1986 Tercel 4x4 (3AC Engine)

Hello Everyone:

My Toyota started to lose horsepower and pickup over about a week period. It caught me in a surprise situation, so I was unable to get a diagnosis as the first symptom appeared.

It all started by the car not pulling uphill well. Instead of going uphill and holding 60 mph it was reduced to 45-50 mph. From there it was a continuous degradation of performance.

The only way I was able to get any RPM's out of it was to choke the carburetor by cupping my hands over it and gradually letting air in. After I was able to get RPM's, I had to hold them with the throttle, when the RPM's got bellow 2 thousand the engine seemed to delay when the pedal was applied quickly. When the gasoline pedal was floored the engine non-responsive and wanted to stall.

The Tercel, at idle, was very rough, sometimes it was possible to get the engine to rev when applying the gasoline pedal very slowly and smoothly. When driving the Tercel in this degraded state it would pull out of a complete stop on about half power, like I said, once over 2 thousand RPM's the engine appeared to have some pickup.

When removing the original carburetor I noticed that gasoline was puddling in the intake manifold, I cleaned the gasoline out and applied new mounting gaskets. Same symptoms.

I have tried a second carburetor from the junkyard and the same symptoms appear. With both carburetors the intake manifold was flooded.

Here is what I changed in hopes of fixing the ailment:

1) The majority of the vacuum hoses/tested all hoses 2) Carburetor/Mounting Gaskets

As of now, the Tercel does not want to start on its own.

An unofficial local mechanic checked the timing belt, which was apparently in good condition.

A second unofficial mechanic checked the spark of the spark plugs and said the spark was weak and suggested the coil in the distributor and to disassemble one of the carburetors and check the float level. I have not entered into either venture.

I would sure appreciate and helpful hints/suggestion/insight into this problem. I am unable to drive the Tercel to a shop and would prefer not to have it towed because of monetary reasons.

Reply to
Ken LaCroix
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The spark and float level checks sound good. On the side of the carb there should be a sight glass, with a mark. The fuel level should be at that mark. If it is above or below, you'll have to adjust the float. Unfortunately, I don't know how...

Reply to
Hachiroku

If gas is pooling in the intake manifold, I would not be leaning over the carb! A backfire would be very painful. Also, if gas is pooling in the carb, "choking it" is the last thing that should work.

How did you test the hoses? Did you measure vacuum at idle?

Have you checked the air filter?

How about the gasket between the intake manifold and head?

Even a weak spark will not cause gas to pool in the intake manifold. Check the float level, it takes 2 seconds.

Reply to
Ray O

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