Avensis 1.6 T Reg Issues

[GeorgeJoseph]

Hello Everybody, :)

I am new to this forum. I had a good browse through a quite a lot of avensis issues and here I am to pour my own set of troubles with my car.Any help or advice will be greatly appreciated.

Here goes , I bought a T reg Avensis 1.6 - non VVTi (registered April 1999) for £2000. The car had done 87097 miles when I bought it. The MOT certificate mentioned the same mileage(which was actually done 5 months before purchase). I bought the car from a bit shrewd dealer in southall ( he tricked me into paying an advance to test drive the car and then made me buy it). I have driven about 250 miles since I purchased it, mostly during weekends. I have some basic issues with the car :

1) The clutch has to be pressed to the floor , before shifting gears. The 3 rd gear is a bit hard to shift into sometimes - not all the times though. If I do it slowly, it works fine - but then I sometimes feel I might be slowing the cars behind me. Does the clutch plate require change?

2) The paint has faded off in the boot area. A paint job in this area is estimated to be £300 .

3) I am not sure if the cam belt has been changed? Is there any way to know this?

4) The car gives me about 8 miles per liter on small drives across the city. I also got 4.5 miles per liter( This is when I start the car and drive for 2.5 miles, when I go tochurch) and usually thats the best travelling I do. Is this normal for this type of car?

5) Brakes - not too effective, they have a small screech sometimes.

6) Bad heat and moisture insulation - sometimes when it is too cold outside, Its just as cold inside the car as well. The heater takes quite a lot of time to heat the inside. This is quite different from a friends car ( a 2003 mondeo) , which always seems to be warmer inside compared to the outside.

Is there anything else I need to check? I have a warranty of 3 months from the guy that sold me the car.

The mechanic mentioned that a good £800-£1000 could be spent on the car to fix it for a good 2-3 years. From the way I drive it , other than the issues mentioned before , I feel it is a good car . After reading all the avensis posts , I feel the non VVTi models have much lesser trouble compared to the newer VVTi ones.

I would like to get some expert feedback on what sort of work needs to be done on the car and if there is any point at all to service the car and put in £800. I will add at this point that the car only had a single owner , before I bought it.

Any advice would be helpful,

Thanks,

G.

[gazza1286]

Hi

1. The Clutch problem sound like either the Clutch master or slave cylinders are worn. If the cluch itself was worn you would experience the opposite. ie The biting piont would be very high. Check for leaks either on the shaft next to the cluch pedal (cylinder) or behind the rubber boot on the transmission bell housing (slave).

3. remove the upper timing belt cover. If the belt doesn't have 'Toyota' written all over it. Someone has put a copy belt on in the past. If a genuine belt was fitted you would normally expect to see a sticker on the cover giving the date and milegae of the change. £170 to replace.

4 mileage should be 35-40 MPG. You must do a full tank to get an accurate reading

5 Brakes. Normally precise. it is umusual to get a sticking caliper

6. If the coolant system full? Also make sure the controls Not set to 'recirculate' this will cause excessive condensation. Normally the Avensis heats up very quickly. The needle should sit at halfway.

Take the car back and see if the warranty is any good.

I would check the mot certificate 'on-line'. It may not be genuine. If its a fake. I would demand your money back or threaten Trading standards.

See:

http://www.motinfo.gov.uk/html/home.html

[GeorgeJoseph]

Hi

1. The Clutch problem sound like either the Clutch master or slave cylinders are worn. If the cluch itself was worn you would experience the opposite. ie The biting piont would be very high. Check for leaks either on the shaft next to the cluch pedal (cylinder) or behind the rubber boot on the transmission bell housing (slave).

3. remove the upper timing belt cover. If the belt doesn't have 'Toyota' written all over it. Someone has put a copy belt on in the past. If a genuine belt was fitted you would normally expect to see a sticker on the cover giving the date and milegae of the change. £170 to replace.

4 mileage should be 35-40 MPG. You must do a full tank to get an accurate reading

5 Brakes. Normally precise. it is umusual to get a sticking caliper

6. If the coolant system full? Also make sure the controls Not set to 'recirculate' this will cause excessive condensation. Normally the Avensis heats up very quickly. The needle should sit at halfway.

Take the car back and see if the warranty is any good.

I would check the mot certificate 'on-line'. It may not be genuine. If its a fake. I would demand your money back or threaten Trading standards.

See:

http://www.motinfo.gov.uk/html/home.html

Hello Gazza1286,

Thanks for the information. I checked the MOT certificate online and it is valid. Would I get a mileage of 35-40 mpg even on very short runs like 2-2.5 miles? currently it is about 8 miles per liter. I went to london yesterday and came back - about 25 miles). I do find the mileage by filling upto the brim and then refilling after doing a couple of miles. I should also say here that the economode indicator does not light up on my dashboard.

