Greetings from Alabama

[Teena]

New member here, from North Alabama. Own a '94 Tercel, which I bought less than a year ago. She's a beater, been wrecked and on fire, from the looks of it, but ran like I scalded dog when I bought her from my long time mechanic, who ONLY works on imports. It was his shop car for three years, so when I bought it, I knew it would be a decent car, since he'd been driving it so long.

I'm a pizza delivery driver by trade, so my car is critical to making a living! Unfortunately, last week I developed a sudden and pretty significant oil leak. This week, on Tues., it started trying to overheat. After two days of doing various things to it (flushing, cleaning, and refilling the radiator, replacing the radiator cap and thermostat, and some other things), it appears that, even though the temp gauge didn't up into the red zone, it still overheated enough to blow the head gasket. So, for the third day this week, I sit at home, worrying about getting the car fixed and paying for it, instead of delivering pizza and making money!

So here I am, seeking info about my Toyo Tur. Good to be here. I;m a member of another similar site, Prelude Power, because I also own a '91 Honda Prelude (my second Prelude) which also has some serious problems I am attempting to diagnose, since I can't afford the trial and error method of mechanics~at least not when I'm paying parts AND labor!! That's how I knew to seek out a Toyota Forum for my problems with that! I LOVE these forums and have learned an incredible amount from the one's I've used. I hope to do the same here!

Thanks and I look forward to hearing from you all! I'll probably describe my efforts in a blog, since writing helps me deal with, and understand, things going on in my life! Hopefully it won't ALL be full of doom and gloom and despair! ha ha I know that's a joke, when it comes to me and my vehicles! Since I prefer, and can only afford, older used vehicles, I'm constantly doing some type of research, repair, and/or maintenance on one of my rides! But I'm sure I'll meet some interesting folks on my journey, and learn a lot!!

[wolverine10]

welcome to the forum!

[Teena]

Well thank you so much Wolverine10, I appreciate the welcome. Been working on the Toyo Tur's new problem for two days~today will be day three. After the stuff done to her yesterday, and the way she runs, along with her symptoms, it appears as if the head gasket is blown!

That really sucks! I mean, it didn't even get THAT hot, at least not according to the tegauge/idiot lights! Guess that's why they call 'em idiot lites!?!?!? So, on the advice of several of my guy friends, today I am gonna get some head and engine block sealer stuff ~ Liquid Glass !~~! and try that. Hopefully that will work, cuz if not, I'm gonna be screwed!!

Anybody have ANY idea ~~ ballpark ~~ what it costs to replace a head gasket in a Toyo Tur?? It's a '94. I know one thing! It's gotta be WAY, WAY, WAY easier to change on the Toyo Tur than the Prelude, no question about that! In the Toyo Tur, you can at least get it!
Afraid it's gonna be in the $700 range, which is NOT a good thing! If that's the case, I've got a hard decision to make..... I only paid $1000 for the car, in the first place, so how much money do I want to put into it, you know???

Possible choices:
1) Replace the head gasket.-Gasket kit = $70; Labor = $?? more than I can truly afford!
2) Replace the head~The junkyard has two heads for it at $100 each.
3) Repair the Prelude and sell the Toyo Tur. (No idea what's wrong with the Prelude, been working on that one for almost (or over!) a year now.....)
4)Sell the Toyo Tur for what I can get and put it towards another beater.
5)Sell the Toyo Tur and the Prelude and but a slightly nicer beater.

NO freaking idea what I'm gonna do if it's the head gasket or, worse yet, the head itself! I'm assuming the head in Toyo Tur are aluminum, as in my Preludes. Is that correct???

Free free to put in your two cents worth and let me know what YOU think..... Doesn't mean I'll take your advice, but I will absolutely take it under consideration and give it serious thought. Unless it's just crazy that is! Then I['ll probably do itl