Help! Avensis not starting (& had the ignition switch replaced!)

[Bassman73]

Hi my name’s Dan, I’m a newbie on here,  just wondering if anyone could help with the following?

I bought a 2005 Avensis 1.8 petrol hatchback back in November last year, nearly 3 months of ok motoring then one afternoon it wouldn’t start - left it for an hour or two then starts up ok.

Nothing happens for another 2 months, then same problem, left it for an hour and started ok.

Then as the weather gets hotter from end of April, about once every 10 days - same problem again!

After looking on this helpful forum, figured out must be the ignition switch as so many people said that the weather gets warmer this is the part that can be affected and won’t let the car start.

The ignition switch was replaced just over a month and haven’t had the same problem...until this evening.

There is power, when I turn it to start it’s cranking but the engine will not start/fire up at all - I have noticed that the engine management light, Battery light and oil light are on when I’m trying to start it but can’t remember if they usually come on when starting it up.

I have just been using it for commuting to work (10-15mins and back again) and the odd shopping trip to the supermarket in the last 2-3 weeks but I hope that wouldn’t have affected it?

To be honest I haven’t got a clue what to do next so am open to suggestions!

Thanks in advance

Dan

[Darren Carthy]

Hi Dan, 

Had a similar issue with my 06 avensis, 

It could be the starter motor but not 100 percent,

So to check if its the starter, you sit in the car and try to turn it over, as you're doing that get a mate with a hammer to tap the starter (not too hard but hard enough to give it a bit of a knock) you can do this from the top of the car, no need to get underneath. If the car starts up then you'll need either a new or reconditioned starter. 

New one is 300 quid, recon is about 80, 

 

Hope this helps, 

 

Darren

[Ant-Rav]

Yep I agree with Darren. starter is a very likely suspect tho In my experience tapping the starter might not always get it to work;  and u cud only totally eliminate the ignition switch if u replaced it with a brand new one. I replaced with second hand switches myself and they were no good. But I think ur in the right area with both these option's.

[revband]

Read the question again guys, he says it is turning but not starting.

[xzirri]

The way I see it, it's either not getting fuel or spark, or both. Could be an issue with the immobilizer, the fuel system or the coils/spark plugs. As I'm no expert, I have no idea how you could test for this.