New to me wagon, lots of questions

[dhally]

Just got a Tercel from a pasture and I'm new to old vehicle restoration as well as T4wd's. So I'm just gonna unload all my questions and see if anybody has some suggestions or point me to other resources. Thanks in advance for all your help!

Vehicle is 1987 Tercel 4wd wagon with 110,000 miles on it.

1. The PO stated the had gasket is blown, diagnosed by a mechanic. The car will crank but won't start. What additional diagnostics should I consider before removing the head? (the PO said it ran when he parked it)

2. The oil dipstick rubber is a loose fit, there are oil "seepage" stains around some of the breather hoses, etc. Should I try to seal up all these seepages? I'm assuming all the exposed rubber parts are getting hard and maybe shrinking.

3. The roof of the wagon is bent down in the middle, maybe from snow piling up during the winters. It isn't really creased and I can push it back up by hand. Any ideas on how to hold it up in place? It doesn't look like there are any ribs under the roof?

4. Did I make a mistake buying this car? Are the following issues going to be show-stoppers?
a. It has an automatic transmission. (Doesn't bother me as long as it works)
b. Some of the door handles are very hard to operate.
c. One or more windows are hard to crank/won't close all the way.

HERE is my Gallery post

[dlb]

even with a bad head gasket, the engine should start. check the basics: make sure it's got spark and fuel. squirt starter fluid down the passenger side barrel of the carb while someone turns the key. if it fires, it's lacking fuel -- check the fuel filter, fuel pump, etc. if it doesn't fire, check for spark. if no spark, check to make sure the distributor plug and spark plug wires are all connected properly. let us know how it goes from there.

for checking the head gasket, you can remove all the spark plugs and turn the key. if coolant squirts out of the spark plug holes, the HG is definitely toast. you can also check the oil for coolant or a chocolate milk appearance. other signs i know of are for a running vehicle, like looking for clouds of white exhaust and gradual coolant loss.

what oil dipstick rubber are you referring to? do you mean the o-ring at the base of the dipstick tube?

seepage from around the PCV valve is usually due to the rubber grommet getting old and hard. easy to replace.

i had a tercel with a bowed roof. i fist-bumped it back up and put a piece of lumber in place for a few days to re-train the metal. it sort of worked but i occasionally had to fist bump it back up. you are correct, there are no ribs to support the roof.

haha, i don't think you made a mistake buying the car. worst case scenario, fix it and flip it. if you like the auto trans, there's nothing wrong with it. i hate em but the 4wd is just as good in the auto as in the manual. sticky door handles probably just need penetrating oil, like PB blaster. remove the inner door panels (only takes a few minutes for each one, use a rag to remove the u-shaped clip that fastens the window crank) and squirt all the mechanisms that look suspect. spray the window tracks and window crank mechanisms with white lithium grease while you're in there too. roll the windows down and spray the rubber channels with silicone lube.

good luck, keep us posted on how things go.

[Mark]

The first thing I would check for a vehicle that doesn't start is see if the timing belt is broken. It seems obvious and if a mechanic checked it out, it's probably fine, but it would be an easy thing to rule out first before going any further. Also there should be an "engine" fuse in the fuse box near the battery. If that is blown, there won't be any spark.

[irowiki]

DLB: If the headgasket was bad enough to drop compression everywhere it might not start, maybe?

When you crank it, does it sound "fast" or "slow"

Door handles being stuck, remove the door panels, and clean really good the inside of the outer door handles, then put some lube on them.

[rocketscience]

The crackle test is another good one for checking the headgasket. Get a pan or a spoon hot and put a drop of oil off the dipstick on it, if there is any visible crackling you know there is water in the oil.

http://www.machinerylubrication.com/Rea ... e-oil-test

[Petros]

1. The PO stated the had gasket is blown, diagnosed by a mechanic. The car will crank but won't start. What additional diagnostics should I consider before removing the head? (the PO said it ran when he parked it)

sometimes the head gasket fails catastrophically and it will not run, but more often it is compromised and seeps coolant but still runs normally (which goes out the exhaust as steam), and than overheats again when it runs low on coolant. I would remove the head, blown head gaskets are common on these cars. You can do a compression test (you can rent the guage to do this for free from an Autozone store), but if it was not badly failed it may not show up. look at the spark plugs and see if one is rusty, also inspect the tops of the pistons in #1 and #2 through the spark plug hole (a strong flash light is all you need), if the carbon is cleaned off one or both, it was "steam cleaned" by coolant (compare with pistons #3 and #4). it always fails between cylinders one and two. go here for instructions: viewtopic.php?f=7&t=6059

