Hello to all the good people here,

I last posted in this forum way back in 2013, from my records.

I was driving a KE70 from 1994 until 2010, after which I drove a Proton Saga, until now. This has the Mitsubishi 4G13, 1300 cc engine, overhead cam.

I still come back here because the people here are very knowledgeable and helpful.

My stock starter is still usable, though getting old, and I was thinking of keeping a spare.

These days, they have standard or normal starters, and "high speed" starters.

(I am not sure, but I think these high speed starters are also called "planetary gear reduction" starters.)

I am not sure which type the car came fitted with.

The standard type is usually rated at 600 watts.

The high speed types are usually rated at 1,200 watts.

Would that mean that, as the battery gets a little weaker with age, it might have trouble cranking these high speed starters ?

Yes..  The new ones will pull 100amps, so if you're motor doesn't start easily an old battery will not crank for long. The old starters pull half that, so in theory they can crank for twice as long.

For the coil, the high-speed starters will create a larger voltage drop too, the coil will notice that 100amps being pulled out. That's where the ballast resistor on the old 4K really helps.  However if Mitsubishi made the 4G13 to take a reduction starter motor I'm sure they engineered the whole motor to work with them OK.

Thanks for the information.

I will probably get a normal low-speed one then.

The present starter has an occasional grinding sound for one or two seconds at the moment of start. They say this is due to the pinion gear sticking for a moment before retracting, due to age.

The electronic distributor used on these 4G13s has the ignition coil built in. Seems there is no ballast resistor. Not cheap too. The original one, made locally, costs M$450.

That's why older cars like the rear wheel drive KE70 are the cheapest and easiest to maintain.

Pull the starter off & take a look at the gears, both on the starter and the teeth on the flywheel.  The motor stops in the same position each time you turn it off so the wear is always on the same teeth when you start it. Ring gears used to wear the teeth off enough that the starter wouldn't engage properly, but these days they do seem to last longer.

Then clean the starter shaft & put some grease or oil on it & oil the bush at the end.  That will improve it for a couple of years.

Thanks again for the information and help.