02 1.8 VVTi - Minor Problems - Project

[AnIdiotAboard]

I have a 1.8 VVTi Avensis, 2002, nice little car it is aswell, purchased it from parents, for partners first car last year. Been a wonderfull tool it really has.

But alas her age is catching up with her, and with the wifey now in new car the avensis is sat, circumsance and life change, the mother in law in her 60 has a driving lisence but no car, and is in dire need of some help with it.  and is caring for her seriously ill mother, she does all this on a bike.

So i got me an ODB Scanner and wondered if perhaps the faults on the car are minor and user servicable, i need to keep the costs down, insuring the car for her will be expensive enough, so i figgured the best place to get advice was here.

 

The Probelms.....

Money Light - Check Engine.

P01500 LAMBDA Sensor, i found where it is under the hood, question is, is this a part that should be replaced what are the cons of not replacing it

Intermittant Missfire - No Error code - happens in 2 senarios, either when the car is heavy and pulling up hill with low revs, you can just feel it, 1 maybe 2 revs, its also VERY VERY VERY noticeable in second gear when running thru the rev range, as you near 3500 3600 rpm, theres a stutter there is no doubt in my mind its a missfire, watching live ODB Data doesnt seem to help this counts up when off throttle and when it do see it tick up wards its only ever by 2  (under above conditions) and NEVER the same bloddy cylinder.

 

** Due to my parents infinite wisdom and biblically lasyness the car has not had the recall work done to the head to solve the oil burning issues.

The car does burn alot of oil, as a rule these days she burns about 4 liters in 1200 miles, ive put a new oil filter on for what its worth...

So what do you think guys? Something i should give some attention to? Something than will run for another coupple of years? is it likely to be more expesnsive than just scrapping and buy another car?

Seems like the perfect little project for family in need, but if its gonna cripple us in the process i help no one

[fastbob72]

You can replace the o2 sensor, does it say which one as there are 3 on this car bank 1 sensor 1 & 2 which are in the exhaust manifold maybe 3 or 4 inches after the exhaust ports and bank 2 sensor 1 which is the one after the cat.

I’ve been running mine with o2 issues forever yet even with 180,000 on her now she still purrs along happily.

As for the misfire I'd do the usual new plugs, air filter, clean out the throttle body and see if that helps.

As for the oil you get used to it. Tescos fully synthetic is pretty good if you are. going through a lot lol

 

[furtula]

o2 sensor is easy to replace, unplug, unscrew, and screw new one in, plug it in, erase the code.

If it's not always the same cylinder, i also agree with getting new plugs.

For oil, i would get 5W30, but if you want to try to get oil consumption down, i would recommend using heavier grade oil, for example 15W40, but this would make it harder to start in temperatures lower than -10C, so a good Battery is needed.