Bying a new car battery for the Starlet

I need a new car battery for the Starlet. Which one to choose?

In my car there were an old Biltema 44 ah mounted. The size:
Lxbxh
207,5x175x195 mm (Heigh 19,5 cm )
You could probably fit a battery a little longer, perhaps 227 mm (measure your self!)

In this post I just gather what I´ve comed across. Its a bit messy but anyway, here goes..


Found a test here: Testfakta review
Banner Power Bull P6205 test winner
Bosch S4 consumes very little water. Very good capacity, but takes a little longer to recharge.
Tudor - Good performance
Biltema - Good starting ability but worse capacity. High waterconsumption and cheapest.

Totatbetyg means Total grade

Since Banner Power Bull got a good grade in this test I checked them out and found that they had a size that would fit the Toyota Starlet. Picture from Technical data sheet. You find it here.

Found a seller in Bromma Stockholm SGA.

However it´s an Calcium battery which makes me suspicious..

"The next stage has dominated on a wide front in recent years and is called Calcium-Calcium. This involves the antimony on both the negative and positive plates being replaced by calcium alloy. The benefits are obvious. The fluid loss of the battery is about 80 % lower than that of antimony batteries and the self-discharge is lower, i.e. they can remain unused for longer periods without losing a lot of their charge. The disadvantage is that they are more demanding when charging if they have been over-discharged." source: http://www.driverstechnology.co.uk/car-batteries.htm

"Lead calcium batteries fail more rapidly than Antimonial lead alloy batteries due to rapid corrosion of the positive plate in hotter under bonnet temperatures. Lead calcium batteries are also prone to grid growth and cracking which in turn leads to premature battery failure. Here the structure and shape of the positive battery plate changes causing cracking and the shedding of active material, again this is accelerated in higher perating temperatures." source: http://www.centurybatteries.com.au/content/documents/battery-talk/issue-1-battery-talk-what-are-silvercalcium-batter.pdf

Two batteries that should fit.

1045 Swedish crones at Mekonomen.

Technical datasheet from http://www.batteriexpressen.se/dokument/Bosch%20S4002.pdf

Picture from: https://se.bosch-automotive.com/sv/parts_and_accessories_6/service_parts_6/batteries_12/s3_s4_s5_4/s3_s4_s5_1

Picture from: https://se.bosch-automotive.com/sv/parts_and_accessories_6/service_parts_6/batteries_12/s3_s4_s5_4/s3_s4_s5_1

Swedol sells global, but quite expensive.

Screen shot from: http://www.swedol.se/startbatterier-global-automotive-12v.html

Global manufactures OKQ8:s batteri.

Varta 44ah and 52ah

Screen shot from: http://www.batteriexpressen.se/brand.html/varta-bilbatteri-startbatteri

Autoexperteren, Omformargatan 2

Screenshot from autoexperten: https://www.autoexperten.se/varumarken/varta/

Lägg till bildtext

Lägg till bildtext

An evan better alternative? also autoexperten:
No the plus was on the wrong side! Went to buy, but when I saw that I reconsidered.

Screen shot from: https://www.autoexperten.se/reservdelar/elsystem-och-strom/startbatterier/batteri-b19-black-dynamic/


Autoexpert recommends the following battery

Vikt [kg]: 16 kg

Längd [mm]: 232 mm

Batterikapacitet [Ah]: 60 Ah

Poltyp: 1

Bottenmontering: B00

Bredd [mm]: 173 mm

Höjd [mm]: 225 mm

Köldstartström EN [A]: 540 A

Spänning [V]: 12 V

But I´m afraid that height is to high.. 

This one should fit perfectly I think. Probably one of the best choices.

Tudor Exide, expensive though.

230 x 180 x 186 mm 1 988 kr /st

Screen shot from: http://www.batteriexpressen.se/product.html/startbatteri-60ah-tudor-exide-usa-eb608

Starlet EP91 with sunroof

Got an email from George from Greece about this blue and beatiful Starlet with sunroof. I really cant read the modeltext but it seems to be a fully equipt model. Double airbags, rpm-meter, colored mirror, bumpers, handles and so on.
Looks nice!
I have not seen any Starlet here in Sweden who has a sunroof. It sure would be nice to have.

Seems to be in good condition.

1997 - 2650 EUR

Black sunroof on a Toyota Starlet  EP91, looks nice!

I guess it´s electric?

