What year Tercel do I buy.

[Manspaz]

I bought a Tercel from a buddy for $100 that he got for some trade work. Trying to find out what year it is. The door tag says Feb 1984. It had an 86 Tercel manual in the glove box. It’s an automatic with push button 4wd and cruise control. Thought the internet said 84 came with a dash gauges and and a 4wd shift lever. Main reason I’m confirming the year is it seams like either the starter is bad. It won’t spin or even click when I turn the key, any help or info about what I bought or possible issues for lack of starter function.

[dlb]

If the door tag says it was made in February 1984, it's an 84. I think the starters are the same for all Tercel wagons though, both 2wd and 4wd.

The dash gauges and 4wd shifter have nothing to do with the year. The gauge cluster with tachometer came in the SR5 (aka nicer trim package) models, and not in the DLX (aka base trim package) ones. And the 4wd shift lever was only on the manual transmissions. Automatics like yours have push-button 4wd like you noted.

Welcome to the forum! Tons of good information here.

[Mark]

First I'd check that the battery isn't dead. If it shows around 12+ v on a meter, then it should be ok. Then I'd check the connections on the battery and make sure they are tight and not corroded. If that's all good, then one thing with the automatics is that the transmission selector has to be in Park or Neutral for the engine to start, so make sure it's not in Drive or anything. If all that is good then you have to dig deeper into the wiring and relays and fuses. There is a small wire on the bottom of the starter with a plastic connecter that often breaks and then that wire pops out (it's the starter solenoid wire). If it's disconnected the starter solenoid won't click.

[Manspaz]

Thanks guys. It was the starter, spins over fast now. After clearing fuel lines and tank she runs pretty good excepti assume front diff is shredded. After got it running last night put it in gear on the lift and grinding in the front. Rear wheels spin when in 4wd. Any advice on tracking down a front diff assembly

[dlb]

If one of the CV axles is blown, that will also cause a lack of drive to the front wheels. So I would inspect those before writing off the front diff. If you need an axle, DO NOT buy anything remanufactured. Most of the are junk. Rock Auto has several new axles that are decent, although I think people have had bad experiences with Cardone so beware of them.

All that said, did you check the gear oil level when you got the car? It's critically important to do because if these transmissions are run low on oil (the trans and diff share the same fluid in the manual trans) it's curtains for the trans, and there are no replacement parts available for them. Usually the diff will survive a low oil situation though so here's hoping it's just a CV axle.

[Mark]

Thanks guys. It was the starter, spins over fast now. After clearing fuel lines and tank she runs pretty good excepti assume front diff is shredded. After got it running last night put it in gear on the lift and grinding in the front. Rear wheels spin when in 4wd. Any advice on tracking down a front diff assembly

Before trying to source a new differential, take off the diff cover and look for damage. It might be fine. On the automatics, there's a splined coupling between the output shaft of the transmission and the differential. It's internal so you can't access it unless you remove the trans and disassemble it. On my auto 4wd wagon, the splines on this coupling sheared years ago and there was that horrible grinding noise when it was in Drive. It drove fine when I switched to 4WD since it was then basically a rear wheel drive car. If the differential looks fine internally and the splines on the CV drive shafts are fine then this is probably your problem.