92 Starlet stuttering at speed

Squirrel · 06-07-2011 10:25pm #1

My girlfriend has a 92 Starlet 1 litre which has an intermittent problem when driving on the motorway. At speeds ranging between 80-110 kph the car can suddenly start to stutter and will begin to slow down. It is also slightly rough at idle (has a manual choke)

It was serviced the other week and it showed improvement for a bit but began to get worse so today had the fuel filter replaced and still no luck.

The service was oil, oil filter, air filter and plugs I think. Would I be right in thinking that the improvement could be down to the plugs change or the air filter change? Haven't had a look to see if there's any air hoses cracked.

Anyone have any ideas what it could be in case I've missed something?

Edit: Some online searches of similar problems indicate the spark plug leads, would this be right?

Plug · 06-07-2011 10:35pm

Does the car have flat spots of little or no power as well? Did they do a fuel pressure test? First port of call considering it has got a full service done including a fuel filter. Im not sure about ignition systems in older cars as I never really learned that, maybe it could be something there acting up either.

Tea drinker · 07-07-2011 8:37am

manual choke, so it's a carburettor car. I'd say getting the carb stripped and cleaned out might help, might be a blocked or partially blocked jet in there. Plug leads no harm to replace / or check and clean them.

PADRAIC.M · 07-07-2011 8:01pm

Yeah did they replace points?! The fuel filter is only due every 75k miles, but could be a blockage...

Tea drinker · 08-07-2011 1:20pm

^good point about the points

Also giving the choke a good tug out when the car is warmed up and driving at speed can free out jets. I mean fully pull the choke then floor it and release and floor it a few times aggressively, then push in the choke. Doing it while driving along saves flooding the car when stopped and not getting it going again.
You might have dirt in the bottom of the carb that comes up and blocks a jet while driving, really best thing is to get it cleaned, the car will go smoother and use less juice probably.

Another thing, if the choke is not going in fully it can cause problems with a warm car and use a lot of juice.

Squirrel · 08-07-2011 2:29pm

Cheers for the help. I've told her all this. Going to look at the spark plug leads I think and going to get some carb cleaner

whizbang · 10-07-2011 6:12pm

absolutely must have correct plugs fitted. bring it in to toyota garage and get parts guy to double check engine type.
- :mad:does it have a "serviced by greg" sticker on it:mad:

92 Starlet stuttering at speed

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