Heater / Wiper Nut / Electrical Short

[papa smurf]

You guys have always been dead-on so far...and the Winter's coming so some things need fixin

-Wiper Nut: I have the wiper arm, and the pivot mechanism seems to work. But I don't have the nut to attach the arm to the car. Any idea what this is called or where I can get it?

-Heater: The heater doesn't work. More investigation to follow, but we think it may be the tstat? Oil Temp indicator has never gone past halfway. Air blows and dampers move fine, but the air temp never changes. (AC doesn't work either).

-Electrical Short: I am going through major electrical issues. New battery and IC. Alternator looks new and checks out at 13.8V. When car is off, Vdrop across all fuses is 0. So there must be a short somewhere? I know it's something I'm gonna have to troubleshoot, but was wondering where you guys had electrical problems before?

[Petros]

Wiper NUt: If you do not have a wrecking yard handy, the local auto parts store should have something close enough to work (take the other into the store to match it).

Heater: two things to check, remove the glove box (two philips screws) and than remove the plastic duct behind it and inspect inside the blower duct and the heater core compartment. Sometimes you can get a lot of leaves, or even a mouse nest inside. Clean it all out of course. If that is clear, you might want to flush out your core. Do it from the heater hoses, open the heat valve and after back flushing with a hose (I do it into a bucket to see what I might catch, sometimes you get metal shavings or crap from a failed pump). Use hose clamps to make a tight seal with the hose, make sure you flusing it backwards (the hose that comes off the back of the head is the intake line, the one that goes to the back of the water pump through a long metal tube is the suction line). IF that is clear than fill the heater core with a vingar/water mix, or diet coke, and let it sit overnight and flush it out. That should remove any scale.

Electrical short: try putting an amp meter between the positive cable and the battery to see if you are getting a draw, if not the batter is bad (even new ones can be bad). If so try removing one fuse at a time until you find one that stops the draw. If that does not find it it is between the fuse box and the battery, so you can start narrowing it down from there.

Good luck.

[4wdchico]

No heat: Since it is a really good idea to have a new tstat once in a awhile, slap a a new one in it. Get one from the dealer, you will see the difference once you have it in your hand. Let us know if it makes any difference.

Please give some details on the electrical issues. Are you blowing fuses, fuseable links or having electrical fires? Those are the results possible with electrical short circuits. Or is something electrical not working, that is usually caused by open circuits.

[takza]

That wiper arm nut is a special shape...I'd say junkyard...it is soft steel so you have to go easy on it.

Heater...try manually adjusting the heater valve...cable might be out of adjustment.

[papa smurf]

Thanks for the quick replies guys!

Wiper Nut: My local junkyards don't have any tercels before 1986. Autozone does not have the nut, and the old dude who is usually knowledgeable had never seen one.

Heater: Due to the electrical issues this will take a bit of time to get to. I'll check the duct, adjust the valve, and install a new Tstat right off the bat and let you guys know how that progresses.

Electrical: I have gotten a little further on this. To answer your questions: Battery is new, charges to about 12.75V from alternator, and stabalizes to about 12.5V when I remove the positive lead (this is what I have been doing overnight.) No blown fuses or Fusable Links.

It started when driving to the airport. I flipped the Env. Control to Defrost for the first time since I've owned the car. 10 min. later, i started noticing these problems which were very similar to when my Voltage Regulator went bad. The radio would fade out and lights would dim when I let off the gas. Put the foot down, car came back to life.

If I left the car for more than 30 minutes, the battery would be drained. I would go to start it, and it just would not turn over, and the last of the juice would go. I remembered the defroster thing and turned it back to "cool". Immediate difference. The car can now sit for about 6 hrs and will start back up. I've deduced there is a short on the defroster.

But when I went to start the car after letting it sit overnight the next night(13 hrs), I noticed the battery Voltage had dropped down to 12.30V from 12.58V. The car once again could not start. It had started the previous day at 12.37V. Stands to reason there was another short, and the compounding of this short and the defroster short caused my problems.

Since then, I unplugged 3 fuses.
1) The clock: because I was removing it, dropped it, and lost it behind the foot pedal.
2) The Radio: Because it was the first sign of the problem and is aftermarket so a likely loose connection.
3) The 10 amp Env. Cooling fuse behind the glove box: Because my compressor isn't connected to the belt anyway.

I just checked my battery after sitting 6 hrs and it is holding a charge at 12.57V. I will let it sit overnight and if it starts tomorrow I'm good. The next night I will put the radio fuse back in to see if the drain is on the radio line.

Sorry for the blog. Does this all seem feasable? Honestly, I don't know dick about cars and this is my attempt to learn.

[Petros]

Good job on the electrical. That is about what anyone can do, try to narrow it down by elimination. You are on the right track.

The wiper nut: these are the same a lot of models and years of Toyotas, not just '84 Tercel. Check any Tercel and Corolla wiper nut from late 1980s, possibly even early '90s, you should find one that works (even if not exactly the same style).

Good luck.

[Snax]

Heat: Do yourself a favor and back-flush at the same time as the thermostat replacement - unless you want to drain and refill the coolant again when the thermostat doesn't cure the problem. Even with a faulty thermostat, there should normally be some heat through a good flowing heater core. I back-flushed mine and it made all the difference, going from barely lukewarm at high heat to being too hot to sustain even in freezing temps. I wish my 94 Ford Escort provided as much heat - and it is supposedly performing to spec.