Toyota Avensis T3-X Engin issues.....Help

[Wakefield]

Bought a 2003 Avensis T3-X which now turns out to have issues with catalyst efficiency which is below threshold and burning oil like crazy and emissions out of control. Dose anyone know a solution or anyone interest in the car.

[flash22]

What engine ?

[Konrad C]

20 hours ago, flash22 said:

What engine ?

That is a good question. I have seen quite a few posts from new members, who don't put all the car details in the post or profile. I would guess that the engine is VVTi ZZ petrol (1.6 or 1.8), but could be wrong!

If the engine is the VVTi ZZ petrol, then it is the period from 2000 to 2005 that the oil burning issue happened for that type of engine. The ZZ engine oil burning issue was fixed by 2005, but not every car suffered or every owner was aware or did anything to fix the problem. So some cars got through the net and some unsuspecting owner now gets the problem car. 

Maybe Wakefield (Dorian) can tell us when and how long he owned the car, and the actual engine? 

[Wakefield]

Hi Guys the engine is 1.8 variant ZZT251(W) Version ZZ251R if that helps. It was bought in march of this year but was only driven back from the seller and not driven since due to the issues. If anyone know a solution to the issues please let me know. Let me know if anyone needs more information to be able to help. thanks 

 

[Konrad C]

Hi Dorian, have you looked through the forum? There are many topics covering this issue for a very long time. So unfortunately my guess in my previous reply was correct. I always say to people to research older cars to find out known issues, before committing. Due to the age of the car, some of the the solutions are not available or cost effective these days.

Depending how bad the oil consumption is (which sounds bad from your description), it will be an engine sourced from a later T25 facelift Avensis from 2006 to 2008. Those engines had the fix. The other problem is the emissions side, because the system must be contaminated. So if you source the engine from a scrapped car, it would be wise to take the catalytic convertors and sensors too. The problem is how many miles the source engine has done? The other option is sourcing a recon' engine. 
Rebuild your own engine may not work because the cylinder bores are made of a special coating. Changing the piston rings may or may not help! If you are an experienced mechanic or have good friends and access to garage, it will help reduce costs.
I hope you got the car cheap to offset the cost of the fix?

As I said earlier, it is best to find out a cars known issues on forums like this or Honest John. I was fortunate to find out about the ZZ oil burning issue, when I owned my MK1 1.8 leanburn. I was envious of the higher power of the VVTi and that the engine had a chain cam, whereas my leanburn had a cambelt that needed changing every 5 years or 60,000 miles. The good thing was the engine was non-interference and the belt had an easy time. Then I started reading about Avensis 1.8 VVTi burning oil at very low mileages and the causes. 

There are more topics on the subject. 
Good luck which ever route you take to fix your problem.