Pls Share: Starex tips and common problem

[yakuini]

Greetings!

Just acquired a '02 Starex SVX model yesterday. It has a Manual Tranny and this is the my first time owning one. Please share your experience with this vehicle and tips like what is the best engine oil and other maintenance for this van.

Thanks and more power to Tsikot!

[BlueBimmer]

had a starex rv before, problems encountered were malfunctioning speedometer, odometer n fuel gauge, a/t tranny wont shift beyond 2nd gear(happened 1 tym), driver n passenger side door handles broke after more than a year. other than those things it ran perfectly. had to sold it due to overuse hehe

[OTEP]

The switches for the interior lamp have a tendency to break. Best advice: don't play with the switches. Just control them form the master control on the dashboard.

The door handle mechanism can break if you manhandle the doors. But I think that was on earlier models.

[vinj]

The first gen Starex of my friend also experienced the a/t tranny problem (not going beyond 2nd gear). The older ones also had some rust problems but this has also been addressed AFAIK.

The newer ones are pretty much reliable, just change all the filters (fuel, air), drain and change the oil, tranny fluid, brake fluid, PS, and differential fluid para sure ka sa bagong ride mo then consider getting rustproofing and undercoating.

On the a/c system, i'm not sure on the reliability, maybe the other Starex owners can give some idea.

[BlueBimmer]

a/c was troublefree on our starex for more than 2 years of constant use. cold as ever when we sold it.

[garyq]

bili rin bro ko ng crdi na model. any feedbacks on the engine?

[benchph1]

the very first units of the starex developed premature rust on the fenders.

i think this was corrected on the 2000-up models

[yakuini]

the very first units of the starex developed premature rust on the fenders.

i think this was corrected on the 2000-up models

Lahar from PPC told me about this. Very First units especially those from black market has this foam in the fender that insulate road noise. Di ata pinalitan or tinanggal kaya naipon yung tubig sa foam, nakadikit palagi yung foam sa fender, ayun - lusaw ang fender :D

Aircon, no problem. One of the reason why we bought Starex...Parang Nissan sa lamig Riding comport is my priority in getting a car, not Brand.

[yakuini]

Got the unit pala for 620K, '02 model, SVX, 29K Mileage (Nakakaduda, kaya pina-check ko sa casa, di naman daw ginalaw)

[OTEP]

Hindi naman impossible ang mileage na iyan. 20K kms pa lang yata yung '01 Sentra ni utol. hehehe.

[yakuini]

Hindi naman impossible ang mileage na iyan. 20K kms pa lang yata yung '01 Sentra ni utol. hehehe.

Really? Hehehe, nag-base kasi ako sa mga tinignan kong ibang unit and those I inquired sa autolink.ph. Usually nasa 50K above sila.

Ano best engine oil for Starex? Is mobil1 a good choice?

[BlueBimmer]

delvac mx ok na yan, or delvac 1 if u have xtra cash

[yakuini]

delvac mx ok na yan, or delvac 1 if u have xtra cash

Boss bimmer, how much is Delvac MX? Per Liter.

[BlueBimmer]

delvac mx, 15w40 more or less P150/liter. delvac 1, 5w40, P330+/liter

[bongliza]

Starex is a good car considering the features. Pam pamilya talaga for it's size. Very good ride comfort, with the coil spring and heavy body. Air-con is absolutely cold, parang Nissan nga. What I observe lang is mausok, not like other diesel cars. As what most tsikoters said, yung mga handles laging napuputol, so expect to having them replaced every now and then. Got problem on the clutch system din. Overall, it's a nice family car. Unfortunately, binenta ko na. My wife complains that it's too big for her to drive.

[yakuini]

By the way, the one I bought has this LSD sticker at the back...Limited Slip Differential ata ito but how does it work?

[zeagle]

The alternator is located near the bottom. Do not drive your starex on flooded streets. Alternator breaks easily.

[parakitoJDM]

By the way, the one I bought has this LSD sticker at the back...Limited Slip Differential ata ito but how does it work?

think of it this way: when one of the rear wheel has poor traction (stuck in mud, or lifted axle).
-w/o LSD: the wheel w/o traction just spins.
-w/LSD: lesser or none of the above.

Race cars also have it to avoid slipping the inner wheels when accelerating hard coming in&out of the corner.

[ale828]

Had my experience with several starex. .
The first generations one had lots of problems. As stated the door handles break, some minor squeeks can already be heard in the suspension. The compressor broke down in our first starex, quite hard to fix. Plus the major problem of the transmission in a M/T model.
Surprisingly the second generation starex we currently use had very few problems, namely aircon doesn't seem to be as cold as what other are saying here. But overall the 2nd gen starex is a major improvement over the 1st gen, they seem to have ironed out most of its problems.

By the way 29Km isnt that dubius for a 02' car being driven in city driving only. averaging around 10Tkm per year is about right for just city driving and the occasional out of town. I just sold my dad's 99 galant VR with only 34Tkm.

[muffer]

me sa starex ko, kalampag na agad kaya ingat lng sa mga lubak, mahina ang pang ilalim, at ang power window mechanism madali masira, mga door handle mabilis lumuwag, ang woodgrain texture nya nababakbak, ang oil seal mabilis pumutok, pero comfortabily oks naman at maluwag sya. so what do you expect ba sa korean vehicles.