Things To Be Aware Of On A 57 2.2 D-4D

[Nadin]

Hi everyone! i have just bought an avensis 2.2 T4 and am very impressed great car with plenty of pull and huge amounts of kit for the price!! i was just wondering what things i should look out for problem wise and what i should be doing other than keeping it well loved and serviced to keep it running well?

[irishjay]

Its really a pity you didn't ask this before you bought it ,, of all the Avensis ,, the 2.2 is by far the worst ,,,, 2 words HEAD GASKET !! mine is in for the second time for head gasket failure , i reported this problem last year and was scorned on this site by a few for daring to critisise today ,,, guess what ???????? loads and loads of people have experienced it now ,, see im a taxi man so i do more miles than the average bear so i should no ,,, just keep an eye on the heater , if it starts to blow cold air then obviously fill the coolant resevoir up , if it goes down rather quickly then its the head gasket , also another sign is white steam marks on the engine cover ,, fingers crossed your 2.2 dosen't do the same , apart from the 2 head gasket failures and injector change its been ok ,, good poke and like you said plenty of room ,, hopefully it may never happen to you , but just keep an eye out

[Nadin]

had a bmw that was prone to that too so am very watchfull of temp! thanks for the tip i'll check the level as soon as the wife pops back! do you know if using high grade performance coolant works? i know its helped my friends impreza before as his head went twice because water cant conduct the heat away fast enough?

[RAV4Len]

Nadin, do not be put off as I am sure head gasket failures are isolated incidents these days,

unless maintenance has not been carried out to spec.

Oh, and welcome :)

[pault38]

erm before i went off and had the head gasket done i'd make sure there were no split coolant hoses....but thats just me!! I've had my 2.2 since 07 brand new and its never missed a beat...serviced by me...have just cleaned the egr out for the second time at 48000 miles(first time at 30). One really minor prob was the nut on the rear wiper loosened off. It used a fair amount of oil when new but hardly a drop now,last oil change at 40000 and havent topped up at all yet cos the level hasnt moved

[irishjay]

erm before i went off and had the head gasket done i'd make sure there were no split coolant hoses....but thats just me!! I've had my 2.2 since 07 brand new and its never missed a beat...serviced by me...have just cleaned the egr out for the second time at 48000 miles(first time at 30). One really minor prob was the nut on the rear wiper loosened off. It used a fair amount of oil when new but hardly a drop now,last oil change at 40000 and havent topped up at all yet cos the level hasnt moved

Cheerz will do ,, the first head gasket change fix was done by Toyota ,,, last when when i took the coolant cap of ,, hot water and gunky oil shot out like a fountain ,, ermmm so im guessing that the gasket!!!!!!!! anyways ,, theres thousands of 2.2s out there and probably most are fine ,, but in answer to the question ,, i would say watch out on coolnat levels as head gasket failure very very very common problem

[irishjay]

Nadin, do not be put off as I am sure head gasket failures are isolated incidents these days,

unless maintenance has not been carried out to spec.

Oh, and welcome :)

toyota done my first head gasket after failure at 50k ,,, now its gone again , they are not isolated incidents in the 2.2 unfortunately , ,,, oh how i wish i had of got the 2.0ltr now

[Nadin]

i deal with high pressure gaskets a lot with work and find it very very rare for the actual gasket its self to fail its normally down to an external issue i know on my old impreza the gasket was prone to passing due to high engine running temps due to the turbo and my friend still has that problem now but since changing the thermostat to an upgraded unit filling up with a performance collant and using a larger core radiator the problem has gone i'm, not saying this is the issue with the 2.2 because i cant imagine temp being an issue but there must be an outside factor causing stress on the head gasket seal like warped head, poor block?? water pump issues maybe i dont know it just seems strange that on some cars it happens consistantly

[theoilburner]

From what has been suggested here its a poor design of the head and the gasket itself that allows pockets of trapped coolant to overheat, thus weakening the gasket.

