Looking for FWD Automatic transmission

[irowiki]

I don't know if gear ratios changed, but the same FWD automatic transmissions themselves were used in all Tercels (sedan, hatchback, wagon) from 80-86 and wagons from 87-88.

I'm looking for a low miles spare for my 87.

[Gottolovem]

I will keep an eye out
I'm always skeptical about autos from a j yard because I can't really "check" it first.
Does anyone know if the fwd auto tranny came on more than just the tercel wagon?

[irowiki]

Yeah, I'm skeptical too, the two 1st gen tercels I've seen in a pick and pull were automatics and it makes you wonder!

I figure even if one is questionable, it might make a better rebuild than if the one I have completely blows up at some point. Usually they charge less to rebuild too if you just bring them the transmission!

Pretty sure it was unique to the tercel being the first FWD toyota had.

[marlinh]

What about the hatchbacks?

[irowiki]

Yeah, all of them, let me edit my first post.

[walkersimpson]

There is a tercel wagon at the pick and pull near me with an auto in it I can check it out for you if you want if I'm remembering correctly it didn't have to many miles on it. It is located In Windsor ca just shoot me a pm if you want me to check it out for you

[garyfish]

irowiki, I know this doesn't help you much, but when I was down in the San Francisco Bay area a couple weeks ago, I went to the Pick-n-Pull in Windsor and they had a nice-looking 1985 DLX 2WD wagon with an automatic transmission -- only 82K miles, and the vehicle had been added to the yard in mid-January 2014:
http://row52.com/Vehicle/Index/JT2AL32V1F3619583

^^^Edit: Ha!! walkersimpson beat me to it!


you might find this link more useful though... for example, I see there's an AT from a 1985 Tercel with 122K, near Phoenix (call for pricing)
http://www.car-part.com/

here's another link to try:
http://www.picknpull.com/check_inventory.aspx

[irowiki]

82k miles! How sad

If that is indeed the transmission, /drool

Yeah I've been cruising car-part, I missed the one in phoenix though! Will look again

[Petros]

One way to know if the trans is worth risking a transmission from a wrecking yard is if the car was actually in a wreck. Many perfect bodies, or ones with minor dents, end up in the wrecking yard because it needed a major costly repair, so rather than pay for the fix they sell it to a wrecking yard.

So if it was in an accident, likely the trans was in working condition when it was wrecked (presumably it was being driven on the road). if the car was not wrecked, than it was either a blown engine or a bundled up transmission that put it there, since most other repairs (brakes ,clutch, radiator, etc) are worth fixing to keep an other wise good car on the road.

I have seen nice Tercel4wd end up in the wrecking yard with just blown head gaskets. Likely some rip-off shop gave them a head gasket repair cost of $800-900, so they just decide to sell it to the wrecking yard without even putting on craig's list. too bad, I could have fixed that in 3 hours with only about $25 worth of parts. I got a really good low miles transmission out of one in picknpull, it needed a headgasket (I knew because it had a new radiator, which I also too, new hoses and a new water pump-looks like they thought it had an overheating problem, more likely head gasket). It is a shame to send a good body and paint tercel4wd to the crusher just because it needs a mechanical repair.

Last year I took a chance on a trans in a non-wrecked tercel, it was a half off day and I thought it might worth the effort for parts at least. but once I got it out I think I may have lucked out; I pulled the trans and manually turned it by hand and shifted it though all the gears, felt good. I pulled the clutch off to see it, it had broken up and had loose parts rattling around in it. likely some shop told them it needed a new trans because of all the racket it must have been making, so they sold it to the wrecking yard. By the time it made it to picknpull, it was pretty rough and the interior was really ugly, worn and moldy, not much worth saving out of the inside.

I think you will find it being wrecked, or not wrecked, a pretty good guide if the engine and trans are good.