm leaking coolant into my plugs, and/or it is running too lean or too hot. Then he said it's fine, and that the plugs are fine and that the car is so old that it's hard to tell what's going on (which seems to be the general concensus around here, where my car is the oldest one on the road). So is this a problem, and what is the problem? I don't have any coolant loss, and my coolant looks good. I do have water dripping out of my tailpipe in the morning, but I figured that's condensation cause of the heat and cold air.

Then, trying to help my poor girl out, I took of the top of the air cleaner, took the not too dirty filter out and vaccuumed it (I have a new one on order), generally cleaned things up, then turned the car on and sprayed gumout carb cleaner down the throat(?), all around inside that hole in the bottom of the air cleaner where the carb is. I didn't take the air cleaner completely off, just the lid and filter. I shined a flashlight inside that hole to see while I was spraying, and after I got it all sprayed clean, I noticed a bit of oil bribbling into it on the right side hole, near the middle think. I noticed that there is a fair amount of oil residue on the inside of the lid. Is my car going to die? What is wrong with it, I don't think oil should be going into where the gas goes. I have a new fuel pump and fuel filter. There has also been alot of oil behind and underneath the carb for quite a while, kinda on that shelfy thing where the springy levers are. Can I clean that with carb cleaner too, so I can see where the oil is leaking from? And finally, how do I remove the bottom part of the air cleaner? I just don't want to remove the wrong bolts or unscrew screws that are not those sort of screws. The FSM kind sucks on it's instructions for removing it, it assumes I know which things to unbolt/unscrew.

Thanks for any help, on a side note, car seems happier since getting the carb spray down it's throat.

[dlb]

saying the car is so old it's hard to tell what's wrong is a lazy persons way of saying "i'm too lazy to bother with this." that's common with these cars though so it's essential for all but the richest 4wd tercel owners to be able to troubleshoot and fix these things themselves. no one cares more about your 25+ year old beater than you do, unless you pay them extremely well.

how do you check for coolant loss? i find the best way is to look at the overflow reservoir when the car is stone cold. it should always be right at the 'full' line. if you find you need to top it up every now and then, you either have an external leak (rad, cap, or hoses) or internal (head gasket). opening the cap and looking in the rad is not a good way to measure coolant loss so let us know how you check and confirm that all is well there.

the white plugs indicate running too lean, too hot, and/or too far advanced ignition timing. the timing is easy to check so i would do that first. with the vacuum hoses disconnected, it should be at 5* BTDC. many members here advance it to 10* BTDC but since you want to rule these things out, i would stick with the stock settings at least until you get the plugs to a normal colour (chocolate milk brown is ideal).

if your timing is fine, then look for vacuum leaks that would cause lean running. using the sticker on the underside of the hood, make sure all hoses are going to the right places. then make sure every diaphragm is no ruptured since ruptured diaphragms mean hoses going to them are sucking air. if you find any bad ones, plug the hose that goes to it until you can replace the diaphragm. this includes the vac advance unit on the bottom of the distributor, two on the choke breaker, the choke opener, the throttle positioner, A/C idle kick up (if you have A/C), etc.

how high does your temp gauge read when the car is warmed up? as long as it's halfway or below, i don't think running hot should be an issue.

the only way oil gets in the carb is from the PCV system, which indicates blowby. do a compression test on the engine. if the #s are low, there's not much you can do. if the #s are even 140 psi and up, i would do a seafoam treatment on the oil and see how that improves things. if it still burns a fair amount of oil, you might need to replace the valve stem seals. sounds intimidating but it's not a very big job.

i don't think you have oil around the base of the carb. that is probably gas seepage from a worn throttle shaft that dust and dirt has stuck to. it is common on such old carbs so i would clean it and see how quickly it gets dirty again, then decide if it requires further attention.

the bottom part of the air filter housing is easy to remove. undo the two 10 mm bolts on the valve cover, disconnect the intake and heater hose, the PCV intake hose, and lift up slightly. when you feel resistance, reach under the driver side and slide the HIC hose off the air filter housing. now the thing should lift off so you can see all the carb and emissions stuff you need to test.

good luck.

[keith]

dib pretty much nailed it, but I do want to add something. The hose that goes from the base of the air filter to the valve cover is to provide makeup air for the air being removed by the PCV valve. If it is blowing oil up into the air cleaner, then either the engine has a lot of blowby (bad rings) or the PCV valve is not working. I'd start with the PCV valve as it is pretty cheap and very easy to replace.