In any case, it's certainly not an unusual problem, I know someone with a Verso 2.2 D4D, head gasket just gone on that too, at something like 70k miles. Also had the injectors done not long ago.

[magic123]

My view on this issue is that Toyota service personnel is letting these cars down. First head gasket on 2.2 D4D i have went at 85k and it was replaced by Toyota. When I bought the cat it was just over 90k on the clock. It is very wright that there is absolutely no sign that head gasket has gone, there is no loss in power, no difference in fuel consumption, no smoke out of exhaust, nothing. If you dont look regularly on he coolant level you may be driving like this for months. I bought the car in the summer therefore id did not strike me that the heater doesn't work. My point is that 5000 miles after the gasket was replaced it had gone again. I took it to the dealership and was told that there is extended warranty for his particular failure up to 100k) but only for single repair, which was done at 85k!!! Then dealer told me that it would cost me £2ooo for investigation of what the reason was. This money though would not cover the cost of potential repairs which would be at least £3000 (if the engine block cracked £7000). After giving me this news dealer was kind enough to inform me that he thinks that any potential investigation would probably point out that there was a cooling problem of some nature (pump). Believe it or not but I decided not to carry on with this generous offer. This would mean spending at least £5000 on the car that I just bought an which is only worth around £4000.

What I decided to do instead is to take it to a local garage where i was quoted £1100 for the repairs (parts and labour!!!). Couple of guys removed the engine from the car replaced the gasket, water pump, thermostat and the gearbox oil. All that would take them 3 days if they wouldn't have to wait two weeks for Toyota to deliver the gasket to them as they lost the order three times.

I bet you would like to know what caused the gasket failure in the first place? Toyota mechanics left two bolts undone.

It's now about a year and 20k after the repair and everything is still running great. Car is now running even smother after reprogramming the injectors which again were replaced by Toyota and compensation codes were not entered into CPU.

Rant over.

[magic123]

My view on this issue is that Toyota service personnel is letting these cars down. First head gasket on 2.2 D4D i have went at 85k and it was replaced by Toyota. When I bought the cat it was just over 90k on the clock. It is very wright that there is absolutely no sign that head gasket has gone, there is no loss in power, no difference in fuel consumption, no smoke out of exhaust, nothing. If you dont look regularly on he coolant level you may be driving like this for months. I bought the car in the summer therefore id did not strike me that the heater doesn't work. My point is that 5000 miles after the gasket was replaced it had gone again. I took it to the dealership and was told that there is extended warranty for his particular failure up to 100k) but only for single repair, which was done at 85k!!! Then dealer told me that it would cost me £2ooo for investigation of what the reason was. This money though would not cover the cost of potential repairs which would be at least £3000 (if the engine block cracked £7000). After giving me this news dealer was kind enough to inform me that he thinks that any potential investigation would probably point out that there was a cooling problem of some nature (pump). Believe it or not but I decided not to carry on with this generous offer. This would mean spending at least £5000 on the car that I just bought an which is only worth around £4000.

What I decided to do instead is to take it to a local garage where i was quoted £1100 for the repairs (parts and labour!!!). Couple of guys removed the engine from the car replaced the gasket, water pump, thermostat and the gearbox oil. All that would take them 3 days if they wouldn't have to wait two weeks for Toyota to deliver the gasket to them as they lost the order three times.

I bet you would like to know what caused the gasket failure in the first place? Toyota mechanics left two bolts undone.

It's now about a year and 20k after the repair and everything is still running great. Car is now running even smother after reprogramming the injectors which again were replaced by Toyota and compensation codes were not entered into CPU.

