1984 $750 obo in Spokane, WA

[cromagmom]

http://spokane.craigslist.org/cto/4571140178.html

Pictures show a good looking blue tercel. Seller says there is low compression in one cylinder. Right now I don't have the time to learn how to fix that problem, but what would I be looking at if I were to take it to a mechanic? Maybe I'm looking for someone to talk me out of buying this when I'm moving in ~1 month, possibly across the country. These seem to be rarities on the east coast!

[dlb]

welcome to the forum, cromagmom. low compression in one cylinder can be due to a bad valve but it could also be the rings. the former involves removing just the head and might cost a little less to fix, the second involves removing the engine.

a lot of shops are reluctant to work on old carbureted cars so if you are thinking about this one, find a shop to do the work first. or better yet, find one that is already in good working order. there are plenty all across WA state so i think you should be able to find something within a month.

however if you don't have the skills to work on this kind of stuff on your own, i would be very cautious about getting a tercel. even old cars in good condition will need a lot of maintenance and if you take it to a garage, the car will be a money pit.

[Petros]

welcome to the forum!

That car looks like a geat buy, if all that is wrong is the valves/head gasket. once fixed it is worth perhaps $2500 around here (presuming there are no other major issues wrong with it). The most likely cause is a bad or burned valve, or a damage head gasket. This can be corrected in about 4 hours with hand tools, and about $40 worth of parts. A fairly easy fix, but I would not take it to a shop, you will likely pay way too much and perhaps not have the job done properly. You can read up on the process here, https://tercel4wd.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=6059. You will also want to replace the 4 exhaust valves with new ones and have all of the valve faces (seats and intake valves) reground in a machine shop, they will also replace the valve stem seals.

However, less likely, but still possible, that it has a bad piston or broken ring, or badly scored cylinder (rare but I have seen it), than the engine has to come out and it would be a much more costly job, even for a DIY job. Perhaps $800-1000, including parts and machine shop service, but that would give you a completely rebuilt engine, almost as good as a new one. If you had a shop do this they would charge you close to $2000 (or more, do not pay it!). It is hardly worth it, and I would not trust most repair shops to do it properly, very few do full engine rebuilds anymore, it is really a home mechanic car enthusiast world for doing complete custom overhauls. However, when you do it yourself, you can make it even better than stock. More power, better fuel economy, longer lasting, smoother running.

That car is worth about three times what he wants for it if it had a good motor in it. It is well worth buying, but only if you can fix it yourself. Otherwise it will eat you up in costly repairs by questionable mechanics who are very unfamiliar with cars this old (many mechanizes now were not even born when these cars were in production).

It is well worth doing the repairs yourself, you will learn a lot about working on your own car. it will save you loads of money not just on this car, but on EVERY car you even own in the future. The Tercel is a great car to learn on too, it is much easier to work on than most, access is easy, parts are cheap and available. You can buy all the tools you need to replace this head gasket and replace the bad valve(s) for less than $100, particularly if you buy them second hand from garage sales, craig's list or second hand/pawn shops (shop carefully, even Harbor Freight will sell you decent tools new for less than many pawn shops want). You can rent the more specialized tools like valve spring compressors, pullers, etc.

Even though the Tercel is a very reliable car, it will still be an old car, and it will have it share of bearings, bushings, hoses, belts, etc that will have to be replaced (if they have not already). Doing a clutch is a major operation for example, not too costly to do yourself, but I would rather replace the head gasket than do a clutch job. It will need one eventually, unless it just had one. Also wheel bearings and breaks wear out eventually, and will also have to be replaced. Same with engine seals, and suspension parts like bushings, struts and shocks. Not any one of these are major issues to do yourself, but there will be lots of them to do. Once you have replaced all of the "wear" parts, it will give you may years of trouble free servcie. Older cars tend to be this way, no matter how reliable they are, so it is best to have the repair skills (and really more important the conficence) to fix it yourself any way.

I could afford to have others work on my cars, but I actually enjoy the creative process of saving a great old car like the Tercel4wd. My daily driver has well over 350k miles on it, it is on it 3rd transmission, and now its 3rd engine (a 4ac out of an old corrolla that I completely rebuilt and tweaked). Even with these major repairs, I do not think I have spent more than about $300-400 a year in maintenance costs on it, and intend to keep fixing it until I can not get parts. consider that average American spends on average about $6000 a year to own are car, we have a bargain, and I NEVER intend on selling my Tercel4wd!

[cromagmom]

Thanks for all the great information! Unfortunately, someone else picked it up before I could get over there. Maybe they'll be showing up on this forum soon. I fully expect to do most repairs myself and pick up some skills in that realm, but I'm thinking maybe I should wait until I don't have to move soon until I take on a such a project.

[Petros]

it is going to be difficult to find a clean one on the east coast, most have long since rusted away. Best look for a good one in Washington, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and perhaps California where you can likely find one with little to no rust, and than take it with you.

[Jarf]

^^^ What he said ^^^

I have been looking for a clean runner on this side of the continent for the past 2 years, while I have missed 2 ($6K and $4K) they were both still too far away (1000mls)
I have seen many in the intervening time but when I look closely at them, they aren't any better than what I am currently driving.
It would appear that if I want to stay in Turtle land, I will have to go far west to get one, so best to snag before leaving that realm.

Better yet, why don't you grab 2 nice ones and bring one out this way for me??