Hello, I just bought a tercel wagon and it runs great. Only 162,000 miles on a 1985. I love it already, but it is idling erraticly. Almost dies, then revs itself up. Once it is warmed it dies while idling. It is also hard to start, must pump it alot. It also is a bit lurchy in parking lots at low speeds when not touching the gas. I assume this is all related to the idle. I just sold my toyota pickup and never had any of these problems so am a bit iritated by my new toyota. Is this a carb problem? I had to borrow a $1000 to buy this car and am now broke so am hoping for some cheap options. Thank you.

Alot of the time the idle circuit gets dirt in it. There are a couple of ways to try and remedy it.
Try switching #2 and #3 plug wires. Start it up and rev it up so it back fires through the carb.(remove the air cleaner top and filter.
Let it backfire 1/2 a dozen times.
Another thing you could try is to suck the dirt through the carb by reving it up quite high and covering the top of the carb with your hand to choke it off.(its easier to do this with the whole air cleaner off and the big hose to the white valve plugged)
Keep the throttle open so that it sucks fuel instead of air.
Lift your hand off before it stalls and keep reving it up. Do 3 or 4 times.
If it runs better then you know that the idle circuit is the problem.
If it works it might just last for awhile, or along time.
You probably eventually will have to have the carb cleaned.
Hope this helps.