Rant over.My view on this issue is that Toyota service personnel is letting these cars down. First head gasket on 2.2 D4D i have went at 85k and it was replaced by Toyota. When I bought the cat it was just over 90k on the clock. It is very wright that there is absolutely no sign that head gasket has gone, there is no loss in power, no difference in fuel consumption, no smoke out of exhaust, nothing. If you dont look regularly on he coolant level you may be driving like this for months. I bought the car in the summer therefore id did not strike me that the heater doesn't work. My point is that 5000 miles after the gasket was replaced it had gone again. I took it to the dealership and was told that there is extended warranty for his particular failure up to 100k) but only for single repair, which was done at 85k!!! Then dealer told me that it would cost me £2ooo for investigation of what the reason was. This money though would not cover the cost of potential repairs which would be at least £3000 (if the engine block cracked £7000). After giving me this news dealer was kind enough to inform me that he thinks that any potential investigation would probably point out that there was a cooling problem of some nature (pump). Believe it or not but I decided not to carry on with this generous offer. This would mean spending at least £5000 on the car that I just bought an which is only worth around £4000.

What I decided to do instead is to take it to a local garage where i was quoted £1100 for the repairs (parts and labour!!!). Couple of guys removed the engine from the car replaced the gasket, water pump, thermostat and the gearbox oil. All that would take them 3 days if they wouldn't have to wait two weeks for Toyota to deliver the gasket to them as they lost the order three times.

I bet you would like to know what caused the gasket failure in the first place? Toyota mechanics left two bolts undone.

It's now about a year and 20k after the repair and everything is still running great. Car is now running even smother after reprogramming the injectors which again were replaced by Toyota and compensation codes were not entered into CPU.

Rant over.

[Nadin]

so if it is a faulty gasket that allows traped coolant between seals in surely this would affect all 2.2's not just the odd 1? its more likely to be a coolant componant failure like magic123 says a pump failing or stat or maybe a coolant leak from somewhere do the hoses stats of water pumps suffer on the 2.2's?

[magic123]

there was an comment on this forum that coolant used by Toyota (pink one) somehow has an effect on the gasket coating. Just in case I've asked to fill with other coolant.

[Nadin]

how big a job is a coolant change on an avensis? do they drain and re-fill ok or are there air lock issues?

[t-spiritpete]

so if it is a faulty gasket that allows traped coolant between seals in surely this would affect all 2.2's not just the odd 1? its more likely to be a coolant componant failure like magic123 says a pump failing or stat or maybe a coolant leak from somewhere do the hoses stats of water pumps suffer on the 2.2's?

[/quote

Hi to all,

I am led believe on good authority that the replacement gasket is of a different type to the original and of this gasket type there are 3 or four different thickness, the tech rebuilding the engine needs to work out and fit the correct one, failing to do so could result in premature failure. I'm not saying it applies to my engine but some Toyota engines suffered from head bolts (too long) that bottomed out in the block therefore they didn't torque down correctly and so the head gasket didn't get compressed as it should and will fail at some point in the future. When I served my time in the motor trade my mentor always said to me " when a component fails ........ always ask yourself why and investigate," I have not always come up with the answer but many times I have. Head gaskets can fail due to bad design of one or more components, bad assembly or bad maintenance, how many drivers actually check their cars oil and water level on a regular basis, not many!

I know my car has had this work done correctly and has been refilled with the correct premixed pink coolant which I check with all the other levels weekly, in saying all this I will never be 100% sure that it wil never fail again, hopefully not but I'm not going to lose any sleep over it.

Pete.

[pnutt]

Hi, well, had a 07 2.2 D4D from about 6k miles, full toyota servicing and driven gently -have complained about knocking for a long time (now has about 60k miles on the clock). Started using a lot of oil -garage said "well, these do that" -head gasket failure then discovered on a service, fixed under warranty and guess what, uses no oil again... Each time I mention the knocking, they say "well these do that" -done the research and feel that the injectors may need looking at/replacing, will get the garage to test. Also had the aircon pipes corrode away, replaced under warranty. Otherwise a nice car, just wish it didn't have the knock -will update when the garage have checked the injectors. Why do garages always say "those engines/cars do that" and ignore what you say -grrr.

[pnutt]

a quick update -well, Mr.T is going to replace the injectors and it is covered by the Toyota extended warranty - so, hopefully an end to the problem :-) Glad I paid the money and took it out -phew!