Avensis 2.0 Cdx

[Anastasis]

[EDIT] Apologies that I didn't make the subject line more descriptive. I meant to make it "Avensis 2.0 CDX stuttering". There doesn't seem to be an option to change it - perhaps a mod could do so for me?

Last week I bought an Avensis 2.0 CDX from a local second-hand dealer. It is very nice to drive and looks very tidy for the year (1999).

It drives very nicely apart from what I can only think to describe as a stuttering, particularly in 2nd and 3rd gear. It feels like a misfire (although there is never any popping with it) or fuel starvation but I am really not sure. It happens mostly when driving around town where there can be a lot of gear changes and acceleration and deceleration, turning corners etc. It is most pronounced when having slowed down, maybe to turn a corner into another road, you then accelerate. It happens for a few seconds, sometimes worse, sometimes not at all, but something is obviously not right. It is not that I am in too high a gear either. The revolution of the engine is there to pull away, it just stutters when doing so.

I obviously need to take it back to the dealer to get him to sort it out, but it would be useful to know if this is a known problem with an Avensis of this generation and what it is. I suspect he thought something was not quite right with something, because as well as doing an oli and filter service on the car before delivery, he said he had also fitted a new set of plugs. I noticed this fault a little when I test drove it, but put it down to the car being cold. However, after nearly a week of driving it, I am sure it cannot be the plugs.

Any thoughts or advice on this before I go back to the dealer would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

[Anastasis]

[EDIT] Apologies that I didn't make the subject line more descriptive. I meant to make it "Avensis 2.0 CDX stuttering". There doesn't seem to be an option to change it - perhaps a mod could do so for me?

Last week I bought an Avensis 2.0 CDX from a local second-hand dealer. It is very nice to drive and looks very tidy for the year (1999).

It drives very nicely apart from what I can only think to describe as a stuttering, particularly in 2nd and 3rd gear. It feels like a misfire (although there is never any popping with it) or fuel starvation but I am really not sure. It happens mostly when driving around town where there can be a lot of gear changes and acceleration and deceleration, turning corners etc. It is most pronounced when having slowed down, maybe to turn a corner into another road, you then accelerate. It happens for a few seconds, sometimes worse, sometimes not at all, but something is obviously not right. It is not that I am in too high a gear either. The revolution of the engine is there to pull away, it just stutters when doing so.

I obviously need to take it back to the dealer to get him to sort it out, but it would be useful to know if this is a known problem with an Avensis of this generation and what it is. I suspect he thought something was not quite right with something, because as well as doing an oli and filter service on the car before delivery, he said he had also fitted a new set of plugs. I noticed this fault a little when I test drove it, but put it down to the car being cold. However, after nearly a week of driving it, I am sure it cannot be the plugs.

Any thoughts or advice on this before I go back to the dealer would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

Bump... please does anyone have any thoughts on the above?

[cmia]

no common fault...

But exactly what rev range is it doing this at...?

is the gear stick popping out? or does it feel like the car is just going to stall?

When the car is really cold ... or really warm.. does it struggle to start.. ?

Can you do this and report back to me please...

Go up a hill... make sure its during the day and possibly have a car follow you..

Put your car in 2nd gear... and keep at 20mph.. does it pull or push or *****?

Now do the same but this time as your climbing the hill foot down ... does the engine smoke through out the accelration to 35/40 ?

does it ***** ? or does it do a burst of smoke and then stop?

if you do that... and report back

How many miles has the car done ?

Any service History ?

These cars dont generally have problems,

The faults you are having are to do with several things

1 - Not enough fuel

2 - too much fuel and not enough air..

Basic Checks

Look at service history and see if the car has been maintained..

Straight away, check these things....

1)

Pop up the bonnet, look at the Battery, on the left of the Battery under the engine cover you will see like a sauser type looking thing

Something like this .. (this isnt the toyota one) is the plastic tube attached on ? or has it worked its self loose.

2) Check air filter ...

Is it dirty .. or clean ..

3) Check air filter turbo pipe..

for splits or tears.. you will have to take this off the car, Should be held on the airbox with 4 clips undoo them. .. and then the breather pipe.

If you follow the hose down it will clamp onto the turbo, it should be held with a clamp, unscrew clamp. Now look at the center of the pipe.. this is where you MAF sensor is.. unplug it..

Check pipe, dont be shy..push and pull if you think it has a split..

4) Check Shaft Play in turbo..

Beware this item becomes really hot....

