for my saga lmst, I follow this method

all kind lubricants = follow years to change
all kind wear and tears ( such as brake pad, disc, timing belt, fan belts) = follow KM

usually I done all my changes before time arrives, preferably 1month earlier or 1000km earlier.

Do you happen to know if aftermarket OEM engine mounts lasts? Since I was made to understand Proton no longer makes the engine mounts due to obsolescence.


This post has been edited by surianti: Jun 4 2024, 09:19 PM

m using schmaco . already 6yrs. still going good. saga lmst model.

You buy own mounting? or everything leave to workshop? How much does it costs? Schamo gives warranty?

This post has been edited by surianti: Jun 5 2024, 10:23 PM

I ask the workshop to buy the brand and let them do the fixings. last I bought 2018 for saga lmst manual mounting. still good.

If aircond refrigerant regularly leaks to empty, sometimes topup lasts not up to 2 months, was told the compressor exhibited oily stuff so they told me the compressor leaks and needs a new one. What are possible solutions here? Maybe the compressor O-Ring can be replaced? Or the compressor refurb?

Is fully synthetic engine oil suitable for 2005 Iswara / Saga LMST?

Actually my car just suffered from oil seal leak and it was not even on fully syn (only using semi syn so far) and timing belt was only replaced in around 2022

Read on the net that if using fully syn the seals of old cars might not be able to sustain

Hi, had a problem where my door open icon lighting up when all the door s is closed. Manually press the door sensor at each door but the icon still light up, i was told there are door sensors on the bonet and the hood, where is this sensor located?

Another problem that i have is engine randomly stop when driving (driving, not stopping). Bring to battery shop, they checked the alternator it giving 13+v when engine running with lights and aircond on.

The sensor for the bonnet is located just above the wiper motor. The one for the boot depends on your vehicle : for the sedan model it is located at one of the hinges, and for the hatchback/LMST it is built into the lock mechanism.

Engine stalling is caused by either the fuel system or the electrical spark system, both of which have a variety of sub-causes and the troubleshooting can be quite troublesome.

Fuel system faults can be things like failing fuel pump ("AC pump"), shut-off solenoid, carburettor problem, fuel filter, hot idle valve problem etc. Electrical system faults can be distributor components, ignition switch problem, spark plug fouling, wiring problem etc.

When the engine suddenly stopped, can it be started immediately or have to wait? Just before stalling, was the engine running rough, or have misfirings or hesitations? Is there any hissing noises in the vacuum hoses when engine is running? Any of the vacuum hoses show signs of hardening or cracks especially at the joints?

Remove the spark plugs for inspection and see if there is carbon or oil fouling, or have signs of carbon tracking (short). The condition of the plugs may help in the troubleshooting.

Hi Albert, First of all thanks for all your advices for all of us sagawara folks.

Persistent Door Open Icon Lights Up
1. I went and replaced all the doors sensor except for the front bonnet (couldn't find it in Shopee), for boot i found out that its wasn't any sensor on the lock mechanism(probably removed by my mum years back), however i do note that there is a connecting point in the lock mechanism for the sensor. Looked around the boot's lock for any loose wire, sadly didn't found any. I only found wires for rear wiper, stop light and reverse lights. Is there any wiring diagram for the sensor for Iswara Aeroback. Currently i have to remove the 10amp Fuse to avoid continuous battery drain due to the icon lights up (which render my cabin light and clock to not working)

Engine sudden stop during driving
It happened twice.
1st time : was driving in normal speed (<80km/h), suddenly rpm dropped to 0 and everything was silence, i just kept throttling the pedal and it went back on. This happened in a period of under 5 second.

2nd time : Driving in lower speed since i was gonna turn left, sudden rpm dropped to 0 again, throttling fuel doesn't do anything, managed to glide the car to the road side. try to start the car but failed (NO CRANKING SOUND AT ALL). Manually push the car to a nearby battery shop (lucky me the shop is only 20meters away) , the foreman asked me to start the car and it started normally in single crank (between engine stall and restart is around 5min. The foreman proceeded to check my alternator charge and battery, everything seems normal with alternator giving 13.7v

Any advice is appericiated.

I will try to reply based on memory as I do not have access to my PC where all my documentation, diagrams, manuals, etc are stored. Later I might revise it when I have access.

Persistent Lighting Up of Door Ajar Icon
1. Regarding the bonnet sensor that is unavailable, you can find "universal adjustable" sensor in Shopee cheaply that you might want to DIY on your car. However, there is the other problem that may not be easily resolved : short-circuit.
2. The icon for door open works by having an always-connected 12V battery supply, going through the fuse and splitting up to the 6 sensors. These sensors are in the ON position when relaxed ie doors not pressing on them so the spring pushes the contact to make the final connection to chassis ground to complete the circuit. (When you close the door it presses against the spring to break the contact.) However, any short-circuit of the wiring to any of the 6 sensors produces the same effect. So somewhere in your car's wiring there is an inadvertent connection to chassis ground. I can't think of a suitable way of troubleshooting where this short-circuit is, other than examining the wiring harnesses.
3. When your mum removed the sensor connection, was the ends of the wiring properly taped up, or it's somehow left in contact with chassis? Ditto for the missing bonnet sensor - is this wire accessible? If these are OK, the you may have to access the wiring under the carpet, under the plastic shrouds etc, to check for exposed wiring, not an easy task.

