Toyota Starlet EP91: common faults & what to check

You're looking at the EP91

Everything below is narrowed to this variant. Pick a different one to change it.

1996–1999EP91 Selected1996–1999EP91Engine not documented for this generationEngine not documentedDocumented issues6 knownSee faults & what to checkPhoto: OSX via Wikimedia Commons, Public domain.

Now narrow it to the engine

A 1.8 and a 2.4 of the same car do not fail the same way, so the faults below narrow to the engine as well as the year. Free, no account needed.

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.

• 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