Avensis Diesel And Water!

[Norbreck21a]

No really a question, but I'd just thought I'd share what I've just seen at my local dealer.

Because my brother in law is the senior Master Technician, everyone at the dealership knows me, and let me freely enter workshops.

Well as I was passing today, I thought I'd just stop and say hello. To my surprise they were pushing a 55 plate (6 months old) Avensis T3S 2.0 D4D into the workshops. When I asked what was wrong, he told me that the car belonged to a lady who was coming home from picking the kids up from school. She had followed a car under a bridge and through a dip, which with all the rain we have had around here lately, was flooded.

The car ahead of her went through slowly, so she followed. The car almost straight away stalled. She apparently did here best to restart it and kept cranking to no avail. She rang for breakdown assistance, and when the RAC turned up and saw that the water was 1/3 of the way up the door, said to her "where do you want it towed?". She replied, "I just want it starting". The RAC guy told here that most likely the engine had had it.

I asked my brother in law for an explaination, and he told me that on the diesel's, the air intake is where the front fog light are/should be. Thus is water comes upto this point, that car sucks in great volumes of water into the engine and the car stalls.

I watched the mechanics as they 1st removed the air filter, which looked like it had just been taken out of a bath!. They then removed all 4 glow plugs, put the car in gear, and slowly rolled the car forward to turn the pistons. I was shocked to see each cylinder in turn fire a huge jet of water into the air, so far that it hit the roof. They then turned the engine over on the starter, to see if the con rods had been bent, and it continued to issue water over 30 feet in the air.

They said this time she was lucky, and hopefully there has been no long term damage. But I think the point to learn is if you are in deep water, and the engine stalls. DON'T ATTEMPT TO RESTART IT. Wait until the car has been pulled clear.

Just thought you diesel owners should know. For the record, the petrol engine models draw their air in much higher up near the grill.

Cheers

Andrew

[SMW]

Very interesting and a good share

[Jones~32]

Very informative :P

Me Dad said you'd post it on here

[selfbuild]

The air intake ain't behind the where the fog light should be on mine.... the intercooler is.....

The air intake must be between the inner and outer wing though, so i'm assuming the intake is by the front wheel if it managed to suck up water.....

Either way i'm taking it steady from now on through large puddles :D

[Norbreck21a]

Very informative :P

Me Dad said you'd post it on here

hey Mike,

Shouldn't you be lurking in the Corolla forum ? This is for us grown ups... :D

Tell you dad I was impressed !!!

Cheers

Andrew

[Jones~32]

Very informative :P

Me Dad said you'd post it on here

hey Mike,

Shouldn't you be lurking in the Corolla forum ? This is for us grown ups... :D

Tell you dad I was impressed !!!

Cheers

Andrew

He got in tonight and said "oh i bet Andrew posts about an Avensis D4D" checked the forum and there you go

Bet that was interesting seeing all that water going everywhere! :o

[silverav1]

What a great place to put it...! Japanese engineering? :D

Doesn't everyone think now that Toyota have overtaken Ford in sales, they've also taken over their reputation for making crud automobiles?

I'll tell you what...I think I'll go back to buying German next time...yeah, I think so.

Who's the idiot who told me Lexus = Mercedes and Toyota make the Lexus. What a load of tosh!

[Jones~32]

What a great place to put it...! Japanese engineering? :D

Doesn't everyone think now that Toyota have overtaken Ford in sales, they've also taken over their reputation for making crud automobiles?

I'll tell you what...I think I'll go back to buying German next time...yeah, I think so.

Who's the idiot who told me Lexus = Mercedes and Toyota make the Lexus. What a load of tosh!

It doesnt matter what make of car you buy, if an engine sucks in water chances are its nackered, end of :P

[silverav1]

Helps if you put the air intake in a better place though...don't you think?

p.s. Try changing the headlamp bulbs on the new Avensis....where does it say you need to amputate three fingers to get your hand into the tight space?

Brilliant engineering...

[Bosnjo]

bulbs - I've done it twice. That damn bottle gives no room to do it. By the way, second time I got out with just few scratches. The first time was worse :crutchy:

[Stephen Kowalzcuk]

Helps if you put the air intake in a better place though...don't you think?

p.s. Try changing the headlamp bulbs on the new Avensis....where does it say you need to amputate three fingers to get your hand into the tight space?

Brilliant engineering...

I think the idea is to make it as awkward as possible so you end up having to be reliant on the dealer for every little DIY task. Personally I would do it myself and chew my fingers up.

Remember the old days when you could change a bulb in a minute, they cram so much stuff in the engine bays now its almost impossible to do anything, just changing an oil filter is a hassle. I loved the old Carina E because you opened the bonnet and the oil filter was just there right in your face. Superb engine bay to work in.

[durham_lad]

I had a fiesta diesel, and exactly the same thing happened to that, so its not just japenese engineering (mind you I was a bit gung ho going through the puddle) It turned into an insurance job to get the engine fixed.

With regard to the headlamp bulb thing, changed n/s so I thought I could change o/s, how wrong I could be. Took it into the dealer, they didn't do it properly either, ended up blowing the bulb and a headlamp fogged up. When the technician put the cover back on he snapped off a locating lug, but tried to just get away with it. Went through a puddle and water got in.

[johnd4d]

Silverav don`t do it ! just been there bmw that is(530d) , what a money pit never stopped paying out !

hAD A Lexus before that great motoring no probs !

[Jones~32]

Just thought i'd add, the car started fine and is now back with its owner

[silverarrow]

does it say this in the car manual ???

and can the air vent be temp blocked as with some other cars eg 4x4 etc

with the typical uk weather and global warming flash floods are going to be more often

[ken.reece]

Thanks for the tip. I've got an Avensis 2.00 D4D and would have quite happly driven throu' that water if I had'nt read your info. Thanks again,

Ken

[Bino]

I've had my 56 Avensis for 2 weeks now and called the Toyota dealer to ask where the Air intake was. I have had 7 (yes 7) clients and freinds blow their engines in floods within the last 12 month. It seems to affect all makes especially BMW320's.

Tip from dealer. Locate the air intake and follow the hose to the air filter. If you are in trouble and need to cross a flood, then simply disconnect the hose from the filter. This way water cannot be sucked up into the engine. Best advice though is turn back. My uncle with the BMW was hit with a 9K bill for his 6 month old BMW320, as the insurance co wriggle out of paying!

MAy speak to dealer to see if they can relocate the in-take as I live in Devon and constantly have to drive through ford and the like!