My first Toyota

[dennisMorris]

Just bought myself a second hand toyota avensis estate, 2004 plate with 75,000 miles on the clock and 11 toyota service stamps,1 owner from new,,I did all the check on the car and it looked a good one , now i get it home and cracks are appearing in my purchase,,im hoping its just  the " have i done the right thing" worries,,my first issue is,It has a 6 speed gearbox,,is this possible from the factory for this year to have one?.so my worry is where the gearbox came from,is it any good,,has it done a million miles,I think the car has been standing , could this have made the clutch pedal a bit springy.two hours drive home and it seemed better,now there's slack at the top,,works ok though,,what do you guys think,

[Konrad C]

What engine is in the car? Up to including 2004, all Mk2 Avensis were 5 speed. from 2005 the 2.2 diesel was introduced, and that came with 6 speed.

The 2 litre 1CD diesel engine is always 5 speed.

All Mk2 petrols are 5 speed. There has been conversion to 6 speed with the 1.8 VVTI, as the gearbox from the Celica, used a similar engine. This is done privately by mechanics, when the original gearbox fails or just that it can be done. If the final drive from the Celica is used, the 6th gear ratio is the same as the 5th gear - the engine has the same revs at motorway speed - 3000rpm @ 70mph! If the Avensis final drive is used, then the 6th gear will be longer, so the revs lower - 2500rpm @ 70mph. These are rough figures but give you an idea. 

Also if the engine is 1.8 VVTI 1ZZ engine, and it had the known oil burning issue, the whole engine and transmission could have been donated from a Celica. If all the paper work has been done (or not), the engine number should have changed or shown as changed on the registration document. That's supposing somebody went that far.

Tells us what engine you have and the info above may answer your query.

[dennisMorris]

So my VIN number is SB1ER56L40E081957.

Where can i find my engine number with out stripping it down

so if its got a different engine and gearbox then the service stamps !Removed! mean nothing,,

every penny i had,down the !Removed! drain, i bet its done a million miles..OMFG..im gutted

[Devon Aygo]

With the chassis number you've given, your car left the factory as a 1.8 vvti Tourer with a 5 sped manual gearbox, the engine number is/was 1ZZ-U543277 and can be found stamped into the block upper face at the gearbox end.

[Konrad C]

15 hours ago, dennisMorris said:

So my VIN number is SB1ER56L40E081957.

Where can i find my engine number with out stripping it down

so if its got a different engine and gearbox then the service stamps !Removed! mean nothing,,

every penny i had,down the !Removed! drain, i bet its done a million miles..OMFG..im gutted

 

13 hours ago, Devon Aygo said:

With the chassis number you've given, your car left the factory as a 1.8 vvti Tourer with a 5 sped manual gearbox, the engine number is/was 1ZZ-U543277 and can be found stamped into the block upper face at the gearbox end.

I also paste your VIN in one of a few sites I use: - http://www.japan-parts.eu/?vin=SB1ER56L40E081957&cars=ok

Do a regular oil level check as mentioned in my post above. Your engine is the 1ZZ engine! 

My covered possible variables regarding engine and transmission changes, and Lee has confirmed the original engine number.

If the car is sound, then you have a rare combination - Avensis Mk2 estate 1.8 petrol with a 6 speed gearbox.  

 

[dennisMorris]

thanks for you help guys,it was a false alarm anyway,,you mentioned the 1zz engine burned oil..can you shed some light on this for me , should i keep spare oil in the car,,the car doesnt smoke at all?.

 

 

[marty_c83]

Some do, some don't but the engine is prone to it. Just keep an eye on oil level between changes

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Konrad C]

If you search for 1.8 1ZZ oil burning engine issue, you will find a lot of information. The engine first used in the Mk1 Avensis from 2000 onwards, then the Mk2 Avensis. The engine was cured/modified/updated mid 2005 and all facelift Avensis are fine. Not every early 1ZZ engine had this issue. It could be that only a small percentage of all cars suffered this. 

Now I have seen three cars of friends, and every engine was burning oil. Two of these engines were showing below the minimum mark on a cold engine when I mentioned about checking the oil level! My recent post - 

In that post, I had some oil and so topped up.

My other post was with a friend who did have 5 litre can of oil in the boot - 

Again a lucky save.

Both case were Mk2 Avensis '53 plates. Weekly checks and keep oil for top up. I have read some where on the forum, that somebody used a couple of tank full of premium fuel which helped slow down oil burning. They had to repeat it every so often. 

Here are other posts -

Once again, keep an eye on the oil level and hopefully you have a fine engine.