2. The oil dipstick rubber is a loose fit, there are oil "seepage" stains around some of the breather hoses, etc. Should I try to seal up all these seepages? I'm assuming all the exposed rubber parts are getting hard and maybe shrinking.

you can use oil resistant sealant on these parts, but best to replace the rubber if it is hard and brittle. old cars tend to seep a little oil anyway, if it is not bad you can ignore this for now.

3. The roof of the wagon is bent down in the middle, maybe from snow piling up during the winters. It isn't really creased and I can push it back up by hand. Any ideas on how to hold it up in place? It doesn't look like there are any ribs under the roof?

It should just pop back up, I put a small boat on one of my Tercels and this happened. I laid on my back with the seats folded down and put my feet on the head liner and pushed upwards. You can use a piece of plywood with padding to spread the load out to prevent an "eyebrow" from forming in the metal. It should pop out okay.

4. Did I make a mistake buying this car? Are the following issues going to be show-stoppers?
a. It has an automatic transmission. (Doesn't bother me as long as it works)
b. Some of the door handles are very hard to operate.
c. One or more windows are hard to crank/won't close all the way.

No mistake, you will love this car, and you will love fixing it up. there are lots and lots of miles still in it, these cars do take some maintenance as they age, but they are very reliable. Yours has very few miles on it, my daily driver is coming up on almost 400k miles.

The auto trans is very reliable (flush out and change the old fluid, I also like to add valve body cleaner and wear improvers to the ATF), though it tends to be slower because the car is already under powered.

Soak the door handles and the widow regulator in graphite or lithium type dry lubricant, soak the window tracks and plastic parts in silicone spray lubricant (take the door panels off). It will work fine after that. do not force the window cranks, you could damage something. get it cleaned up and lubricated and it will work fine.

[xirdneh]

if it sat for a long time the inside of the carb is probably crapped up
pour a tablespoon of gas in carb throat
if it fires up and dies its either fuel pump or crapped up carb

[dhally]

Woot! Lots of great suggestions already.

I'm not TOO concerned about it not starting - it was below freezing. It didn't sound like there was "no" compression when it cranked.

I

[Petros]

I once picked up a Tercel4wd that had not run for 4+ years in a very dry climate. the seller said the timing belt was broken, I brought parts and tools to fix it, but it would not start after I got it all together with new filters and fluids. You always start with basics with and unknown car that does not run, first check for spark and fuel supply. It had spark so fuel supply was suspect, spraying starter fluid down carb resulted in short time run, confirming no fuel to the carb (fuel gauge showed about 1/3 of a tank). Suspicious the fuel pump was bad, I pulled the supply line from the fuel pump and put it in a can of gasoline, it than started (with the help of starting fluid spray), and it kept running, so the pump was working but fuel was not getting to the fuel pump. I found the short lengths of rubber fuel line between the fuel filter and the metal fuel supply line on either side of the filter sucked air, so fuel was not coming from the fuel tank. These lines were dry and brittle with several cracks in them. I did have some extra fuel line so I replaced them and was able to drive to the gas station to fill it with fresh fuel, and inflate the tires.

I had never seen fuel line get brittle and crack like that, could have been the high altitude dry climate (it was in Grand Junction, Colorado). The point is to verify that the fuel lines are all good, as you know, eastern Washington can be very hot and dry in the summer, and very cold in the winter.

I than drove that $100 Tercel after I fixed it 4000 miles, over the Rockies to Denver (in January), than on to Austin Texas, than back to California and from there home to Washington. I had to replace a few more parts along the way home, but mostly it was a remarkable journey for a Tercel4wd that otherwise would have ended up in a wrecking yard crusher.

[dlb]

dhally, what the hell is your profile pic of??

[dhally]

dhally, what the hell is your profile pic of??

Lol, I found that picture by googling "hammerhead". Hammerhead is an attitude I have been accused of...