Check Engine Light Is On...Need Help

OK, my parents have a 92 tercel 2 door 4 cylinder 4 speed manual and 147,000 miles and for the last 2 weeks or so the check engine light has been on, It runs fine, but you can notice some power loss when you punch the gas,and when the car is warm, it has a very rough idle, you can hear a slight squeak from the engine and a sputter from the exhaust, we thought it was the oxygen sensor and we replaced it, and that wasnt it, and it has a brand new timing belt, does anyone know the problem?

Also, when the car is started, a puff of white smoke comes out of the exhaust and looks like oil burning so we think it might be a seal or valve or something going out and leaking oil into the exhaust? any help is appreciated, thanx

Do a compression check to see if all of your seals are good.

just my 2 cents

common problem with the 3EE engine in the Tercel

Your valve stem seals are going bad and letting oil in to the intake.
The oil clogs the egr valve and egr passage in the intake manifold and the EGR stops functioning correctly, giving you the Check engine light and rough idle.
The white smoke is oil being burned and coming out the exhaust. The only solution is a rebuild cylinder head or whole engine.

And clean out the EGR valve and intake manifold when you do that

common problem with the 3EE engine in the Tercel

Your valve stem seals are going bad and letting oil in to the intake.
The oil clogs the egr valve and egr passage in the intake manifold and the EGR stops functioning correctly, giving you the Check engine light and rough idle.
The white smoke is oil being burned and coming out the exhaust. The only solution is a rebuild cylinder head or whole engine.

And clean out the EGR valve and intake manifold when you do that

Go ahead anb buy you a can of carb cleaner. Make sure when you take off the egr valve(reallyeasy) that you also make sure you get the carbon out of the intake where it is bloted.There are two holes there to clean in the intake. I had to take a scewdriver and pry all the junk out of mine. It will run without the egr while you are cleaning but it sounds like a gocart. If there is no difference in the sound when you do take the egr off you know the two holes are clogged.

Go ahead anb buy you a can of carb cleaner. Make sure when you take off the egr valve(reallyeasy) that you also make sure you get the carbon out of the intake where it is bloted.There are two holes there to clean in the intake. I had to take a scewdriver and pry all the junk out of mine. It will run without the egr while you are cleaning but it sounds like a gocart. If there is no difference in the sound when you do take the egr off you know the two holes are clogged.
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Know where can I locate this EGR? I have 92 Tercel and have the same problem with Engine light on and same symptoms like mentioned in this thread.
Thanks for the Help!

It is on the passenger side at the end of the intake. It will have two small hoses on top and one big hose at the bottom. 2 10mm bolts hold it to the intake. Don't loose the 2 metal gaskets. poke around with a small screwdriver on the intake after removing the EGR to make sure the two ports going in to the intake are not all clogged up with carbon. One way to see if those two ports are clogged up is to remove the EGR and crank the car up and see if it still runs smooth. If it doesn't run like crap then those two ports are all clogged up. How many miles do you have on the car?

[quote=gator2764]It is on the passenger side at the end of the intake. ..........

It has 108K miles now. Still I am not sure if I recognize this. Do you have a pic or a link where I can see a picture of 1992 Tercel EGR? I had tried the net but could not find any picture for 92. I have seen some for other Make and model but can't find some thing that looks any thing close to what I have seen so far for my 92 Tercel.
By the way, the engine light has gone now. I did some carb. cleaning with spray and cleaned up spark plugs. Light went off 2 days later. I still do want to find EGR and clean that as well.
Thanks for your help though!

If I can find a way to post a picture from Alldata.com I will. If not I will just send it to you. The CEL light will go off after cleaning but will come back on after 30 or so miles if you don't clean EVERYTHING in the egr system out. The ports going into the intake!!!!
108K is not bad. I did a partial rebuild at 197k since the car was going through a quart of oil every 300 miles. Valve guide seals were history and the oil rings were completly collapsed. The good news was that the rest of the engine was in really good shape for the milage. I now don't have to add any oil between changes,every 3K.

Well, I can't post attachments so if you want me to send a picture juast send me an email so I can reply back to you. After you figure out what needs to be taken off and cleaned it is really an easy fix. 2 nuts and 3 vacume hoses I think. Takes about 30 minutes including spraying everything with some carb cleaner and digging out all of the carbon deposits. Just don't soak the diaghram in the carb cleaner. You might want to get some Q-tips to clean in the holes you will see after you remove it.