New member from CO - '83 4WD wagon

[Erichimedes]

Hello Tercel people!

I just picked up a '83 Tercel, and am pretty excited to work on it! It's definitely a beater, not beautiful, but runs darn well for how old it is. I've been into old Subarus for a long time, and always had my eye on these old Tercels. This one showed up on craigslist, and the price was right at $350. I've always wanted to rebuild an engine, and this seems like a pretty good candidate. 289k, although still runs fine.

So I guess my question is, Is the 3A worth rebuilding? I'd also like to rebuild the carb, but was thinking I'd rebuild the engine first, make sure it runs, then tackle the carb.

Also, the fuel level gauge doesn't seem to be accurate or even close. Is this--> https://tercel4wd.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=2346 a good place to start? Or should I check the gauge?

Thanks! I'm excited to be a part of the forums!

[dlb]

i like the 3a a lot -- lacks power but is simple, reliable, easy to work on, and very economical -- but i wouldn't rebuild it or the carb unless they need it. you mentioned it runs fine so what makes you want to rebuild them?

welcome, btw!

[Erichimedes]

Well, admittedly I've asked myself the same thing, and really, I just want to rebuild an engine. Always have. This one does burn a little oil though, so I could use that as a lame excuse...

[dlb]

if you want to rebuild it, go for it. if you just want to fix the burning oil, you could try a few easy fixes first. seafoam works well for liquefying carbon deposits on the oil scraper rings, and restore seems to work well for building up worn down cylinder walls. another possible cause of burning oil is worn out valve stem seals, which can be done without removing the engine.

like i said though, go for it if you want to.

[Erichimedes]

Interesting. I'll take all that into consideration. I also have to make sure I have the time for a rebuild so, we'll see. I also need to change the oil in the transaxle and see if the whining that's present goes away or gets any quieter. That may be the thing that will actually need my attention.

[dlb]

hmmm. when does your trans whine? if it's when the clutch is out, regardless of what gear it's in or whether the shifter is in the neutral position, it is likely one of the input shaft bearings (there are two).

[Gottolovem]

I would deal with that tranny first it's much harder to find a good replacement.
You can get a 4ac motor from a junk yard cheep and rebuild it on you own time and still drive the car arou d in the meantime. The 4a has a little more power to

[Erichimedes]

I was looking at the 4ac as well. Would be fun to pull one and work on it while I drive this around.

The tranny whines when I put it in gear under load. If in neutral it's quiet, but when accelerating it sounds a little loud to me. I'm pretty used to my newer car though, I'm wondering if it's just what this one sounds like. I'm doing a transaxle fluid change tomorrow, so I'm curious if that changes/improves anything.

Anything else I could try, or do to try and figure out if the tranny's going to die soon?

[dlb]

the first thing i think of when i hear 'trans whine' is low gear oil level. when you drain the old gear oil and put it in old oil jugs to recycle, take note of how much is there. the trans takes 4.1 L.

can you be more descriptive of when the whining occurs? when you say

If in neutral it's quiet,

do you mean in gear but with the clutch pedal depressed, or with the shifter in neutral with the clutch pedal up? these details will help point to where the issue is.

the tercel generally has a lot of road noise. if you're not used to it, you might swear you have a bad wheel bearing but it really is just that noisy.

[Petros]

welcome to the forum!

take care of that trans right away. make sure you read the threads on changing the gear oil. you also might do an ATF/gear oil flush on the trans, and than put in quality gear oil. It might help with the whine. if it is not too loud, it will likely sound that way for the next 200k miles anyway.

you will not get much more power out of the engine if that is your hope in the rebuild. go find a 4ac and rebuild it and than do the swap out in one day, that will give you the car to drive and do other repairs on while you make yourself fresh engine.

make sure you verify all the vac lines and equipment is working and routed properly, no reason to rebuild the carb if it otherwise runs good.

make sure you change the thermostat and any questionable hoses, if your head gasket is compromised it will be worth pulling the head, replacing the valves, and than altering the head gasket as I show you over in the repair guilds section. It will make it run cooler and be more reliable. You can do the same mods, and use the same head gasket procedure on the 4ac when you get to that point.

good luck.

[irowiki]

Where in colorado are you located? I'm down in Farmington NM and the family is up in the Montrose CO area.

[Erichimedes]

I'm liking the idea more and more of picking up a 4AC, rebuilding, and dropping it in. Sounds fun!

So after driving it a bit today, I've arrived at the following:

I don't think the whine is as bad as I thought at first. It may just be how this car sounds. My other car is a 2000 subaru, and it's pretty nice and quiet. I might just be spoiled. I still want to change the gear oil. I've read up on changing the oil on this website, and have battled with this monster already on a '85 4Runner I used to have (same exact bolt). So I chucked the 24mm socket up in the lathe at work and have a nice 80's toyota tranny plug remover all ready to go. My only question is, can I use ANY of the filler holes in the trans, or does it have to be the one at the rear?

And before I lead too many people astray, I'm NOTORIOUS for hearing things that aren't a big deal. I'm overly sensitive to clunks and whines. I'll revisit after oil change.

Also, when warmed up and idling, the temperature gauge goes up steadily and slowly. When I drove it through town this morning (it was cold out) the temp wouldn't rise! I think it needs a new thermostat, does this sound right?

Also, I mention rebuilding the carb because when I first start it, it's prone to dying during it's warm-up process. I came to check on it a couple minutes after starting it, and found it shooting light grey smoke out the tailpipe, and running at like 3000rpm. Bumped the gas pedal and it dropped down and died. Is there a repair guide for adjusting the choke and start up things?

irowiki: I'm in Durango! Super close. I take it you've found the useful bits from the Tercels in the Farmington salvage yards?

[irowiki]

Durango, wow! I lived there for two years. There are no Tercels in the Farmington salvage yards, or if they are, they are news to me! Lon's Automotive in Bayfield randomly has tercels. Pictures of your tercel when you have time! I do have various spare parts stashed up though.

How long did you drive her this morning? The thermostat is a fairly easy job.

It is supposed to run at 3000 RPM when cold until it warms up then it'll auto kick the fast idle down. Probably died because it wasn't warmed up enough yet. You may want to turn up your slow idle a bit.

Good luck at finding a decently priced 4-AC around here. I've been looking for a long time. Ended up getting a 3-AC from Phoenix for my 87 FWD.

I'd love to meet up with you at some point, either when we're up in Durango or you're down in Farmington. We have quite the tercel farm here.

[dlb]

you can fill the tercel trans from any of the fill holes. just make sure the rearmost drain plug is left out 7-8 turns, and then put it all the way back in after all the gear oil is back in.

yes, that does sound like you need a new t-stat. its position in the 3a makes it a little awkward to get the new one in properly but not too bad.

check all the vacuum hoses and confirm they are going to the right places. also confirm that all the vacuum diaphragms are intact by putting a clean hose on each one and sucking. if you can suck air through, it's ruptured and no good. plug the hoses that go to any ruptured diaphragms until you can replace them. then check and adjust the idle, fast idle, and TP settings as per the FSM. most find the idle needs to be set a little higher than the FSM states, 900 or 950 rpm is usually good.

[irowiki]

Why does the manual insist on filling from the rear hole then?