Dead cylinder

My 1991 Tercel has a dead cylinder. The mechanic said that if I want to keep the car, I'd have to pay $1200 for a new engine. My decision is that I'm going to shop around for a used car, and sell this Tercel as soon as I have the new one. This car gave me good services for 4 years and half, so I don't regret to have bought it.

My question today is how long do you think I can still use it. It's shaking quite a bit at times, especially when I change speeds from 2 to 3, but has not died yet at idle.

Thanks for your help.

Reply to
mikesmith9999
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You can use it until the engine dies.or doesn't produce enough power to move the vehicle adequately. Unfortunately, it is impossible to tell without extensive diagnosis.

Reply to
Ray O

Thanks for the info. Is a car junkyard the only place where I could sell the car for the parts? Or can I visit a mechanic who might be interested in the parts?

Reply to
mikesmith9999

You've never said why your Tercel has a dead cylinder. Have you taken it to another mechanic for a 2nd opinion? $1200 USD seems to be a cheap price for a new engine, installed. Of course if you just want a reason to buy a new car, go for it and don't worry about justifying it to us.

Jack

Reply to
Retired VIP

"Retired VIP"...

Ray O" wrote:

I am finding myself agreeeing with this. Also, the best way to find out whether a mechanic might want if for parts would be to ask mechanics around you or put an ad in the paper. Tomes

Reply to
Tomes

Where are you? Mass will pay $500 for a running car that does NOT have OBDII.

Reply to
Hachiroku

Thanks for the info. Is a car junkyard the only place where I could sell the car for the parts? Or can I visit a mechanic who might be interested in the parts?

*************** I assumed that the mechanic is competent and honest, and since the mechanic is suggesting a new engine, the old one has a valve problem because a fuel delivery or ignition problem usually costs less to repair than the cost of replacing the engine.

As others have recommended, you can try placing an ad to see what the car is worth, either as a project car or for parts. Check edmunds.com or nada.com to get an idea of the value.

Reply to
Ray O

Aw, c'mon, Ray! A 12-valve 1.5L Tercel engine with a valve problem?!?!

Nah, not in a million years!! ;)

Reply to
Hachiroku

Between the 12 valve engine and electronic carburetor, I can think of better choices than that vintage Tercel!

Reply to
Ray O

That engine seems to be notorious for sucking a valve or two (well, usually just one, for some reason!)

If the OP can get it to pass emissions, I'd just run it into the ground.

Reply to
Hachiroku

They had a nasty habit of sucking on a valve. This was a 12-valve engine, and IIRC the second or third cylinder gets a stuck valve a lot.

Something like the similar problem that kills 3.0L 4-Runner V6s...

Reply to
Hachiroku

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Happened to #3 on my 92 in '99. Got the head repaired but it burnt quite a bit of oil from that point on. Did get 6 more years ( 30,000 miles ) out of it by keeping up w\ oil level & changing oil regularly. It was a good commuter car for running errands \ sitting on parking lots while carts & cars ran into it. Good mileage & peppy. Ray, I think the era Tercel the OP has was fuel injected, not carb. dc

Reply to
doncee

I think you're right about the OP's fuel injection, which is much more reliable than the electronic carb.

Reply to
Ray O

You're correct, this 1991 Tercel uses fuel-injection. The ealier Tercel editions used carb-injection.

The car is using much more gas now. And for the first time, I had problems starting up the engine today. As someone suggested, I can run it into the ground, but it's going to cost a lot more in gas.

Reply to
mikesmith9999

Someone advised to have a mecanich to remove a cable going to the dead cylinder to reduce the increased gas consumption due to the dead cylinder. Is this correct?

Reply to
mikesmith9999

You can try disconnecting the wire to the fuel injector for the dead cylinder so it is not spraying fuel into the dead cylinder.

Reply to
Ray O

That's not going to help much. You'll still be getting whatever compression is happening in that cylinder, only now you're not even attempting to burn off the gas.

If you remove the plug you'll get cited for noise violations.

I'd drive it as best I could for as long as I could...

Reply to
Hachiroku

I did not know it would make more noise.

I'm seeing another mecanich today to get a second opinion. We'll unplug the wire and I'll check how much noise it's making.

Going from 0km/h to 40km/h is getting harder and it's making more noise than usual in between those speeds.

Reply to
mikesmith9999

The second mechanic did not confirm that it is a dead cylinder. He verified that there is no pressure in the cylinder. He said he could work on it and it would cost $800 at best. I can live with the problem for now. I'm just going to keep going with it until the last meter.

Reply to
mikesmith9999

I did not know it would make more noise.

I'm seeing another mecanich today to get a second opinion. We'll unplug the wire and I'll check how much noise it's making.

Going from 0km/h to 40km/h is getting harder and it's making more noise than usual in between those speeds.

**************** The noise that Hachiroku was describing is if you remove the spark plug from the cylinder, not just the spark plug wire.

Removing the spark plug wire won't gain you anything and could cause problems with the ignition or electrical system.

The only thing you can unplug that might save you some fuel is to disconnect the wire from the fuel injector, although I doubt if you will be able to discern any fuel savings.

Reply to
Ray O

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