Engine stalling / EPS & Orange Engine & Bat light ..SOLVED!

[IFixedThatChytMyself]

Firstly, a massive thank you to everyone who has contributed information in these forums....I have spent weeks reading through countless threads looking for a solution to my cars problem, have used snippets of information from all makes/models of Toyota chats and FINALLY got sorted yesterday. Hope this helps others.

I have a 2009 Avensis estate, 2.0 D4d engine, T27 variant. Bought it 9 months ago with full service history and 170k miles on the clock. Up until this point, the car was immaculate to drive, never once giving me hassle. (Admittedly, I had never driven a Toyota in my 42 years of life before this car,  let alone owned one. I now love the damn things!)

Anyways, at the end of December 23, the car all of a sudden started doing some strange things.....one morning, it was driving fine for 10 or so miles when suddenly it lost power, the engine cut out and coasted to the side of the road.
An orange engine light, EPS light and Battery light came on. It would only hesitantly start after a few minutes but a mile or two later, cut out again. There was no smoke coming from exhaust.

Breakdown assist took it to my local mechanic who spent a week trying to diagnose it. The car was throwing up no fault codes whatsoever. The Battery / alternator were testing out fine too. Tested the turbo, no problems there. He had driven it a couple of times, couldnt replicate the issue. After a week, he gave up, told me there was nothing wrong.
A couple of days later, same problems again for me.

I live in a rural part of Ireland so have minimal selection of mechanics, anyone I contacted it would be weeks before they could look at it. So i took it upon myself to sort it out. Narrowed down a list of possible culprits from this site and started at it. (For background purposes, Im in IT, my pretty little hands dont usually get dirty!)

I remove the EGR valve, cleaned it down, wasnt it. Replaced the Battery (just to test), wasnt it either. Got a working second hand fuel pump, changed it out, wasnt it!

Had left the car sitting there for a week and it ****** me of looking at it. Nearly gave up until I overheard a conversation in the pub over the weekend about how a local lad had his van in garage for the past few weeks and his mechanic couldnt figure out the problem. After chatting with him, turns out he had the exact same problems as I had....and they started they same day my problems started!

Turns out we both got diesel from the same pump at the only petrol station in town on the same day...... This guy called his mechanic monday morning and had told him about this. They drained his tank, flushed the fuel system and voila, problem gone!

So Tuesday, i took the day of work, removed the back seats of the Avensis and after some colorful language, got into the diesel tank of the car via the hatch. I removed the fuel sender pump, disassembled it and found a load of thick black gunk inside and all over the filter....this crap had effectively choked off the supply of fuel going to the engine. See the pictures.

Soaked the lot in Redex diesel system cleaner, scrubbed with a toothbrush and rinsed with petrol. I then changed the fuel filter under the bonnet, pumped the 'bad' diesel from the tank (thank ***** Im stingy, there was only 20 litres or so in there). Then loaded up with fresh diesel and have not had a problem since!
Im like a dog with 2 mickeys Im so pleased with myself.

Car is driving perfect since yesterday, not one issue and Ive driven it hard.

Hope this information might be of help to someone sometime.
 

[avensis_2018]

Wow !!!

[avensis_2018]

i have some fuel additives that i bought at once put 200$ once and add 1 each 2-3-4 refuels or when ever i feel like, also add some boost and also keep all the system clean all the time. i think it's the best way to do so\to stay in the safe side!

[Jim-p]

That's epic, well done! You are right to be absolutely pleased with yourself! Overhearing the conversation down the pub and all, adds to the mystery. There's a short film in this - "The Car", starring Cillian Murphy as yourself.

[Jim-p]

On 2/9/2024 at 4:00 AM, avensis_2018 said:

i have some fuel additives that i bought at once put 200$ once and add 1 each 2-3-4 refuels or when ever i feel like, also add some boost and also keep all the system clean all the time. i think it's the best way to do so\to stay in the safe side!

What additives and their brands do you use? Does it make any difference to fuel efficiency? My T27 d4d is a bit heavy and wondering if a cleaning agent might help.

[Bernard Foy]

On 2/7/2024 at 4:06 PM, IFixedThatChytMyself said:

Firstly, a massive thank you to everyone who has contributed information in these forums....I have spent weeks reading through countless threads looking for a solution to my cars problem, have used snippets of information from all makes/models of Toyota chats and FINALLY got sorted yesterday. Hope this helps others.

I have a 2009 Avensis estate, 2.0 D4d engine, T27 variant. Bought it 9 months ago with full service history and 170k miles on the clock. Up until this point, the car was immaculate to drive, never once giving me hassle. (Admittedly, I had never driven a Toyota in my 42 years of life before this car,  let alone owned one. I now love the damn things!)

Anyways, at the end of December 23, the car all of a sudden started doing some strange things.....one morning, it was driving fine for 10 or so miles when suddenly it lost power, the engine cut out and coasted to the side of the road.
An orange engine light, EPS light and battery light came on. It would only hesitantly start after a few minutes but a mile or two later, cut out again. There was no smoke coming from exhaust.

Breakdown assist took it to my local mechanic who spent a week trying to diagnose it. The car was throwing up no fault codes whatsoever. The battery / alternator were testing out fine too. Tested the turbo, no problems there. He had driven it a couple of times, couldnt replicate the issue. After a week, he gave up, told me there was nothing wrong.
A couple of days later, same problems again for me.

I live in a rural part of Ireland so have minimal selection of mechanics, anyone I contacted it would be weeks before they could look at it. So i took it upon myself to sort it out. Narrowed down a list of possible culprits from this site and started at it. (For background purposes, Im in IT, my pretty little hands dont usually get dirty!)

I remove the EGR valve, cleaned it down, wasnt it. Replaced the battery (just to test), wasnt it either. Got a working second hand fuel pump, changed it out, wasnt it!

Had left the car sitting there for a week and it ****** me of looking at it. Nearly gave up until I overheard a conversation in the pub over the weekend about how a local lad had his van in garage for the past few weeks and his mechanic couldnt figure out the problem. After chatting with him, turns out he had the exact same problems as I had....and they started they same day my problems started!

Turns out we both got diesel from the same pump at the only petrol station in town on the same day...... This guy called his mechanic monday morning and had told him about this. They drained his tank, flushed the fuel system and voila, problem gone!

So Tuesday, i took the day of work, removed the back seats of the Avensis and after some colorful language, got into the diesel tank of the car via the hatch. I removed the fuel sender pump, disassembled it and found a load of thick black gunk inside and all over the filter....this crap had effectively choked off the supply of fuel going to the engine. See the pictures.

Soaked the lot in Redex diesel system cleaner, scrubbed with a toothbrush and rinsed with petrol. I then changed the fuel filter under the bonnet, pumped the 'bad' diesel from the tank (thank ***** Im stingy, there was only 20 litres or so in there). Then loaded up with fresh diesel and have not had a problem since!
Im like a dog with 2 mickeys Im so pleased with myself.

Car is driving perfect since yesterday, not one issue and Ive driven it hard.

Hope this information might be of help to someone sometime.
 

Great post and well done 👏. Incidentally what did you use the lump hammer for ??. Did you have an electrical problem 😂🤣🤔

[avensis_2018]

you can use many kinds of additives some better then others, royal are very good liquymoli good, buy some of then and add from time to time. makes you enjoy more while driving.