Side view of the cars, some alloy wheels also.

Cant read the sticker above the Toyota text? S modell something

Seems to be missing a piece of the plastic protection on the side?

tachometer sas about 110000 km, not much.

Pictures from http://www.car.gr/classifieds/cars/photos/7097599/

Marcus Toyota Starlet

Got an email from a Swedish guy named Marcus, he had found my Starlet site and it turns out we are pretty close (mileage that is). He seems to also like Starlets and I asked him if he could send me some pictures of his Starlet so I can show it here. Marcus was kind enough to that. Here some pictures of his nice Starlet.

A little background first:

Marcus has now bought a Corolla tubular intake to assemble on the car in the spring / summer. That gets him some more horses to play with.
He has no garage to keep warm in so he would love to have some warmer degrees when he´s fixing with his car. It´s pretty cold here in Sweden as I write this..

Marcus has installed an open air filter, and also some for white indicators from ebay. And he´s also put a massive front of extra headlights on the car.

He has also obtained second-hand 15 "alloy wheels to be painted and is also thinking about buying a 40/40 lowering kit eventually.

Has he replaced anything on his Toyota?

He has not had to buy anything except a right front strut who he got an remark on in the yearly car inspection (mandatory here in Sweden) last fall, then he has changed his windshield (insurance) and a manifold gasket. I dont know how long he´s own his EP91 though. If I remember correctly it has run about 150 000 km.

He says he is often on the ukstarletowners site checking for tips and tricks, he also found a post from me there. Here are some pictures of his Starlet.

Five extra lights, I guess he see better than most in the dark.

Snow here in Sweden now.

Sideview, I think he has removed the plastic protectors on the door.

Night view... Looks nice, Is some of them leds? Havent seen those before..

An open air filter to be assembled on the car.

He ordered these from Ebay. White indicators.

White indicators on the Starlet.

Open air filter assembled on the car. He will change the intake to a tubular one, se next picture.

He´s bought a tubular intake manifold from a Toyota Corolla, to be assembled when the temperature gets warmer outside. Hope to hear from him again about it.

Marcus also found some 15" alloys wheel to be mounted later on. Looks nice. Dont know the name on these?

Marcus also have an starlet EP70 as he´s doing as a long term project. Expected to be completed for car inspection survey in 2018, when it also becomes tax-exempt.

Thanks Marcus for information and your pictures! Keep us updated.

Changing wipers

Time to change the wiper on the Starlet..

I choose the cheap Biltema windscreen wipers. The had some good testresult and the durability got the highest points, so lets try them.

Biltema wipers.. Replace all three of them, diffrent lenght on all of them, smallest in the back. See size on picture.

Old ones that got replaced. Tossed them.

Works like a charm so far. Will update if they dont last..

-------- From another site ----------

Driver Blade: 1 x 20" / 500mm Metal Frame Spolier Blade

Passenger Blade: 1 x 17" / 450mm Metal Frame Single Blade

Rear Blade: 1 x 16" / 400mm Metal Frame Single Blade

----------------  -------------

Remove old Wipers

In my case to get the old ones of: pushing on "tabs" does not work (even though you might think so), you have to use a flat screwdriver and relase the front flaps holding the plastic clip in place. Need to do on both sides (pull the holders out) and then can pull the plastic clip backwards.. It was hard figure out.

Replaceing and moving car battery on Starlet

Replacing car battery and moving it..

Yes that´s what I did. Since my battery was really bad it is time to replace it. Since I already have a pretty fresh leisure battery I decided to test if that would work!
I can tell you, When I was at the yearly car inspection (mandatory here in Sweden), the car didnt even start after the inspector had fibble with the lights (when the engine was off). A bit humiliating it was..

Ok, so this is what I did:

OLD Biltema 44Ah was worn out.. Not the best stuff. Removed it from the car Bredd [mm]: 175 Höjd [mm]: 190 Längd [mm]: 207

Changing to this one: Tudor dual TR350 Marine & Multifit by Exide 350Wh 80 Ah Coldstart up to 510A Height: 220 mm Lenght: 260 mm Width: 175 mm

Car battery gone! Now it´s emty were the battery use to be. I have connected some bigger cables to the "poles". The red and brown ones.

I´ve wired the cables through the "torpedo wall" into the inside of the car. Will do a better job with stripes and taping the cables better to get rid of electronic and magnetics fields. Also do it more secure.