To check shaft play, look in the turbo you will see a shaft with some fins,

Do the fins look all straight ?

id you put you finger in and pinch the nipple

does it move back alot ?

move side to side ?

You can check these items your self,

Remmber the engine is hot.. if warmed up and dont start putting your hands in wrong places, also make sure engine is off when u do these tests

Check the above and post back!

[Anastasis]

no common fault...

But exactly what rev range is it doing this at...?

is the gear stick popping out? or does it feel like the car is just going to stall?

When the car is really cold ... or really warm.. does it struggle to start.. ?

Can you do this and report back to me please...

Go up a hill... make sure its during the day and possibly have a car follow you..

Put your car in 2nd gear... and keep at 20mph.. does it pull or push or *****?

Now do the same but this time as your climbing the hill foot down ... does the engine smoke through out the accelration to 35/40 ?

does it ***** ? or does it do a burst of smoke and then stop?

if you do that... and report back

How many miles has the car done ?

Any service History ?

These cars dont generally have problems,

The faults you are having are to do with several things

1 - Not enough fuel

2 - too much fuel and not enough air..

Basic Checks

Look at service history and see if the car has been maintained..

Straight away, check these things....

1)

Pop up the bonnet, look at the battery, on the left of the battery under the engine cover you will see like a sauser type looking thing

Something like this .. (this isnt the toyota one) is the plastic tube attached on ? or has it worked its self loose.

2) Check air filter ...

Is it dirty .. or clean ..

3) Check air filter turbo pipe..

for splits or tears.. you will have to take this off the car, Should be held on the airbox with 4 clips undoo them. .. and then the breather pipe.

If you follow the hose down it will clamp onto the turbo, it should be held with a clamp, unscrew clamp. Now look at the center of the pipe.. this is where you MAF sensor is.. unplug it..

Check pipe, dont be shy..push and pull if you think it has a split..

4) Check Shaft Play in turbo..

Beware this item becomes really hot....

To check shaft play, look in the turbo you will see a shaft with some fins,

Do the fins look all straight ?

id you put you finger in and pinch the nipple

does it move back alot ?

move side to side ?

You can check these items your self,

Remmber the engine is hot.. if warmed up and dont start putting your hands in wrong places, also make sure engine is off when u do these tests

Check the above and post back!

Thanks for your reply

In answer to your questions, I have some, and some to follow:

But exactly what rev range is it doing this at...?

About 2000-3000 revs

is the gear stick popping out? or does it feel like the car is just going to stall?

No

When the car is really cold ... or really warm.. does it struggle to start.. ?

No

Can you do this and report back to me please...

Go up a hill... make sure its during the day and possibly have a car follow you..

Put your car in 2nd gear... and keep at 20mph.. does it pull or push or *****?

Now do the same but this time as your climbing the hill foot down ... does the engine smoke through out the accelration to 35/40 ?

does it ***** ? or does it do a burst of smoke and then stop?

if you do that... and report back

Answer to follow on this one.

How many miles has the car done ? 93,000

Any service History ? Yes, full Toyata service history from new - one previous owner.

Re the image you posted and the checks you suggested, I am not sure what the saucer shaped component is. I have therefore posted a photo below of the engine with a grid over it to make it easier to pinpoint the items I need to check. I did look at the pipes I could see and they all seemed intact and properly fitted.

[cmia]

That image is for a petrol engine...

(ive been chatting about diesel)

I am sorry can you confirm if you car is a petrol or diesel ?

[Anastasis]

That image is for a petrol engine...

(ive been chatting about diesel)

I am sorry can you confirm if you car is a petrol or diesel ?

Sorry, have not been around the last few days - it is petrol :)

[cmia]

Then straight away you need to look at

Dizzy, Spark plugs and HT leads.

Btw Petrols dont really have tourq to "boot" off the line in a lower gear.

[cmia]

CHECK PICTURE

[cmia]

Lets start on

1 bit at a time...

Check HT Leads,

Make sure they are plugged in firmly, Pull out slowly... and push back in.

Check Distributor..

Make sure the HT leads are plugged in firmly.

Check for wear on cables or splits or sharp bends or twists.

Check Throttle cable and spring,

Is the cable slack ?

Is the cable sticky or rough to move

Check the same of the throttle spring..

Check the throttle body, take off the air hose..

Is it clean ?

You can oil the cable and the spring at this point.

check vaccum leads,

Make sur they are plugged in,

Make sure they are not damaged.

