Battery Replacement - Does anything need resetting?

[Timot]

My late father's Avensis GLS X-reg (2.0L? Petrol) has been sat in his garage for over a year so the Battery was completely flat. It is low mileage, 1 owner, garaged and MOT'd when laid up so we thought it would be worthwhile trying to get it through another MOT. It drove beautifully on a 100-mile round trip before being laid up.

I have replaced the Battery and started the car. To begin with it would fire up then immediately die. This happened a few times but from then on it ran without cutting out.

There are a few irregularities.

Sometimes the accelerator pedal does not rev the engine and it stays at idle.

The orange engine warning lamp on the dash is illuminated. I think it may have been doing that when it was working OK before being laid up. [The oil pressure and charging lamps extinguish as expected]

Sometimes the accelerator pedal works fine even with the warning lamp on.

The fast rate hazard flash happens for 10 or 20 flashes then stops then starts flashing again while the engine is running. This rate is similar to that I remember happening with the remote locking confirmation flashes when the key fob worked previously. 

The radio seems to work fine without needing a code reset.
The remote key fob doesn't do anything but using the key directly in the driver's door lock works fine.
I don't know if it has an alarm but nothing's gone off during all this meddling.

Is there something that needs to be reset after replacing the Battery in order for the thing to behave itself? 
I'm just a bit worried that it might develop the accelerator fault en route to MOT or worse. 

Thank you.

[Bernard Foy]

Hard to know what your problem might be, however I would recommend putting fresh petrol into the tank. Petrol sitting for a long period deteriorates and doesn’t run very well.

[Timot]

Thanks for the heads-up Bernard. I think I remember someone saying an iffy lambda sensor can annoy the ECU and prompt the engine warning lamp. Whatever it is it still allows it to run a bit but with low revs occasionally.

Do we conclude that the ECU reacts to bad fuel via that route and responds with no accelerator response?

If that's the case I don't know If I should drain the tank or just fill up with fresh to dilute the old - I suppose if the MOT's testing emissions then the old fuel might mess things up in that respect so maybe I'll try to drain the tank.

[furtula]

Throttle is controlled by wire, or cable?  If you have old gas, i would take as much as i can, and put maybe half a tank in.

Problematic lambda can trigger the check engine light, i had mine go on and off, depending on weather outside, but the car should run just as fine regardless.

Flashers are controlled by bimetallic strip, could be that is just needs changing.

The key fob not working is normal behavior after Battery being disconnected, you need to program it again, you can search the forum for the correct procedure.

[Timot]

Thanks Furtula. I'll check the throttle control type when I go back round there. It feels like it's got electronic intervention because it's intermittent and doesn't feel like a snapped or snagging cable. The pedal goes up and down the same as when it's working. I suppose the throttle could still be opening mechanically and the fuel injection part just protesting. But then if there was loads of air and no fuel I might expect it to splutter if it goes way lean as I open it up.  More of a carb man with 1960s classics.

A friend has suggested plugging a fault code reader in to see what's triggering the engine fault lamp.

I find some budget versions for around a tenner online and was surprised because I thought that kit would be prohibitively expensive. 

Does anybody know what version of OBD the UK 2000/X-reg model is? A lot of the descriptions say that changed to OBD2 or EOBD later on but that some cars were ahead of the game.  

Thank you.

[Konrad C]

If your car is the facelift, it will have VVTi badges on the sides, plastic engine cover with VVTi embossed, the Badge on the grill and not on the bonnet, the heater controls below the stereo, the car will be OBD2 compatible. The engine will be 1AZ-FSE and has direct injection petrol. Also it is a chain cam engine. 
The pre-facelift Avensis is not OBD2 compliant so needs specialist diagnostic like Techstream to work. I had the Mk1 pre facelift 1.8 and used the 'paperclip' method to get any codes stored.
OBD2 compliant generally means the engine uses two or more O2 sensors, pre cat and post cat to check the catalytic converter and measure the efficiency, plus adjust for load and conditions more accurately.
  

Edited February 19, 2020 by Konrad C
additional words

[Timot]

Thanks everyone. Some things have improved but it's still problematic after going back yesterday. I had left the new Battery disconnected overnight because I didn't want it deciding to do something foolish by itself.

I think there are 2 things wrong here. OBD and Key Fobs.

I reconnected the Battery and it started fine so I ran her up for abut 15 minutes with the heater full on and bonnet shut (although in garage) in case any dampness etc. The engine warning light was on throughout. It initially ran only at very high idle with no throttle response so turned off and re-started a few times and it behaved thereafter. Warning light still on.

The rear hatch was open because I was changing the spare wheel while it was warming up and the hazards were doing the fast flash thing for long periods.

The TVSS indicator light (next to rear demist button above the heater vents on the dash) is on CONSTANTLY and not flashing. So it's as if it thinks the TVSS is armed but no alarms are sounding. It was probably armed a year+ ago as it sat in the garage with the Battery dwindling so maybe the last thing its brain remembers is "I was armed" so it's got its knickers in a twist about it all. I really need to sort the fobs out but I am confused about which key re-programming procedure to adopt. There seem to be all sorts of ign on/off/on/off and door open/shut/open/shut permutation methods suggested on the forum. There was a later RAV4 one needing a button pushing in an elusive box hidden in the footwell for which you have to dismantle the car to gain access. 

Could someone please bung me a link to a method specifically for the type of key system on the MKI year 2000/X-reg Avensis GLS in the UK? This is for the existing original keys NOT virgin/replacement keys. Thank you.

I went indoors to do some admin, came out and ran the engine up again and, low and behold, the engine warning light had cunningly extinguished itself without me doing anything.

So I didn't have a chance to have a go with the old Solus OBD kit my neighbour lent me as I presumed it now had nothing to report. Sod's law predicts that if I go back without the Solus then the warning lamp will be back again I bet. 

Cheers

Tim