Avensis engine warning lights

[BPan]

Engine warning lights came on last week in my Avensis 2011 2.0 D4-D. Can’t recall exactly which ones now but yellow triangle, engine management light and parking brake were three of the four. Also flashing message of VSC and Parking Brake in other area of dashboard. Did not lose power at all.  Had checked out with diagnostic tool and worked its way down to fuel injector message. Cleared fault and over 200 miles later nothing further. Which is good but waiting for it to happen again. Any thoughts please?

[Heidfirst]

Hi Douglas, welcome to TOC 🙂

So many different sensors are interlinked these days that as you have discovered a fault in one (injector) can throw up a fault warning light (e.g. parking brake) that you wouldn't normally associate. Really you need to get it code read to narrow it down which is exactly what you have done. 🙂

I think that all you can do is wait & see if it does reoccur. How many miles on the car & what sort of service history? 

[Mihanicos]

From past experience, whenever I get various unrelated trouble codes, I find that the 12v Battery has less than 11 volts.

Measure the Battery voltage first. \the techstream is the best diagnostic tool to use.

Regards, Chris.

[Dazsw]

Most of the time when you clear a code and it doesn't come back that's  a good thing, it's when the same codes come back you know there's an issue.

Toyotas are weird in that one code fires on about 5 lights on the dash and usually always the parking brake/vsc errors, my theory is that most people will get scared and go straight to the main dealer to get scammed on a "diagnostic."

 

[M1rza]

Hello to all of ya,

I guess this is already famous question and failure that people are facing with Avensis...but for me something is unclear, this happened all of a sudden, was driving like 80-100 km/h when suddenly got those warning signals, and car couldnt reach 30 km/h with full gas.. so I was driving like that for some time to home...     

My Toyota is from 2010, now is like 94k something km, bought it used so not primarily owner...  Funniest thing, the guys did Diagnostics, and couldnt actually said what is it exactly...parking break is OK and they just suspected that can be "malfunction" somewhere but nothing tragic - so got a reset of warning signals with Notice: if something again pops up, then you should leave your car for examination and so on...  

What do you think this may cause?? Happened for second time, but first time was because of Battery I assume, couldnt start my car at all, so from Toyota did change of Battery and "solved" through diagnostics errors...but after like 3 weeks I got it now again....   

Looking forward for some good thoughts!!! Thank you very much!

p.s I am writing from Germany, because I am considering your Forum better and useful (understandable) for myself!

Regards,

[BPan]

9 hours ago, Heidfirst said:

Hi Douglas, welcome to TOC 🙂

So many different sensors are interlinked these days that as you have discovered a fault in one (injector) can throw up a fault warning light (e.g. parking brake) that you wouldn't normally associate. Really you need to get it code read to narrow it down which is exactly what you have done. 🙂

I think that all you can do is wait & see if it does reoccur. How many miles on the car & what sort of service history? 

Hi Scott. Thanks,

Fingers crossed it was a one-off event! 

FSH and 98k.

Regards

Douglas

 

[BPan]

7 hours ago, Mihanicos said:

From past experience, whenever I get various unrelated trouble codes, I find that the 12v battery has less than 11 volts.

Measure the battery voltage first. \the techstream is the best diagnostic tool to use.

Regards, Chris.

Hi Chris.

Cheers I will check that out.

Regards

Douglas

[BPan]

6 hours ago, Dazsw said:

Most of the time when you clear a code and it doesn't come back that's  a good thing, it's when the same codes come back you know there's an issue.

Toyotas are weird in that one code fires on about 5 lights on the dash and usually always the parking brake/vsc errors, my theory is that most people will get scared and go straight to the main dealer to get scammed on a "diagnostic."

 

Hi Daz

Thanks for your reply. Here’s hoping it doesn’t come back!

Regards

Douglas

[Heidfirst]

8 minutes ago, M1rza said:

Hello to all of ya,

I guess this is already famous question and failure that people are facing with Avensis...but for me something is unclear, this happened all of a sudden, was driving like 80-100 km/h when suddenly got those warning signals, and car couldnt reach 30 km/h with full gas.. so I was driving like that for some time to home...     

My Toyota is from 2010, now is like 94k something km, bought it used so not primarily owner...  Funniest thing, the guys did Diagnostics, and couldnt actually said what is it exactly...parking break is OK and they just suspected that can be "malfunction" somewhere but nothing tragic - so got a reset of warning signals with Notice: if something again pops up, then you should leave your car for examination and so on...  

What do you think this may cause?? Happened for second time, but first time was because of Battery I assume, couldnt start my car at all, so from Toyota did change of battery and "solved" through diagnostics errors...but after like 3 weeks I got it now again....   

Hi Mirza, welcome to TOC 🙂.

As I said to Douglas there are so many sensors interlinked on modern cars that warning lights can be triggered by something that you wouldn't directly link. If you are confident that your battery/charging system is OK then really you need to get it code read again - ideally by a dealer or someone with a system that can read Toyota's manufacturer specific codes.  

[M1rza]

8 minutes ago, Heidfirst said:

Hi Mirza, welcome to TOC 🙂.

As I said to Douglas there are so many sensors interlinked on modern cars that warning lights can be triggered by something that you wouldn't directly link. If you are confident that your battery/charging system is OK then really you need to get it code read again - ideally by a dealer or someone with a system that can read Toyota's manufacturer specific codes.  

Hello, thank you for hosting me here,

I understand, I might check battery/charging system once more I assume..  But you are pointing to read the code even if there is No warning signals temporary?? 

[Heidfirst]

You said that your car had it now again. The system should retain codes for a limited no. of starts.

[M1rza]

4 minutes ago, Heidfirst said:

You said that your car had it now again. The system should retain codes for a limited no. of starts.

What is actually "limited" nr.??   It had it, but certainly I am a bit afraid due to driving on highways and so on... cuz' I saw what means when you cant exceed 30 km/h... 😕 

[Heidfirst]

I am not sure but I believe that it is ~5.

[M1rza]

11 hours ago, Heidfirst said:

I am not sure but I believe that it is ~5.

Alright...I will see what will happen!

Thank you anyways for your suggestions!! 

[BPan]

23 hours ago, Mihanicos said:

From past experience, whenever I get various unrelated trouble codes, I find that the 12v battery has less than 11 volts.

Measure the battery voltage first. \the techstream is the best diagnostic tool to use.

Regards, Chris.

Hi Chris

Checked this morning.

Over 12 volts with engine not running and over 13 volts with engine running.

Cheers

Douglas

 

[Regressor]

I had this problem, techstream said injector. Could reset fault code and it would stay off for maybe a week or one day. It turned out it was one of the glow plugs. I had no idea that a glow plug could make the abs, vsc and engine checklight go on.