Check Air Hose and breather pipe for splits.

report back :)

[Anastasis]

Cmia

Many thanks for your detailed reply and pinpointing what I should check.

Everything checks out OK from your list, although there is a bit of slackness in the throttle cable - about 1cm of play _ I don't know if that is correct or not. Would a slack throttle cable produce the intermittent symptoms I have been experiencing?

I have attached a photo of it so you can see more clearly.

The symptoms I have described are not, I don't think, because of the torque on the Avensis in lower gears. It happens the most when you slow down to 10-15 mph and then need to speed up again. For example, when you turn left, change down to second before the corner, and then accelerate having turned the corner. It either misses (but there are never any pops) or, it feels more like to me, that fuel is not being delivered quickly enough to respond to the throttle.

Anyway, thanks again for your help. I hope the info above is useful

[t-spiritpete]

That image is for a petrol engine...

(ive been chatting about diesel)

I am sorry can you confirm if you car is a petrol or diesel ?

Sorry, have not been around the last few days - it is petrol :)

You need to check the spark plugs as cmia says, check that they are the correct type as recommended by Bosch, NGK, Denso etc. I have come across this before and the wrong plugs can have a dramatic effect on the performance, just because they are new doesn't mean they are correct!

Just an idea ....Pete.

[Anastasis]

Thanks Pete. The plugs were replaced recently as part of a service before I took delivery of the car. I am fairly sure they are all OK.

However, I have found I can replicate this problem virtually every time and in all gears.

If I drive the car up to about 2000 rpm and then allow the engine to drop back to about 1400 rpm and keep it at that for 3-4 seconds, then accelerate again, then it does it.

Could this be linked to one of the HT leads breaking down? If so, is there any way I can diagnose which one is faulty?

Or would this be caused by something else?

[t-spiritpete]

Thanks Pete. The plugs were replaced recently as part of a service before I took delivery of the car. I am fairly sure they are all OK.

However, I have found I can replicate this problem virtually every time and in all gears.

If I drive the car up to about 2000 rpm and then allow the engine to drop back to about 1400 rpm and keep it at that for 3-4 seconds, then accelerate again, then it does it.

Could this be linked to one of the HT leads breaking down? If so, is there any way I can diagnose which one is faulty?

Or would this be caused by something else?

Could very well be the HT leads, rotor arm or distributor cap breaking down under load as you describe as the spark plug needs a very strong spark under these conditions. Before replacing them remove the dizzy cap and make sure there is no cracks and no corrosion on the inside on the cap contacts and the tip of the rotor arm that passes these contacts, this will be like a burning on the rotor arm and a oxidisation or pitting on the four cap contacts, if so carefully remove it. Also take each HT lead off and give the it a good clean, then afterwards spray lightly with WD40.

As to your question about testing each HT lead you will need a good multimeter set on k ohms and roughly around 8k ohms resistance would be ok but the resistance depends on the type of lead and how long it is, an open circuit lead may even provide a spark to the plug as the high voltage can jump the faulty part inside the lead but would break down and not provide a strong spark under load conditions as it lost some energy along the way if you catch my drift! So testing a spare plug for spark(great care req'd here) doesn't mean it will still spark inside the engine under load conditions ... anyway i'm going on a bit now ... but you did ask. If the leads look old or perished or you find any problems with what I have asked you to check it would be worth replacing the parts anyway.

It's always a difficult to fault find without access to the car but the above is worth a try ..... regards and best of luck .... Pete.

PS. I did a quick search on cars for sale and a some of the cars like yours stated they had new dizzy caps and leads fitted so it may be a common fault.

[lazy78]

Hi, im experiencing exactly the same problems with my celica. Did you get the problem sorted? if so what was the cause? Mine has been doing it for over a year and its really doing my head in

[Anastasis]

Hi, im experiencing exactly the same problems with my celica. Did you get the problem sorted? if so what was the cause? Mine has been doing it for over a year and its really doing my head in

Hi - sorry to have not replied. It is fixed - it was the HT leads.

[t-spiritpete]

Hi, im experiencing exactly the same problems with my celica. Did you get the problem sorted? if so what was the cause? Mine has been doing it for over a year and its really doing my head in

Hi - sorry to have not replied. It is fixed - it was the HT leads.

Hello again, always happy to help and nice to get a result, it just goes to prove my theory .... start with the back to basics simple things first before getting technical and expensive

Best regards .... Pete.