Engine stalling
If the stalling incidents are from the same fault, then it rules out the mechanical fuel "AC" pump, plugs, carburetor, high tension coil and distributor. This is because there is no cranking at all. But if the 2 incidents are from different faults, the whole troubleshooting is totally different.

When the stall occurred, did the radio, air-cond also went silent?

I am suspecting the 12V supply to the ignition switch has an open circuit that happens intermittently, eg when vibration, or other forces trigger it.

The starting circuit and the running circuit operates on different lines via the ignition switch, and only the supply is common to both.

You can remove the whole ignition switch by removing the steering column plastic covers and one screw at the bottom side of the switch. The connection sockets can be unplugged.

The engine spark system can run on either battery only or alternator only, so these are unlikely to be at fault.

Wiring diagrams
So far I only have the Haynes's very basic line circuit diagrams for the export version of the Iswara to the UK. Haynes information has become less detailed compared with their earlier books (for other car makes) where it provides harness wiring and socket info.


So far the above are the only things that I can think of at the moment.

This post has been edited by Albert B: Aug 26 2024, 10:13 AM

Albert B, do you have an idea about this situation where upon braking usually while say at 5th gear cruising and braking to turn into a side road, upon pressing the brakes while in gear and depress the clutch once the car starts to shake (due to low speed and high gear), then once the gear is disconnected the RPM tends to rise above normal to 1200 1300 1400 and sort of remains 'stuck' there. This only happens during No Aircond. I even had the No Aircond Idle Screw loosed to max that on the next day upon fresh starting the engine the RPM for no aircond is 500-600rpm (which is because I set the idle screw all out and not touching the mechanism anymore). However what is odd is the sudden RPM rise as per the scenario above, where engine HOT and cruising hen slowing down to change gear. The high idle once happens continue through the whole session. I guess it it normalised back the next day morning but once triggered will happen again.

I have not have the high idle stucked after using engine braking; usually the rpm recovers nicely. I tried to replicate the issue as you described but could not.

Very likely it's a carburettor problem, and since the carburettor is quite a complex device it's difficult to pin-point the origin of the problem. You have ruled out air-cond fast idle; however for the hot engine condition this require further checking:

Is your auto-choke/compensator working, ie the coolant hoses are connected, the piston is not jammed in hot or cold position? You can check this by looking for the gap (photo below) when engine is hot and no gap when engine is cold. This is supposed to activate fast idle and activate rich air-fuel mixture when cold.

There are some sets of jets and valves in the carburettor for cold and hot operation and they depend on vacuum hoses and thermo valve switch to function. You can check the hoses for cracks or leaks, especially after so many years in hot compartment.

There is a possibility that these jets/valves in the carburettor are stuck and does not operate in response to changes in the manifold vacuum which is what happens when you disengage the gears from engine braking.

=== Edit ===

In some carburettors there is something called a "poppet valve" which provides a bypass when the throttle is suddenly closed to cushion the high vacuum. From looking at photographs of the Iswara throttle I don't see any such poppet valve. Maybe the Iswara constant vacuum variable venturi system uses a different way for the same function, maybe using the suction piston opening in conjunction with some passages bypassing the throttle plate.
see:
https://www.google.com/search?q=poppet+valv...nt=gws-wiz-serp


You can observe the behaviour of this suction piston by removing the air filter. Usually it is closed by spring when engine is not running and you can slide it open with your fingers. Start the engine and take note or photo of its position when the rpm is not stucked at fast idle. Then drive the car until you can trigger the stucked fast idle, park the car at a safe place with engine still running, open the hood remove the filter and take note of the position of the suction piston. Try to move the piston and see if any thing changes.

This post has been edited by Albert B: Oct 2 2024, 12:18 PM


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Albert B, thanks for that illustration.

Alright, first 1 you pointed is the possibility the choke not disengage (stuck in cold mode). I did drive it until its hot and the problem replicated, and upon parking I checked the chock "ear" the one that looks like inverted /_ it does not seem stuck to cold as I can see it sort of rest fully to the end (pushed backward to firewall direction and not forward). The throttle link "ear" is also rested and not stuck or jam. So I guess it might rule out that possibility.

The next is the internals of the carb which I really have no idea how to diagnose according to your description it seems a bit complicated maybe a carb clearner from Mr DIY might offer some help? Or might be a certain vaccuum tube is leaking or somehow disconnected? I do not have ideas how many vacuum hoses there are.

This is how I usually encounter the issue. There is a straight road that I can go till 5th gear but I have to make a turn into my housing estate. So I will usually brake while in 5th gear until it sort of juddering and bring the gear to neutral (then downshift) that is when the RPM for slow idle (non A/C) will stuck high. I usually turn the A/C temp dial to off and basic fan mode, some 5 minutes before destination which mean I will be running on the slow idle upon nearing destination. I do discover that on a few occasions, I have dieseling effect too when shut off the engine after this occurences.

