2001 Avensis

[Shane S. Ellis]

I have a 2001 Avensis automatic that for the most part is aging very gracefully.  Starting about six months ago, it suddenly would not start.  The engine turned over rapidly, but absolutely no sign of life.  I took a bus to work, and when I returned home, tried the car again, and it started immediately.  Since then, about every week, I have experienced the same situation, and of course, especially when I'm on the other side of the city, it's quite annoying to have to take a bus or Uber home and return the next day.  My mechanic, who has proved himself to be excellent over the years, is completely at a lost over this.  He's replaced everything that he can think of, and although the car runs like new (when running), the problem has not changed.  Letting the car sit for about six hours always works.  One possible clue, the last time it did this, I noticed that the electric windows work without the key in the ignition.  Today, with the car working, the windows are back to the normal 'only work when the key is in the on position'.  The car was hooked up to a computer and nothing wrong was found.  I think it's obvious to say that it's an electrical problem, but other than that, me and my mechanic are at a loss.   Anyone have a suggestion?   Thanks very much.     

[Duggerz]

Intermittent faults are always the worst! The best suggestion I have is immediately have the car trailered to your technician for diagnostics when it fails, so the fault can be examined while it's exhibiting I presume there are no codes stored? Apologies if you've already done this. Ian

 

 

[Shane S. Ellis]

Hi Ian. Thanks for your response.  Amazingly, the car never displays any problems while being with my mechanic, even when I left it with him for a week.   His scanner showed no problems whatsoever.   Something that I noticed is that the last time this happened, the car had been sitting for about 30 minutes, and when I tried to start it, the temperature gauge did not register anything.  Given that it was a warm day, and only 30 minutes had passed, there should have been enough residual heat left in the engine to at least make the gauge move a little.  After the car sat overnight, it started perfectly, like it always does.  It seems most likely that a sensor related to the temperature gauge is sending a faulty message to the computer and thus denying the car to start.  If this problem would only happen when the car is connected to the scanner, the problem would probably be obvious.  Until then.....Uuf!     

[Devon Aygo]

Have seen a similar issue caused by a faulty ignition switch which had worn and whilst the car would crank the circuit to provide power to the ignition was not contacting in the switch preventing the car from firing up it also allowed various circuits to stay live when they shouldn't