Here the new battery is conneted, trying it out. Works like a charm

As a fuse, I use a 3-pole 50 ampere automatic fuse and use all tree of the connection so that about 150 ampere can run trouch when starting the car without the fuse going.

Put the battery inside the car temporary to try it out. Will eventually move it to the back carrige room if it seems to work out ok. Now I have almost double the battery power in the Starlet! Yes!

That´s it, hope you have some use of it. :-)

Finding a cheap oil, out looking in stores here i Sweden

It´s a djungle out there, and I dont have much knowledge, but I´ll try to pick anyway..


Biltema motor oil or Swedol? Which one should you choose? This seems to be the most oil for the buck here in Sweden? Any opinios? I know this subject has lots of opinions.. :-)

In Swedish: Biltema oljor vs Swedol motorolja..

Big size picture: Comparing semi synthetic vs fully synthetic, not much diffrence ackording to the certification?

Price can be seen.

Front of Biltema motor oil.

These oil are sold by Swedol, a few crones cheaper, but are the better or worse than Biltema? Who knows?

Swedel semi synthetic oil.

The Swedol comes from Q8 oils. Cant be to bad right?

Swedol supergrade oil, only 130 swedish crones. It you anint got hot engine this might work for you.

One of the test standards Petroliuminstitut test and approve are the API (American Petrol Institute) and it starts with "S". The "higher" the second letter, the better the oil. Today's well "SN" the highest. "SJ" is slightly worse. "SH" yet meet lower requirements, etc.

So let us compare Swedol with Biltema.

Swedol Helsyntet SAE 5W-40 (225 SEK) : API SL/CF, ACEA A3/B3, CCMC G5, PD2. 4 liter.

Biltema: Helsyntetisk motorolja 5W–40 (279 SEK)

API SN/CF, ACEA A3/B3/B4, MB 229.3/229.5, BMW LL-01, VW 502.00/505.00, Porsche A40, RN 0700/0710, MB 226.5, GM-LL-025-B.

Biltema is the better choice according to that norm.

Fixing some rust on the door.

What have I´ve been doing to the Starlet lately?
Well... I noticed that there were some rust forming on the right door. Me no like. Decided to do someting about it. Clean it (sand-paper), and then use Primer and then zinc color and after that white and some clear coating. Will see if it keept the rust away or if it comes back.

Here the primer and the zinc color is applied. Have to wait a day or so before applying the original white color and last clear coating. Used an earpad to apply the color, not a brush.

Some bottles I used.

Preventive maintenance: Changing cambelt video, Toyota Starlet, 4E-FE

Video of me changing cambelt in my car.

Date of replacement: 2015-07-20

I did not change the tensioner pulley and the idle-pulley, the condition were fine. Felt perfect in their bearings and the car has only done 76090 km, so I only changed the belt. If the bearing is going bad you will here them also. Hey this is Toyota quality, they will last atlest double the miles before they need replacement.

Part 1
Part 2


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[EDIT 2019-01-22]
Always glad when I get some emails from people pleased with the videos and that it helped them out.

----------- Mail -------------
Johnny from Australia

"I'm writing to you from Australia after watching your videos and reading your steps for changing the timing belt on a Toyota starlet 1997. Same car as me!

Thanks to you, I successfully replaced the belt, tensioner, idler (and water pump while I was in there...)

It was really helpful to watch how you did it. Thanks so much!"

"I've attached more of the water pump and tensioner/idler if you want to post those too. I only drive the car maybe 200km in a whole week, but so far I have had it for 12 years and only changed the oil regularly. I did have to replace the CV joints once (both) as they were leaky, but that's it! Great car."


Here's some photos.


--------------- Thank you Johnny for your supportive email and pictures! :-) -----------

Cambelt for the Starlet, old vs new

Last week I ordered a new Cambelt for the Starlet. I decided to go for the Gates Powergrip. I´ve google some on it and not found any negative and Gates is very common. The belt looks good

This is the original Toyota Starlet 4E-FE cam belt. It didn´t look old, it felt pretty fresh. I guess it would have lasted a bit longer. However 18 years old, it was time to replace!

This is the new Gates Powergrip belt, that I bought from skruvat.se, cost med 280 SEK plus shipping 29 SEK. about 36 USD.

The Gates model is 5358XS for the 4E-FE, Toyota Corolla, Starlet 1,3, Corsa, Tercel 1.3, Cynos 1.3

.