Avensis Cat Damage By Oil Burning

[Stevet1138]

I was wondering if anyone else has this same problem.

My Avensis is a 03 plate T4 1.8 new shape model and recently I have had a new short block engine fitted under warranty as the car was buring oil. Now my question is that the first inkling I had that something was wrong was when the enigne management light came on and this was found to be the air sensor for the cat. Since I have had the engine replaced I have had this light come on another three times and the dealer reckons that the cat etc. has been damaged as a direct result of the engine buring oil. They are trying to get this done under the warranty as well as neither the dealer nor myself think that I should have to pay for this as it was casued by the engine fault.

I must say that I am now getting fed up with this as it has taken about six months from when I first noticed the problem and took the car to the dealer to having the new enigne fiited just over a month ago, to now having this cat fault.

I am thinking that if this will not be honoured under the warranty then I will not have much option but to change the car as £1200 plus labour etc is a tad expensive.

I am off to the dealer this afternoon to have the engine management light reset once again and hopfully find out what is going on regarding the warranty clain.

[Jamesbelfast]

It is possible for excess oil in the exhaust to damge either the relevant Lamda sensor/s and/or the exhaust. A damaged Lamda sensor should show up on diagnostics and a duff CAT should be detectable using exhayst emmission testing.

Has the sensor and its connetcions been checked. I have seen electrical damage caused to connections during engine changes.:)

[ormi]

cat should have been changed at the time of the engine rebuilt.

[Stevet1138]

Well I went and had the engine management light turned off once again and of course they were unable to give me an update on the warranty claim due to the chap being "out of the office until tomorrow" - funny that. I was assured that they would call me on Wednesday and of course it od now Thursday and I have not heard a word - I will be calling them again later today and if I need to I will go up the chain of command as it were.

I did make a point of requesting the catr be changed at the same time as the engine - the dealer said that it was better to change the engine first and see what happens after reagrding the cat - was not really happy about that as I could see where this was going.

The dealer is normally very good and I am a bit disapointed with them reagrding this.

While I was there they gave the car the usual check over and mentioned two things one of which I know nothing about - what does "the auxillary belt is showing cracks" mean?, the other one was "front dics slightly coroded and showing blue" - what does blue mean? I tried to ask them when I got the keys back but was rather quickly ushered out as they wanted to close.

I will be asking them when I call again today but it does not hurt to mention it here as well.

[igormus]

I was wondering if anyone else has this same problem.

My Avensis is a 03 plate T4 1.8 new shape model and recently I have had a new short block engine fitted under warranty as the car was buring oil. Now my question is that the first inkling I had that something was wrong was when the enigne management light came on and this was found to be the air sensor for the cat. Since I have had the engine replaced I have had this light come on another three times and the dealer reckons that the cat etc. has been damaged as a direct result of the engine buring oil. They are trying to get this done under the warranty as well as neither the dealer nor myself think that I should have to pay for this as it was casued by the engine fault.

I must say that I am now getting fed up with this as it has taken about six months from when I first noticed the problem and took the car to the dealer to having the new enigne fiited just over a month ago, to now having this cat fault.

I am thinking that if this will not be honoured under the warranty then I will not have much option but to change the car as £1200 plus labour etc is a tad expensive.

I am off to the dealer this afternoon to have the engine management light reset once again and hopfully find out what is going on regarding the warranty clain.

hi mate

yes the cam might be damaged by this issue -- i ve changed cat by 75k (kms) and those 1.8 ltr engiine has been consuming oil.

cheers/Igor

[deetoy]

I was wondering if anyone else has this same problem.

My Avensis is a 03 plate T4 1.8 new shape model and recently I have had a new short block engine fitted under warranty as the car was buring oil. Now my question is that the first inkling I had that something was wrong was when the enigne management light came on and this was found to be the air sensor for the cat. Since I have had the engine replaced I have had this light come on another three times and the dealer reckons that the cat etc. has been damaged as a direct result of the engine buring oil. They are trying to get this done under the warranty as well as neither the dealer nor myself think that I should have to pay for this as it was casued by the engine fault.

I must say that I am now getting fed up with this as it has taken about six months from when I first noticed the problem and took the car to the dealer to having the new enigne fiited just over a month ago, to now having this cat fault.

I am thinking that if this will not be honoured under the warranty then I will not have much option but to change the car as £1200 plus labour etc is a tad expensive.

I am off to the dealer this afternoon to have the engine management light reset once again and hopfully find out what is going on regarding the warranty clain.

hi mate

yes the cam might be damaged by this issue -- i ve changed cat by 75k (kms) and those 1.8 ltr engiine has been consuming oil.

cheers/Igor

[deetoy]

