Toyota Starlet: common faults & what to check

Which Toyota Starlet are you looking at?

2 generation variants documented. Pick the shape you recognise: the faults, the servicing and the timeline below all narrow to it. Free, no account needed.

Engine not documented

2 variants documented

1989–1996EP821989–1996EP82Engine not documented for this generationEngine not documentedDocumented issues6 knownSee faults & what to checkPhoto: 328cia via Wikimedia Commons, Public domain.

1996–1999EP911996–1999EP91Engine not documented for this generationEngine not documentedDocumented issues6 knownSee faults & what to checkPhoto: OSX via Wikimedia Commons, Public domain.

Start your free check on this Toyota Starlet

No plate needed. You get the risk score, the buyer's checklist and the guided inspection for the exact car you picked above — not the whole nameplate.

The checks worth doing on a Toyota Starlet before you hand over any money. Every documented fault is listed below, each with its own page.

• Serious issue

  With the engine stone cold, take the radiator cap off and look at the coolant — clean and coloured is good, brown, oily or rusty is not.

  See why

  4E-FTE turbo cars: neglected cooling ends in a head gasket or a cooked turbo

  On the turbocharged Starlet GT and Glanza the cooling system is what kills the engine, not the turbo itself. A stuck thermostat, a tired radiator cap, a leaking plastic radiator tank or a coked-up turbo oil feed all end at the same place — an overheated head, a blown head gasket, or a turbo that has seized. Owner communities describe head gasket failure as the single most common reason a Glanza gets broken up. Boost added without attention to the cooling and fuelling brings it on much faster. Any turbo Starlet with a history of running hot should be treated as needing a head off, and priced accordingly.

  What you would notice

  • Temperature gauge climbing above its normal position in traffic
  • White smoke or a sweet smell from the exhaust
  • Mayonnaise-coloured sludge under the oil filler cap
  • Bubbles in the coolant header tank with the engine running
  • Whining or blue smoke from the turbo on start-up

  Typically $1,800–$4,500 to put right.

• Serious issue

  Ask to see the invoice for the last timing belt and read the date on it, not just the kilometres.

  See why

  4E-FE / 4E-FTE timing belt failure — interference engine

  Every Starlet in this range uses a rubber timing belt, and both the normal 4E-FE and the turbocharged 4E-FTE are interference engines: if the belt breaks, the valves hit the pistons and you are looking at a cylinder head rebuild at best. Toyota's original interval was 100,000 km or five years, and on a car that is now decades old the five years matters far more than the kilometres. Belts are cheap and the job is routine; the risk is entirely that nobody can tell you when it was last done. If there is no invoice, assume it is overdue.

  What you would notice

  • No timing belt invoice or sticker anywhere in the paperwork
  • Rattle or rumble from the front of the engine at idle
  • Squeal on cold start-up from the belt area
  • Coolant weep near the timing cover — the water pump is on the same belt

  Typically $450–$900 to put right.

• Costly issue

  Walk around in daylight and look along each side at a low angle — bubbling under the paint on the sills and arch lips shows up best that way.

  See why

  Sill, rear arch, floorpan and strut-tower rust on ageing imports

  The Starlet is a light, thin-panelled 1990s import and rust is now the thing that writes them off rather than any mechanical fault. The known spots are the sills, the rear wheel arch lips, the floorpans under the carpet, the mounts where the rear beam bolts to the body, and the front strut towers. Rust at the rear beam mounts or the strut towers is structural and will fail a WOF; bubbling arches and sills are cosmetic until they are not. Filler and fresh paint over a previous repair are common on these cars, so look for evidence of repair as carefully as you look for rust itself.

  What you would notice

  • Bubbling paint along the bottom of the doors and rear arches
  • Paint that does not quite match between panels, or overspray in the door shuts
  • Damp or musty carpet in the footwells
  • Flaking metal visible around the rear suspension mounts

  Typically $800–$4,000 to put right.

• Costly issue

  Find a quiet straight road, wind the window down and turn the stereo off, then listen at around fifty and again at eighty.

  See why

  Front wheel bearing wear — a hum that rises with speed and changes on a curve

  Front wheel bearings are one of the two things owners of these cars mention most, alongside the gearbox. They are a wear item on a car now decades old, and on a small light car the noise is easy to dismiss as tyre roar. Left alone, a dry bearing eventually develops enough play to affect steering and wear the tyre unevenly, and at the extreme it can seize. The check costs nothing and the repair is cheap by any standard, so this is one to identify and negotiate rather than one to walk away from.

  What you would notice

  • A humming or droning that gets louder as speed rises
  • The noise changes pitch or volume when you steer gently left and right at speed
  • Uneven wear across one front tyre
  • A faint rumble you can feel through the floor or the wheel

  Typically $200–$650 to put right.

• Common issue

  Ask for the car to be left unstarted so you get the cold start yourself.

  See why

  Blocked idle air control valve — stalls at the lights, hunts when cold

  A rough or hunting idle on these cars is very often the idle air control valve, which gets gummed up with carbon and oil mist over the years and can no longer meter the small amount of air the engine needs when your foot is off the throttle. The result is an idle that surges up and down, a car that stalls as you come to a stop, and a cold start that will not settle. It is a cheap and common fix, but it is worth knowing about because a stalling car feels like a much bigger problem than it usually is on this model, and sellers often do not know what causes it.

  What you would notice

  • Idle speed rising and falling on its own at a standstill
  • Stalls as you slow to a stop or pull the clutch in
  • Will not hold a steady fast idle when cold
  • Needs a touch of throttle to keep running when first started

  Typically $120–$550 to put right.

What these repairs cost on other cars

Some of the Toyota Starlet’s documented faults are repairs other models share. Each page lists the documented NZ cost for every model it affects.

• Cambelt Replacement Cost
• Head Gasket Repair Cost

Other Toyota models