Toyota 5E-FE

Toyota's 1.5 of the 1990s — in the Tercel, Paseo and the Corolla van.

It is a belt-driven engine, and that is the first thing to establish, because the NZ family that replaced it is chain-driven and most advice written about small Toyotas now assumes a chain. On a car this old the belt history is usually unknown, and the E-series is an interference design.

Its diagnostics are pre-modern and that is an advantage. There are few codes and they are general, so physical testing beats scan data here: vacuum leaks, a worn idle control valve, a tired distributor and ignition components account for most running complaints.

Cold-start and warm-up faults are usually the coolant temperature sensor or the cold-start injector, both cheap and both easy to test directly.

The 4E-FE 1.3 is the same design one size down and its results apply almost entirely; the supercharged 4E-FTE does not, and is a different engine to diagnose.