I do wonder about this UFO thing that controls the A/C fast idle. FICD or vacuum actuator for fast idle. No idea how it operate. But might it be that the FICD is malfunctioning and stuck at fast idle mode despite A/C compressor has been turned off?

As said before, my slow idle RPM returns to normal when I do a fresh drive the next day or later in the day when engine is cold or rested. While tinkering on the slow Idle RPM screw I had tried to unscew it all the way out until not touching the metal but unfortunately this will not work as the engine will die when foot is not depressing the accelerator pedal. So normal times before the slow Idle rpm goes abnormal, I turned it to around 700 or 800 rpm having warmed up the engine. Unfortunately nothing can bring the slow idle rpm down once the abnormality happens.

Regarding the air-cond fast idle actuator, below is photo showing the actuator (UFO), tubes and electromagnetic switch. The actuator is powered by the vacuum taken from the manifold of cylinder #3 and controlled by the electromagnetic (solenoid) switch which is connected to the circuitry for air-cond such as temperature sensor, receiver drier etc. I have seen mechanics testing the actuator by unplugging the connection at the receiver drier.

For the carb cleaner, it can clean the accessible passages but not the internal air passages, the jets etc because these are deep inside the carburettor body. However, you can give it a try, maybe it might catch something.

The power and breaker jets are inside the compensator/auto-choke assembly and according to a Russian website these have to be drilled out which means probably destroying them.

By the way, new carburettor is around RM500+ but is not OEM, so whether it works like OEM is unknown. A used one is around RM100 - 200. Many years ago, the compensator autochoke assembly is available but seems not anymore. Or maybe like empire said, let a mechanic do a complete overhaul.

For now, you can try the following :
Take snapshots of the following
1) autochoke, cam position (ie driver side of the carburettor}
2) air-cond actuator (ie passenger side)
3) suction piston just below the air filter

for i) Cold engine, ii) hot engine when idle is normal, iii) when idle is stuck at high rpm

Then we can make comparisons to see if there are any clues.

There are other systems like EGR, PCV but I doubt these caused the high idle problem.

This post has been edited by Albert B: Oct 5 2024, 02:26 PM


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Thanks, I've yet to take the photographs as been busy. However I noticed that downshifting prior the turn will get rid of the problems. Ie. Do not foot stay on the acceleration pedal at fixed position (5th gear) for a long time and suddenly decided to turn and brake at the 5th gear. What I do is gradually downshift to 4 to 3 to 2 and execute the turn, things work out for now. It might be the butterfly plates inside the carb stuck open somehow on prolonged 5th gear usage?

Anyhow I have looked into the 2 vacuum lines from UFO. UFO to Solenoid seems fine snugfit tube the other that connects to the 3rd cylinder I can't visualise that as it goes under the air filter intake.

I do have a clearer pic from the internet depicting the carb. And I find there is 2 vacuum lines that comes out from below the A/F mixture screw, 1 that goes to the bottom of the air filter housing, another one seems to disconnected and sort of plugged off. Any idea what this 2 vacuum lines are for? And where does the other line go to if it was disconnected and plugged by someone.


For mine it seems this particular L shaped brass tube opening above the throttle cable handle is left without any vacuum lines. Unlike this pic below where I labelled. is this vaccuum line supposed to be one of the ones that disconnected and plugged off in my case? (Join to below the A/F mixture screw) What does this vacuum line do?



Update: Turn up the AC idle rpm screw a bit to get my default AC rpm to around 900rpm (my usual was 700-800). Observation is pressing foot onto the brakes very firmly to the end (hard pressed) shall invoke the rpm to rise around 100-200rpms even at neutral gear. Shall this means a vacuum leak somewhere with the brake servo? Is there anything that needs to be addressed and what's the effect long term if left unchecked? It seems strange that if memory serves me correctly in the past if I were to hard pressed the brake pedal the rpm may even become lower but it seems now's opposite.

This post has been edited by frontierzone: Oct 22 2024, 06:18 PM

I recently did a manual gear oil change however they used a large cannister which already had huge amount of the oil in bulk like rhe size of a big pale of paint. I do not know if it is GL4 or GL5. Is there any need to worry? For all its worth GL5 should be more costly right and if they buy in bulk they wont use it perhaps?

any saga(M) enthusiastic or collector, manufacturer year 97. it's no longer operational.

pm if interested.

There might be a problem, if they used GL5, according to specifications and lubrication book description.

The Iswara manual states oil grade GL4 or higher, but the LMST manual says only GL4. see attachment below.

According pages from lubrication book (below) GL5 is harmful to manual gearboxes.

From what I read about synchronizers, the oil is finely tuned to lubricate but not too slippery that the conical portion of the synchronizers cannot have enough friction to engage. So, gear oils are not like engine oils where higher grade is better ...


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saga lmst is gl4, if u suspect its non gl4, pls drain and refill with gl4. castrol in shopee are selling 4litre gl4. saga lmst uses 1.8litre - 2litre. i been using this castrol since 2018. good oil. usually I drain after 18month regardless of the km travelled.