Tercel lovers in Colorado (also my first tercel)

[Sunburst96]

Hello fellow tercel fanatics, I'm fairly new here to the board curious if theres any die hard tercel lovers in Colorado near the western slope or roaring fork valley lookin to get some shindig goin on. Anyway Just got my first tercel back in January, happened to be an old friend's that passed away a few years back, practically grew up in the car. We stole it for $250 at 248k from the new owners, had a blown radiator and bad water pump so we replaced those. Drove great for 2000 miles, was about a month, (didnt have a thermostat in i might add) went thirty miles to the next town over noticed my temp gauge was fluctuating up and down pulled over checked it out, seemed fine and drove home fine. Looked at it a bit closer in the morning, had oil in the coolant reservoir and in the radiator, was an obvious blown head gasket. Me and dad took the head off and sent it to the shop, ended up being warped so we had it milled down and new valve seals done. We did the cam and gaskets ourselves, flushed the engine first of course. Now shes been doing great, going on another 2000 miles. Doesnt like hard acceleration when cold in mornings and will bog around when not up to temp, though when warm up she runs flawlessly, runnin 10w/40. Any pointers>>>

[irowiki]

Doesnt like hard acceleration when cold in mornings and will bog around when not up to temp, though when warm up she runs flawlessly, runnin 10w/40. Any pointers>>>

This is par for the course for a carbureted car, but your AAP might be bad which would make it worse. Look in the FSM, page EC-54.

[Devin]

Welcome to the forum. I am in Denver, but if you find some more folks, I would love to drive over the hills for a meet up.

[Ridlbox]

I say we all meet up in Reno for Hot August Nights next year.

[irowiki]

Welcome to the forum. I am in Denver, but if you find some more folks, I would love to drive over the hills for a meet up.

We'll be in Denver in a month or two for zoo/history museum, but it'll probably be in the Camry, not a Tercel

[Petros]

welcome to the forum,

you get a car that needs a radiator, chances are it will need a head gasket soon. The head does not tolerate being overheated very well. Fortunately the head gasket is not too difficult to replace as compared to most modern cars. Did you read the head gasket replacement thread over in the repair guides section? Has a lot of good tips to make it a bit more durable for the future.

Keep the cooling system in good condition, install a new quality thermostat every two or three years, and the head gasket should last a long time. do not buy the cheap t-stats, many are junk out of the box (typically about $6 or $8, made by communists in china), the quality ones usually come with a warranty and will cost $16-20, well worth it. the others are junk and could cause you to have to do the head gasket again.