Avensis Engine Management Light On

[LeeG]

Oh dear. Got back from holiday in Cornwall yesterday and ten miles from home my Engine Management light came on.

Thought it might be a sensor but I've got no noise or performance dip. No overheating or idle problems either.

I'm guessing I'll have to take it into the dealer to get them to connect the lamda probe and view the fault. I doubt this will be cheap though.

Is there is anything I can check or do before visiting my dealer?

I have RAC cover with home start - does anyone know if they have lamda probes on board that could be connected to the car?

[AvensisTR]

just go to the dealer... it can be something serious... if i were you i wouldnt even drive the car to the dealer... just call them and they should tow it for you...

[LeeG]

Nothing more frustrating than an uncompleted problem so here's how I fixed my Engine Management light ...

I spoke to a friend of a friend who introduced me to a Toyota Mechanic.

It turns out that the tolerences in the engine management program were set tightly for this model of Avensis causing some driving styles (!) to trigger the engine management light. (I have AVC steering control on my car and I think it may be related to the control of that)

To correct the problem Toyota have produced two engine management upgrades (you would only need the latest one). All dealers have the latest upgrades which the engineer has to download to his handheld computer (this can take up to 30 minutes) and then they can "flash upgrade" (update to you and me) your cars engine management system by connecting via the (lambda??) probe (engine management plug).

They can tell if your management system is upto date by just plugging in their laptop (takes two or three minutes) but then they might have to go and download the program (they can only store a few on the handheld) .

My errors were cleared and program updated and since then I haven't had a problem.

Hope this helps someone out someday.

Regards

Lee

[Tim45]

Same thing happened to me a few miles from home on Sunday. Car still ran perfectly and I took it to the dealer today. They couldn't find a fault and erased the fault code. Suggested it could be because I had let the fuel run too low.

[Tim45]

More management light problems! Light remained on again after erasure of fault code then dealer did the softare upgrade which still not cure the problem. They believe its carbon build up which is affecting the oxygen sensor reading. The car is going in next vweek for a decoke - all still under warranty thankfully.

[Hippy *-UK-*]

Had same prob - Garage said that they had re-flashed the ECU which adjusted the thresholds slightly

[celticmick]

had same problem?

went to dealers 4 or 5 times and they changed sensors( so they say).

Last time they supposedly fixed it it lasted 2 or 3 months.

My warranty ran out a few days before it re-appeared and panic set in again....

Renewed my warranty and took car back to dealer a few days after, got a new cat fitted. problem solved.(i hope)

Each time this happened, there was no dip in performance, no overheating no sign of anything wrong. I wonder if this was the prob all the time and they thought a quick fix would do till I was out of warranty, given that the part was £500 plus labour.

[silverarrow]

known fault new ecu or upgrade and new cat tsb 2005 code p0420 or p0430