86 Tercel info help

[86 Tercel]

Hey i just got a 1986 Toyota Tercel Hatchback. I have found out that out that it has a 1.5 liter carborated inline 4 but thats about it. I was wondering stuff like whats the typical mpgs for this car what the hp and tq ratings. Also whats some easy ways to a little bit more power out of this car without spending to much money and that wont baddly hurt its mpg which is the main reason im gunna start diving this car. Also stuff like where to buy aftermarket parts for it beacuse i have a 99 blazer which is entirely different from this car so all the places i use generally dont carry stuff for this car. Another thing what is the bolt pattern for rims. Thanks for any info.

[FLtercel]

Hey 86,

Welcome to the wonderful world of tercel. I myself just bought a 89 Tercel coupe to use as my daily driver. I have both the Hayes and Chilton manuals at home and they both cover the 86. I can scan and email you anything you want to know. I'm not sure about the 86 but the 89 has 78hp. I installed a K&N air filter and replaced my entire exhaust system.....in the process I disconnected the air tube from the side of the CAT. It was a silly attempt for smog control in those days but didn't work too well. Anyway.....I notice a little more pep out of the engine and I'm getting between 32 and 33 mpg.....and that's on the stock 13" bicycle tires. I just ordered 15" rims with 195/50/15r tires.....the bolt pattern is 4x100. You really can't go wider than a 195 tire without modifications.

If there is anything I can help you with....let me know. So far I love the car.

Bob

[hevster1]

First off what is your VIN # first 6 letters/numbers. In early 86 they still made the old style tercel with the 3a engine. If you have one of those it is a relaible car. The later 86 with the 3e engine was one of the biggest crap cars they ever made. I made lots of money repairing them.
Parts wise use oem. Most of the time the parts are only slightly higher and sometimes they are the same price. The quality is Soooooooo much better though. Spark plug wise use ONLY NGK or ND. Do not use ANY other spark plug. Give them a light coat of anti-sieze on the threads before installation.
If you bought the 3e model do yourself a favor and get rid of it.

[icedsun]

Since you're a mechanic I'll definately take your word for it that the 3E engines were in for repair a lot... But somehow my 3E '86 Tercel went over 250k miles before the body rusted off completely and I had to junk her (whilst shedding a few tears...) It survived 3 separate accidents that totalled the car out (insurance paid it as a total loss each time and didn't even make us pay to keep the car each time.) It survived running 15 miles without ANY coolant in the system after a stupid teenage driver (me) ran over a parking cone that cracked the radiator... Yes, it ran pretty rough after that considering the head was cracked, but a little aluminum stop-leak fixed er up! It survived the timing belt breaking (around 140k miles) while I was driving at highway speed (I never replaced the timing belt other than that time it broke.) The only engine work EVER put into it was oil changes, air filter changes, 1 fuel filter change, changing some belts, spark plug changes, and the stuff mentioned above. Even until its death it still got between 30-35 mpg... So perhaps a few of them were built alright!

Oh, and this wouldn't be affected by the engine that was it it, but my favorite thing about that car was that you could turn the rear windshield washer fluid sprayer around so it squirted out at cars behind you when they got too close... and the rear wiper made a hand-waving motion if it was pulled away from the window and had one of those oversized giant hands attached.

[hevster1]

Originally Posted by icedsun

Since you're a mechanic I'll definately take your word for it that the 3E engines were in for repair a lot... But somehow my 3E '86 Tercel went over 250k miles before the body rusted off completely and I had to junk her (whilst shedding a few tears...) It survived 3 separate accidents that totalled the car out (insurance paid it as a total loss each time and didn't even make us pay to keep the car each time.) It survived running 15 miles without ANY coolant in the system after a stupid teenage driver (me) ran over a parking cone that cracked the radiator... Yes, it ran pretty rough after that considering the head was cracked, but a little aluminum stop-leak fixed er up! It survived the timing belt breaking (around 140k miles) while I was driving at highway speed (I never replaced the timing belt other than that time it broke.) The only engine work EVER put into it was oil changes, air filter changes, 1 fuel filter change, changing some belts, spark plug changes, and the stuff mentioned above. Even until its death it still got between 30-35 mpg... So perhaps a few of them were built alright!

Oh, and this wouldn't be affected by the engine that was it it, but my favorite thing about that car was that you could turn the rear windshield washer fluid sprayer around so it squirted out at cars behind you when they got too close... and the rear wiper made a hand-waving motion if it was pulled away from the window and had one of those oversized giant hands attached.

You are one of the few. I suspect you mostly did highway driving which does help. The t-belt was a non issue as until recently toyota had no interference engines. The carb was the problem on the 3E. The later EFI ones were far better.