Newbie Ae100 Sprinter Help

Ripper · April 10, 2007

Hi all.

as some of you guys know...i got a 93 model sprinter recently...the hitch is i'm new to cars

bikes have been my scene so need loads of help...

I've been scouring the web for a service manual for this car but still couldn't find one... I think both Clymer and Haynes manuals are only for cars that were imported to the US...

Tried looking for sites that might contain basic maintenance routines...things to change at what times...oil changes etc etc... But didn't find any decent info... Some of the sites i found "assumed" you already have some kinda car knowledge

The previous owner had been using castrol semi-synthetic and he said it's time for a new service... I'm thinking of what things to change...

Oil obviously....oil filter? air filter? petrol filter? injector cleanup? check valve clearance???

Would be great if anyone can give me some ideas as to how i should go about.... I hate only to depend on mechanics to tell me stuff good to know your sh1t

Plus i need to find that retainer thing that keeps the spare wheel locked on to the boot body... yesterday went over hump and heard this big thud from the rear to see the spare wheels' just hanging loose

Need to find places that stocks these kinda stuff and rough prices also... I've been ripped of many times when i started on bikes simply due to lack of knowledge

Comments are highly appreciated as always

gunat · April 10, 2007

Welcome to the realm of Car ownership Ripper!

If you can't find the service manual for the sprinter, look for the engine manual. Haynes is sure to have manuals for specific Engine models.

eg.

4A-FE - 1300/1500 16v EFI

7A-FE - 1800 16v EFI

if i'm not mistaken, the sprinter shares the same mechanicals as the Corolla of the same era, so you'll have access to all the spare parts etc. I used to have a 93 AE101 Corolla with a 1300cc 4A-FE.

Couple of Pointers:

Oil Filter- VIC has aftermarket Oil Filters which works fine. If you're unsure, just call up Toyota Lanka, give them your chassis/engine number and they'll give you any part you need with the price. Very efficient. If you make a substantial order, they can deliver within Colombo.

Oil- These aren't high output engines, so i'll stick to semi-synth (Mobil XHP, or Castrol is fine). The only time you might want to consider a fully synthetic oil is if you rebuild the engine. Then its as good as new.

I've made the recommendation before, but a good place to get your car Serviced is Pits*op. They have good customer service, and more importantly, you can ask the engineers questions about anything you need clarification on. Most of the fellows who work there have a good knowledge base.

As for your spare tire issue- i'd have to say, look at the these second-hand spare parts dealers...especially those who bring body parts- they may have what you're looking for. Just drive past delkanda Junction towards maharagama...a few hundred metres down, you'll know when you get to the 'zone'.

Good luck.

Kim · April 10, 2007

hmmmm...i will share wot i know, hope it will help.

As you know, till now we have only bought Toyota vehicles, sometime back we had a AE100 Corolla as well. when we buy a car first we do a:

(1) FULL checkup, the service (changing all the oils, brake oils,etc)

(2) Tune Up including the Time belt change and injector cleaning/cleansing

- new plugs, battary checking all.

(3) then the tyre, break pads, cluth this and dat check.

So that now we know the actual condition of the car, and have a better idea. know wot we replaced and know in wot areas to be taken care.. no fuss, no surprises on the road at sudden!

Drive Safe!

Edited April 10, 2007 by Kim

nira74 · April 10, 2007

Ripper said:

Hi all.

as some of you guys know...i got a 93 model sprinter recently...the hitch is i'm new to cars

bikes have been my scene so need loads of help...

I've been scouring the web for a service manual for this car but still couldn't find one... I think both Clymer and Haynes manuals are only for cars that were imported to the US...

Tried looking for sites that might contain basic maintenance routines...things to change at what times...oil changes etc etc... But didn't find any decent info... Some of the sites i found "assumed" you already have some kinda car knowledge

The previous owner had been using castrol semi-synthetic and he said it's time for a new service... I'm thinking of what things to change...

Oil obviously....oil filter? air filter? petrol filter? injector cleanup? check valve clearance???

Would be great if anyone can give me some ideas as to how i should go about.... I hate only to depend on mechanics to tell me stuff good to know your sh1t

Plus i need to find that retainer thing that keeps the spare wheel locked on to the boot body... yesterday went over hump and heard this big thud from the rear to see the spare wheels' just hanging loose

Need to find places that stocks these kinda stuff and rough prices also... I've been ripped of many times when i started on bikes simply due to lack of knowledge

Comments are highly appreciated as always

I ran a 1987 AE91 Sprinter Cielo for about 4 years some time back and it was an excellent car both in terms of performance, economy and durability. It had a 1500cc 5A-FE narrow angle DOHC engine - which is essentially an economy tuned engine, and a 5 speed manual box but with a little tweaking and a straight through exhaust I was able to get 10 km/l in colombo and some pretty decent performance when I put my foot down. In fact I used to enjoy making many a eg8 eat my dust on the open road.....

If yours is a 1500, I think it will have the same engine. You can check the valve clearances but it's a shim type engine so there's not much you can do to adjust it yourself short of fitting new ones. My advice would be not to mess around with that unless you have a noisy valve-train. I had a bad experience with a reputed garage botching up the job when I needed to replace two burned valves (result of hard driving) and had to spend three times as much getting the job re-done. They had actually ground the valve stems because they couldn't find the right shims.

As for tuning, there's not much to be done if it's EFI, you just have to make sure your Injectors, spark plugs (stick to Denso) Air Filter and Plug Wires are in good order. I ran it on 95 Octane and used a good injector cleaner added to the fuel once every 6 months or so.

If your milage is high stick to mobil or Castrol semi-synthetic. Mobil XHP Mineral Oil is also an excellent alternative and it'll be much easier on your purse. For Air and Oil filters, just stick to the Genuine Toyota ones and you can't go wrong.

For the spare-wheel bolt, the best place to try would be one of the pavement stalls down Panchikawatta. However be prepared to bargain and be patient or they'll rip you off... Otherwise any good lathe works should be able to turn one out for you easily.

All the best with your new Aquisition !

Ripper · May 4, 2007

thanks all for the excellent informative friendly replies

I'm gonna to get it fully serviced and tuned up by the agents... probably do the service at pi* s**p and take her to agents for EFI tune up...

this is what my car buddies are recommending

Nira74... thanks for taking the time and effort to write such an informative post

One of my uncles' who checked the car out for me said that there is some valve train noise...he owns a garage and into classic car restoration so assume he knows his stuff

plus he said a bearing in the ac is shot so that's adding up to noise production

can't complain about fuel economy and power...all seems to be excellent compared to similar size cars...

My nephew busted the a passenger door opening thingy during the holidays... apparently it was busted before but epoxied nicely... it's that square housing that hold the door opening handle...

tried gluing as a temp solution but didn't work... hope finding a replacement won't be too hard

thanks again guys for all the info

AL rocks thanks to you guys