I own a 53 registration Toyota Avensis. I really thought that it was the perfect car- excellent mileage, hardly any maintenance till about 2 years back. It started off with a minor problem- the engine service light came on and I took it immediately to the Toyota service centre (My wife and I have always bought and serviced our cars there). They told me then that there was a fault with the catalytic converter and that the sensor and the replacement would cost £1200.00. They also told me that the car would fail the MOT and that the acceleration of the car would be affected. Since I was not having any problems with the acceleration, I told them that I would contact them later and took the vehicle for a second opinion at an independent garage. The engineer at this garage told me that the emissions were fine and that it was most likely the sensor that had failed. They also told me that incidentally,the engine oil was low and that they had topped it up. They also suggested that I keep an eye on the oil level and talk to the dealer about it. I kept an eye on the engine oil levels and found that I was having to top it up every 1500 miles or so. My car had done around 90,000 miles and when I rang up the toyota service centre, I was told that it was perfectly normal. Well, the problem got much worse to the point that I had to top the oil up every 700 miles (once a week). The service centre response was that they would have to check the oil level at exactly 1000 miles. When I pointed out that the engine might not last that long they just shrugged their shoulders and said that it was TOYOTA POLICY. When I told them that I would risk it, they then said that the process would have to be repeated a number of times, clearly trying to discourage me and that anyway there was no solution at the end of it. I have been quietly topping up the oil till I checked this forum and discovered that this was a known problem with the 1.8vvti engine and that Toyota had extended the warranty on the engine. I contacted Colchester Toyota yesterday and was told that the warranty had expired. Clearly the warranty had not expired when I initially brought the problem to their notice and it took over 2 years and an internet search for me to find the root of the problem. There were a couple of other things that I found irregular. Much before the CAT failed, the service centre had given me a 'free' can of engine oil saying that it was a gift and that I could use it to top up if needed. The other interesting thing was the extremely rude receptionist at the service centre tells me that the oil problem has been logged well after the extended warranty had expired- this in spite of the fact that I had been telling them about this much before that.

It was quite an irony when I had call from a friend virtually within half an hour of arriving back from the service centre telling me that he was going to buy an Avensis based on my bragging about the car especially its fuel efficiency. It was rather a sad moment, telling him to research the engine problems with the Avensis before buying it.

[Beagh1958]

To deetoy.

As above postings point out, cat should have been changed with short block. This is well known problem through out the industry, print of as many details from forum as you can, also all motoring magazines that have covered problem. Make a polite nuisance of your self at service reception, let them loose their temper, which they will do everything under the sun to keep from blowing. Stand your ground.

Also i find a solicitors letter & a possible mention of a visit to a small/claims court if done properly usually does the job, but only as a very last resort.

Regards, Beagh.

PS: Avoid taking you business elsewhere at this moment in time, because they will not give a hoot.

[DONFRAMAC]

To deetoy.

As above postings point out, cat should have been changed with short block. This is well known problem through out the industry, print of as many details from forum as you can, also all motoring magazines that have covered problem. Make a polite nuisance of your self at service reception, let them loose their temper, which they will do everything under the sun to keep from blowing. Stand your ground.

Also i find a solicitors letter & a possible mention of a visit to a small/claims court if done properly usually does the job, but only as a very last resort.

Regards, Beagh.

PS: Avoid taking you business elsewhere at this moment in time, because they will not give a hoot.

The original EC design life for a CAT was 50,000 miles, but now that these units get placed away from the road-spray & salt/grit, they last 100,000 miles commonly. However, coking on the lambda probe causes wrong fuelling, and coking on the CAT, and sometimes holed. This happened rapidly with my son's SEAT IBIZA within weeks of one coil-pack failing, and being renewed, after being towed by the AA to the dealership. The other 2 coil-packs get strained by this type of failure, and often fail soon afterwards, so I fitted 2 of the latest versions as soon as he was home on holiday, some weeks later, but the engine warning light was still up, but showed as the lambda probe problem, after our local man cleared some old warnings that the dealer should have deleted after some disasterous consequences of bad rebuild in Aberdeen. The lambda probe got replaced at cost (only £85), and I think that keeping the fuelling correct preserves the expected long-life of the CAT. I have been using a fuel system cleaner for 9 years now, by the brand-name "FORTE", with diesel cars, and for the last year the petrol version, in a FIESTA. This is well known in the trade, which is the only real source of supply. 400 ml at £7.50p + VaT, treats 100 litres of fuel and is known to clean-up emissions, esp. for MoT. I have read postings documenting the rejuvinating effects of this additive, and its decoking effect. I only used it every 3-6 months, but it always causes noticable improvement in running of the engine, and more MPG.

You can get an engineers report via the AA, or RAC, to confirm that the renewed engine should have also had a new probe & CAT fitted. I would choose the RAC, as Club Toyota gives membership with them, so their opinion may be respected.

Ultimately recourse to Toyota Customer Relations Dept may be necessary-- (a senior man from LEXUS got drafted into that Dept., as it was disfunctional).

[Stevet1138]

Well, I have now finaly heard back regarding the Warranty claim, despite constant promises I would hear in a couple of days, it has taken a good few weeks and is now over six months since I first took the car in. Toyota have declined the claim and the dealer says there is nothing else I can do about it - no avenue to appeal unles I fancy getting a solicitor invloved which would not be cost effective. Looks like I will now have no option but to chance the car - thanks a bunch Toyota!

[caveman_si]

Well, I have now finaly heard back regarding the Warranty claim, despite constant promises I would hear in a couple of days, it has taken a good few weeks and is now over six months since I first took the car in. Toyota have declined the claim and the dealer says there is nothing else I can do about it - no avenue to appeal unles I fancy getting a solicitor invloved which would not be cost effective. Looks like I will now have no option but to chance the car - thanks a bunch Toyota!

Have you called customer services direct to get there opinion on it and find out why they replaced the block and not the cat? Might be worth a call. Failing that give a few exhaust places a call, might not be as expensive as 1200 from a dealer.