[Petros]

your car is fine, if it is not loosing coolant it is not caused by coolant. check for vacuum leaks, that would cause lean running and hard to start issues. The white build up is most likely is from oil getting past the valve stem seals and the rings, common with older worn engines, and not really a problem. If your oil consumption is high you might try some "Restore" or other additive that reduces oil consumption until you can have the valve stem seals replaced.

[dlb]

dib pretty much nailed it, but I do want to add something. The hose that goes from the base of the air filter to the valve cover is to provide makeup air for the air being removed by the PCV valve. If it is blowing oil up into the air cleaner, then either the engine has a lot of blowby (bad rings) or the PCV valve is not working. I'd start with the PCV valve as it is pretty cheap and very easy to replace.

that's a good point. a few other members have found that even though their PCV valves passed the FSM test, they were still allowing lots of blowby. so for $4, it may be best to just replace the PCV valve.

[nessanater]

I have kept an eye on the coolant level in the reservoir tank, and it's been spot on since I got the coolant hose clamps tightened down (when it's -15 degrees the clamps just weren't tight enough).

I was thinking I'd replace the pcv valve and grommet, because I have noticed that there is oil around it, even though the guy at the car parts store said it "looked fine" to him. Advance auto parts says they have it in stock, but I wanted to double check that it is actually the correct ones: PCV valve http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/puro ... 7CL3*15342
grommet http://shop.advanceautoparts.com/p/dorm ... 7CL3*15342

My timing belt was replaced about a year and a half ago, by a good shop, so I would expect that they set the timing correctly. Hopefully anyway, because I don't know how to check if it's 5* BTDC.

The engine temp never gets above halfway up, and rarely even gets there, it's usually a little below halfway when warmed up.

I have suspected a vacuum leak for a while now, and maybe you can tell me if this means anything. While I was spraying the carb cleaner, it reacted as expected, revving up till it burned off and such, but after I had been spraying it for a while it started making a higher pitched air sucking sound, like a vacuum leak would sound. It sounds normal now, but that was the first time I've heard that sound.

I'll see about digging into all this this weekend, depending on the weather. It's warmed up a bit, but is rainy and super windy right now. But hey, we're supposed to be above freezing during the day for the next week. Yay!

[keith]

If you don't have a timing light, you can use the procedure here.

https://tercel4wd.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=5216

[garyfish]

I checked online, and yes -- the PCV valve and grommet you specified will fit your application


a couple years back, I started seeing a bit of oil inside the air cleaner housing... so I installed an oil catch reservoir in the PCV circuit which completely took care of that issue. I did a quick search here on the Forum and there's a few recent posts/threads on this topic:

https://tercel4wd.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=74631#p74631
https://tercel4wd.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=71867#p71867
https://tercel4wd.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=9335
https://tercel4wd.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=7537

my oil catch can is kinda small, so I have to empty it every 600 miles or so, esp. after a long run of highway driving at higher rpm's. some of the larger catch cans that are available on eBay I expect would require less frequent emptying/draining.

[dlb]

when you spray carb cleaner to look for vac leaks, try to keep it away from the barrels of the carb since that will give you a false indication. i find the best places to look with it are around the base of the carb and where the intake and exhaust manifolds bolt to the head. besides that, just comparing your vac hoses to the sticker and sucking on the diaphragm hoses to make sure you cannot suck air through them are the best ways to check for leaks.

[nessanater]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I did find a hose with a huge tear in it coming off the tsvs. Still idling kinda rough, but I think before I can figure out much more I need to get the engine compartment cleaned professionally cause the places where it's oily are hard to work with. I tried cleaning it myself, but didn't have much luck and would rather not try to deal with it anymore. New PCV valve seems to be correct, and fits much more snugly in the grommet, leading me to believe that the other one was not the correct size, because I didn't change the gromett (couldn't get it out). No more oil on the top of the valve cover.

[Petros]

I sprayed "Purple Power" cleaner, mixed at 50/50 with water, all over the engine compartment and let it soak about 10 min, than hosed it off with garden hose with regular spray nozzle. worked pretty well, on the stubborn places I did it several times. made engine compartment clean. A low pressure pressure washer is even better, but not necessary unless you have really thick, caked on dirt, grit and motor oil. cover the distributor with a plastic bag to keep it dry, water should not harm anything else.

[nessanater]

I covered up my alternator, and did not cover the distributor, but tried to avoid spraying too much on it, thoughI think I sprayed the vacuum advance. It was a little stuttery when I actually drove it again after that, for that whole day, but today it seemed fine. I should have covered the distributor.