Newby advice please ...

[avtur]

Hi folks,

First timer here so please be gentle with me.

I have an Avensis Estate (2.2 D-4D T3-S) in my sights. It's April 07 with full history, MOT history stacks up, it has 57k miles on the clock, never had a single advisory, looks very nice. The price looks OK at £3,600.

When viewing I got to cold start it in sub zero conditions, glow plug light went out within 2 seconds and the start was instant, tickover held steady at 900rpm.

I did notice that when I turned on the heater fan the tickover increased to about 1200rpm, is this normal? I had the engine running at tickover for about 10 minutes, the temp gauge got to around 25% and the tickover remained at 900 but still with the increase to 1200 with the heater fan turned on?

I see the car has disc brakes all around, how does the handbrake work, on the service brake pads on the rear, on handbrake only pads or on 'handbrake only' drums within the rear discs?

I'm mindful of the saying "if it looks too good, it probably is", this car looks like new inside and out; what should I be looking at to help me see beneath the skin?

Many thanks.

 

 

 

 

 

[frankie406]

Yes the heater on will increase the rpm until the engine has heated up it will then settle back down..I believe the rear discs will have brake shoes inside them.(I'm actually going to be checking mine tomorrow)

Can't say too much regarding your engine as it's different type from mine.but check for any smoke from exhaust check the coolant and open the oil filler cap and look for any creamy like substance.take a good test drive and go through all the gears and check for the dual mass flywheel is OK. ..I'm sure someone else will also help you with this. Good luck if you buy it. And welcome to the forum!

[Duggerz]

Welcome to the group Avtur, the main issue to be concerned with when looking at 2.2 is head gasket failure. It presents initially as a whitish deposit on the engine cover behind the coolant cap and progresses to overheating. I'd want to get a CO sniffer on it to check it's ok as the repair would be more than the cost of the car. Sometimes bubbles can be spotted in the coolant, and there may also be enough pressurisation for you to hear it when removing the cap - only when the engine is cold of course. This could be the first thing you check when looking at the car again. Is the vehicle at a dealer? If so you'd have certain rights of redress if the head gasket were faulty, maybe someone else can give you more information about that.

As for the heater, it's normal for the revs to increase when the heat is turned up fully. The rear handbrake is a dedicated drum.

[Heidfirst]

As Duggerz says a small % of pre-Feb2009 production AD engined Avensis develop a head/head gasket problem where the cost of a proper repair will now be more than the car's worth.

Another indicator for it can be pinkish/whitish spotting around the expansion tank - this is coolant that the has sprayed out from the relief valve & then dried. The official Toyota long-life coolant should be pink.

& I will also confirm what the others have said about the higher revs on idle when cold and/or with extra load & that it has separate handbrake shoes.

[avtur]

Many thanks for the replies folks, I've been driving for over 40 years and would certainly describe myself as a petrol/derv head, however I'm always willing to ask questions of those who I believe will have knowledge and experience which I don't have. I'll take another look at the car and pay attention to the header tank and check inside the the oil filler, the oil was last changed 3k miles ago and is very clean (as you'd expect) with no sign of contamination.

The car is with a local dealer, he has a number of Toyota's, he takes them from a nearby Toyota franchise. The dealer will cover a 3 month warranty himself, from what I can gather additional 'paid for' warranty is unlikely to provide the cover needed for head gasket repair, so if I go ahead I'm just going to have to trust to lady luck. The history of the car is excellent but of course that doesn't offer any guarantee for the future; all part of the joys of second hand motoring!!

From studying posts elsewhere on this forum it appears that this car does not have a 'dpf' which is good news, there are no 'cat' badges on it and the lettering on the engine cover is silver (not green) on black.

One other question, quite minor in the scheme of things, but I couldn't find a 12volt power outlet anywhere in the rear or boot of the car, is that right or have I missed it somewhere?

I'm glad to hear that the handbrake works on a 'drum within the rear discs', from past experience this is usually a better system for a parking brake than trying to get cables to operate on disc brakes. 

Sorry, yet one more question, what's it like for changing headlamp bulbs? I've had experience of a number of new cars where access for bulb changing is extremely limited (nigh on impossible). On the Avensis it appeared that there were some trim panels which looked like they could be easily removed to provide access to the light assemblies; is that the case or I am just being optimistic (as one tends to be when looking at a new car!)

Thanks again.

 

[Heidfirst]

5 hours ago, avtur said:

The car is with a local dealer, he has a number of Toyota's, he takes them from a nearby Toyota franchise. The dealer will cover a 3 month warranty himself, from what I can gather additional 'paid for' warranty is unlikely to provide the cover needed for head gasket repair, so if I go ahead I'm just going to have to trust to lady luck.

Under the Consumer Act 2015 he is liable for 6 months https://www.theaa.com/car-buying/legal-rights

One other question, quite minor in the scheme of things, but I couldn't find a 12volt power outlet anywhere in the rear or boot of the car, is that right or have I missed it somewhere?

Is there not 1 under the rear ashtray (rear of console)? see pic at www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TOYOTA-AVENSIS-2008-REAR-ASHTRAY-/152330486005

Sorry, yet one more question, what's it like for changing headlamp bulbs? I've had experience of a number of new cars where access for bulb changing is extremely limited (nigh on impossible).

A pain unless you have small hands. & if it is on oem bulbs you will probably want to upgrade (e.g. Osram Nightbreaker/Philips Xtremvision etc.) as the oem bulbs were poor.

 

 

[avtur]

yet again, many thanks.

[Owdjockey]

Hopefully I'm not hijacking the thread, but say Avtur had a diagnostic tester, to check for codes etc. Could this be a reasonable request to the present owner? Is this something that other forum members have done in the past when looking to buy a used car? If the owner refused, perhaps they be trying to hide somethin?

[Perfection]

When I purchased my recent used Verso, I actually took my diagnostic fault code reader with me and the seller didn't mind me plugging in to see the data...