Hey all,

My wife is looking to buy a starwagon between 1993 - 2000ish model. She has her eye on a particular 1998 WA GL 2 litre auto model, but we are looking at any of the new shape ones.

So I have a few questions, as a her personal mechanical tradesperson (work on planes, not cars). :auto:

How many Km's can we expect to get out of an engine and gearbox?

How difficult are engine/box changes?

How expensive are engine/box changes?

How reliable are these cars?

What is the fuel economy like?

What sort of problems are common with these cars and how easy to fix the problems?

Any other things I should look for when buying a starwagon?

Sorry for all the questions, but I want to make sure that my wife gets a good buy and doesn't get stranded with 4 kids somewhere on the side of the road.
Any advice you can give will be very much appreciated. :460:

Hi there

Great vans really.... :)

I've seen these vans with well over 500,000 on them and still going strong.

A looked after motor and box should go at least 300,000 before a rebuild is in order. Engine swaps are OK providing you take you time, and gearbox sways are very easy on the scale of things as all the bolts are easy to get t underneath especially if you have a ramp.
There fairly economical to fix as parts are plentiful. 2.0l engine is the same as the Mitsubishi evo block. 4G63.

There quite reliable really provided you look after them, sometime radiators block up and they overheat so its important you flush the rad once a year. Generally nothing in particular goes wrong with them, alternator bolts work loose sometimes, the intake snorkels have a habit of sucking water up, so i just take them off. Reverse gear gets funny sometimes because the 5 gear lock sticks, not a big issue though. Vacuum hoses are messed with quite a bit leading to issues with the idle and carby set up. All in all there a great van providing there looked after.

I'd say you'd get about 300ks to a tank, there not the most aerodynamic and the 5th gear is a little short for highway use too.

Do the usual when looking for one, check for rot in roof gutters and under the front carpet, check for smoke and nasty noises, oil leaks can be fixed but best off without.

Hope you find what your looking for... :banana:

my 95 2.4 auto s/w has 410 k on the clock now uses a litre of oil over a 10k oil change in hot weather, the radiator & bottle is the weak point just replace them the rest has been no problem i use it for work & it weights in at 2200kgs runs on LPG

Yeah i would recomend the GLX version of the Starwagon as that comes with the 2.4 Fuel Injected engine...

so true just bought 1996 gl 2 months ago sitting out front with head removed due to yoghurt in rocker cover
coolant tank u/s ,radiator suspect blocked
will not idle till in gear due hoses problem &
jumps in reverse
if only i read this thread earlier
anyway still happy with it once probs ironed out
it should be a good van for the price