Avensis Diesel Failure To Satrt

January 7, 2011

Hi everyone. I am new to the forum, but have owned my Avensis from new. Its a 2.2 d4 diesel hatchback sept 2005, and one of the best cars to have owned. I am new to diesel but I have now covered 55k in the car with no problems what so ever. So when I went to start my car to-day and it failed you can imagine my disappointment. The car has been garaged and not used for a good several days (hit by the flu bug -me not the car), however I had been having doubts over the recent cold snap, that the startup had been sluggish and noticed for the first time a puff of very pale blue smoke on initial start up that soon disappears, even before I drive off. My first thought was to put a new Battery on the car, but now I read about glow plug indicator (p281 of manual) and the need to see that disappear from the display. I have never ever even seen the indicator; on start up I have only ever depressed the clutch(not always but most times), turned the ignition and drove off. I am calling the AA tomorrow (Club Toyota) to get me started and hopefully all will be well. My local dealer, has never indicated that there was a fault, and the car has been serviced by them always from new. Now I am having doubts and paranoid over all the warning lights being seen. Now there are a red Battery warning and a red oil level indicator showing!! Is this something irregular or have others noted similar occurencies?

January 7, 2011

All cars have those Battery and oil lights on when the car isn't running. Its to warn you that the Battery is being used so you could run it flat, and there is low/no oil pressure without the engine running, but once it is started both lights will go out.

As for 'sometimes pressing the clutch' you will probably find (without realising it) that you always press the clutch, as the car won't start without it being depressed, its a safety feature.

Its hard to say why the car won't start, but there might be an obvious cause that you haven't thought of.

Did you fill the car up last? If so, are you confident it was the correct fuel?

Where do you get your fuel from (supermarket or brand)?

When was the fuel filter last changed?

The cold shouldn't make a huge impact on your car really, and mine has experienced similar (if not the same) temps as yours as i'm only down the road from you (Oswestry) and have had no issues from the cold.