My New Avensis...

[brendans]

Hi all,

After having a VW Golf estate for the last decade with 200K miles on the clock i've splashed out and treated myself to a 57 plate 2.0 D4D Avensis Tourer. Now that i have it home i've noticed a couple of things which may be normal to these cars but i thought i'd come on the forum and say hello and ask for your opinions on them...

Firstly: When idling with the air con on the idle is very erratic, varying from 900-1100rpm and when you stand at the front drivers side you can hear a noticeable rattling noise. Both of these issues go away when the air con is turned off.

Secondly: When accelerating hard there is a noise which sounds like the tappets are out or if it was a petrol i'd say it was pinking.

As i said your opinions on these things are much appreciated and if this is normal i'm happy to live with them.

Thanks in advance.

Brendan.

[Jan&tone]

Welcome to TOC

[Druid Boy]

Welcome!

Erratic idle with the aircon on is normal. No problem here at all.

'Pinking' noise on a diesel is also normal especially when pulling from low revs, which is where diesels pull from.

Enjoy the car, its a goodie.

[Heidfirst]

Firstly: When idling with the air con on the idle is very erratic, varying from 900-1100rpm

is this from cold?

It's normal for cold idle to be 11-1200rpm when cold & dropping to ~800rpm once warmed up.

Anything that puts extra load on the system can increase the warm idle speed.

[Mistermena]

Welcome mate

As said the idle speed is normal when the air con is switched on. Its the ECU telling the engine to work to get the correct cabin temp as soon as possible. It can be a pain when the engine is cold and you want to save fuel and wear and tear on a cold engine. Have you had the air con re-charged/tested? It could be low on R134a and the oil thats held in the gas?

[brendans]

Thanks.

To answer your replies so far the erratic idle with the air con happens all the time the air con is on whether the engine is hot or cold. I'ts noticeable as soon as you turn air con on the idle jumps around wildy and never settles turn you turn it off again. Never had any work done to it at all as i've just got it-maybe it needs a service but as its an approved used car i'd be disappointed it wasnt picked up by the dealer.

Also, i've had a diesel VW for the past 10 years and got well used to it being somewhat noisy but it certainly never made the loud "pinking" the Avensis does. I was just wondering if this is a normal characteristic of this engine or if something needs attention before the warranty runs out!!!

Brendan.

[Big Kev]

if it's an "approved used car", get that rattle investigated whist still under warranty.....sounds suspiciously like it's one or more injectors, as I had on my previous 2006 2.2 D4D T3X. They are £1200.00 a set apparently, and I had all 4 done under warranty at the time. (early 2009.)

Keep us posted on outcome, as injectors HAVE BEEN A KNOWN PROBLEM....

Big Kev

[Cyker]

1) Is fairly typical, but it should start to even out once you're idling for a bit. It feels like the ECU is having trouble balancing the tiny bit of extra power needed by the aircon as it sticks more fuel in to deal with the extra drag, overshoots, then cuts fuel only for the idle revs to drop too low so it puts more in etc. and seesaws like that for a bit until it gets it right

If 2) is only happening when you're flooring it, that seems to be normal for a D4D. It seems temp based, esp. if the engine is cold, or at least 'cool', e.g. during town driving.

I get that if I'm boy-racer'ing off the line at traffic lights. If I'm cruising on the motorway and floor it (Usually when overtaking lorries trying to overtake each other ) I don't get that sound tho', presumably because the engine is running quite hot already.

Either that or the road noise is so high that I just can't hear it (Seriously, the Yaris Mk1 not only doesn't have any noise padding, but actually seems to AMPLIFY road noise! )

[brendans]

Thanks for all your replies so far, i've had to book it in to my nearest dealer as when i started it this morning it ran rough as hell them belched out masses of blue smoke for 5-10 secs before settling down. Really disappointed with the car and the dealership and feel like taking the car back to the original dealer and demanding a refund. So much for the pre-delivery check it got from them before i received it-and now the Battery in the key fob has gone as well!!!

I'll post an update when i have the cause of my troubles...

Brendan.