Repir Quesstion: Should I???

[87terc4me]

I just got this 84 for $800 last Saturday.

Tercel_84_1.jpg

I drove it for a few days and now the engine is shot. Everything is in great shape, new clutch, struts, shocks, water pump, etc. Just wanted opinions, would anyone put another $1000 of so to have a "good used" Japanese engine put into it? Just trying to put my mind at ease here.

Thanks....

[Neu]

Why not grab a junkyard motor? Mine's working great for 6000 miles so far. it runs beautifully, and should only cost 300 or so. You can do that yourself, so no extra costs really.

[87terc4me]

I'm a house painter, not a mechanic. I've tried it before, and not much, other than simple stuff like alt change or the fuel pump ever works out real well.....

[ARCHINSTL]

If there is rust, it isn't evident from your pix. Ditto with body damage.
While not too relevant - nice wheels, too.

How much is gas in LA? Think about it...
While most of us may be slightly less than objective - I'm sure most would go for it, at least based on your description and pix.
How much is gas in LA? Think about it...
Tom M.

[87terc4me]

Gas is about 3.60 a gallon. The wheels are cool, and they seem to have lifted it about 1-1 1/2 inches, too. There is NO rust. It was bought in Cerritos, a city a little south of Los Angeles, and has been in SoCal it's whole life. Looking like I'm gonna fix it.....

[xirdneh]

I just got this 84 for $800 last Saturday.

Tercel_84_1.jpg

I drove it for a few days and now the engine is shot. Everything is in great shape, new clutch, struts, shocks, water pump, etc. Just wanted opinions, would anyone put another $1000 of so to have a "good used" Japanese engine put into it? Just trying to put my mind at ease here.

Thanks....

i have place wanted ads for broken tercels (usually bad trannys)
salvaged several engines with around 125,000 miles on them
exellent results

[keith]

Yes you should. But do not get one of those JDM (Japanese domestic market) engines. I have used a JDM transmission with good luck, but I used to live in Japan and I'll tell you, a 4 year old engine with 40k miles on it is well worn out. Traffic is very hard on engines over there.

Junkyard engines, especially for a car this old is a crap shoot. You might get a good one, you might not. This car looks like it deserves a good reman engine, recommend a 4AC instead of a 3AC.

[Petros]

I do this kind of work myself because this big of a job can cause trouble for you when a repair shop attempts it (they try to do it as fast as possible). If they are reputable they will sort out the problems until it runs good, but it is still a hassle for you. There are few repair shops that do whole rebuilds or engine swap-outs anymore because of this.

If you have a shop with a good rep it might be worth the risk. That is if you can find a good shop that is willing to swap an engine of unknown quality for a fixed price (they might tell you $1000, but end up charging you $1800 by the time you are done for all the "new parts" they did not anticipate). I doubt any shop that wants to stay in business would even want to do that.

Here is the real question, if you where buying from someone else, what would you pay for that car with a replacement engine already in it?

Or conversely, what would you have to pay for a newer car with all the same features with less miles on it? Most newer cars cost a lot more than you would have into this after you fix it, and none of the newer AWD cars get as good economy as the 4wd Tercel.

When I do the work myself I can do it much less expensively and it is tough to justify buying a newer car, and I could not get what I have in the 4wd Tercel in terms of economy and utility. However if I had to pay others to do the repairs, I likely would buy a new car with less major work that needs to be done. It is a tough decision if you have to pay the full cost of repairs, not easy to do. You must compare repair cost with replacement cost.

OTOH, if you like the car and do not care about the cost to fix it (and you can afford it), just do it and do not second guess yourself. You did it just because you like the car, that is all the reason you need.

Of course if the body and seats are in good shape these little cars may eventually have some collector value since they are becoming less common. But I would not count on it.

[MootsMan]

Did I miss it, or did you say how many miles it has on it ?? I personally would tell you to fix it up, working on these cars isn't all that difficult, and there are some good resources to guide you through it. BUT, if you decide to get rid of it, let me know and I'll come out and get it !

[4wdchico]

Just wondering what happened that makes you think it is shot? If it threw a rod out the oil pan, sure it's RIP time. These engines can have problems that result in smoking and oil burning that can lead one to believe it is done for when it is not.

I'd be curious enough to give your engine situation a think unless you are really sure it is gone.

[splatterdog]

Just to keep my opinion in perspective, I'm a mechanic, not a painter. $1000 could be spent lots worse towards a car if you can't/won't change it yourself. If it's a great car(duh) and in other wise great shape keep it going!

Or better yet. Bring it up here to the rust belt for me. I'll give it a not so good home

[My84terc]

Just wondering what happened that makes you think it is shot? If it threw a rod out the oil pan, sure it's RIP time. These engines can have problems that result in smoking and oil burning that can lead one to believe it is done for when it is not.

I'd be curious enough to give your engine situation a think unless you are really sure it is gone.

I had to change my account, my old username didn't work anymore!!
The person that had it before had the head rebuilt with almost 250,000 on it. It started making loud noises on the bottom end, the compression went down to below 80 on all cylinders, and the air cleaner was FULL on oil.

I got the engine replaced, and the car still has no power going uphills. I am going to look at all the vacuum lines, because if I pull off the hoses going to the distributor, the idle does not change. In fact, it's a little rougher with them hooked up. I'm thinking the timing is not being advanced. Anyone else have any idea why it would have no power on hills or even acceleration?

The car had the same problem before the engine replacement. They did a long block change, so there's still my old carb, distributor, etc.

[takza]

Dist diaphragms leaking? Poor power due to wrong ignit timing?

[jetswim]

Yeah, it sounds like a timing issue.

[My84terc]

There are three attachments on the bottom of the distributor to put hoses. Only two are attached to the hoses that come from the metal tubing running by the valve cover. I just found the vacuum diagrams in the repair section, and I have a California car. So the middle one on the distributor goes to the HAC that I don't have, so should it just be capped off?