The coolant system is full. The temperature gauge does not go upto halfway anytime - this could be also due to the fact that I do not drive the car for that long to get it half way. Yes, if I do drive for about 15-20 minutes then it does go to half way through the temperature gauge. Any ideas as to how much changing the clutch master/slave would cost?

I have to also update that , my central locking and remote locking works - but not the anti theft system . Is there any way of knowing if there is anti theft system installed or not?

Thanks,

G.

[T600]

After your first post, I was going to say pretty much exactly what gazza said, but he beat me to it.

Not sure why you're questioning the mileage; 8 miles per litre is pretty much in the range of 36 to 40 mpg that gazza said and sounds very good for short journeys. Measuring mileage on just a few miles is not really accurate though, you need to do a lot of miles then fill up and work it out. And anyway filling up every few miles is a waste because it means you're always carrying a full tank of fuel when you don't need to.

With regard to your heating problem, it sounds like the thermostat may be stuck open; it's a common problem.

Re anti-theft system; you can check for some of these by leaving your window open then lock the car and reach in to open your door. If deadlocks then you won't be able to open door. Open bonnet and see if alarm goes off. Not sure how you can check for immobiliser without getting a key cut, but I would think your car would have one of those as most UK Toyotas post 1994 do.

Re the clutch cylinders - it may just need bleeding or you may be able to change the seals ; for price you need to get a quote, but shouldn't be much. Slave cylinder leaks tend to result in fluid loss whereas master cylinder leaks don't. You need a mechanic to diagnose it properly though because without seeing it nobody can be sure exactly what the problem is. Clutch drag can have other causes too.

HTH

Tony

[GeorgeJoseph]

Thanks for the input everyone. I now have an offer from the seller that he will take back my 1.6 T reg for the same amount of cash(1900£,I bought it for 2000£ and then added tax on it for 180£)- provided I take another avensis from him (obviously a bit more costlier) . I am thinking about this actually since , my current avensis has 87k on the clock and does not have service history after 33k. I just went back to my fuel consumption number and found that for my short runs the car was only returning 15.4 MPG!!!!! and not 30-40 mpg on my 1.6 liter engine.

Add to this the fact that it has paint crumbling at the boot area and yesterday I noticed the roof had the same issue as well... I am planning to stick to the avensis/toyota - I would appreciate any input into which particular model I should be looking at , a specific year and all the things I need to look when buying a preowned avensis. I believe some information from any of the gurus in this forum could help me choosing a better avensis this time.

I might travel ,at the most 6000-7000 miles a year.I also drive only small distances 3-4 miles at a time mostly - since I use the car mainly for shopping and not travelling to work - so an avensis which retruns good mpg is what I am looking for and something which will last me atleast 2 years without a lot of maintanence work.

Sorry for the trouble..any input will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

G.

[GeorgeJoseph]

Hello All,

I just noticed from other posts that my Idle RPM is high at 1200 and even goes upto 2000 rpm(cold start or otherwise). I guess this explains my excess fule consumption(4.5 miles per liter). Could any one tell me how I can check the thermostat and reduce the idle rpm. Also , I just noticed a small whistlign sound in the engine noise while pressing the throttle a bit more than half way- is this normal or am I loosing fuel in the process?

Any comments on any of my last posts welcome,

Thanks,

G.

[Strangefish32]

I bought the car from a bit shrewd dealer in southall ( he tricked me into paying an advance to test drive the car and then made me buy it). I have driven about 250 miles since I purchased it, mostly during weekends.

Shrewd dealer? Conman more like. I think I know the guy you're talking about Lady Margaret Road? I went there last year to have a look at an Avensis Estate. As soon as he said I'd have to buy the car if I test-drove it or pay a "deposit", I walked. So should you. I'd complain him to Trading Standards. He has no right to make you buy a car like that. I figured he was dodgy the moment I saw him and wasn't surprised when he asked for cash to test drive the car..

[GeorgeJoseph]

I bought the car from a bit shrewd dealer in southall ( he tricked me into paying an advance to test drive the car and then made me buy it). I have driven about 250 miles since I purchased it, mostly during weekends.

Shrewd dealer? Conman more like. I think I know the guy you're talking about Lady Margaret Road? I went there last year to have a look at an Avensis Estate. As soon as he said I'd have to buy the car if I test-drove it or pay a "deposit", I walked. So should you. I'd complain him to Trading Standards. He has no right to make you buy a car like that. I figured he was dodgy the moment I saw him and wasn't surprised when he asked for cash to test drive the car..

Yes , thats him. I was new to the UK and this was the first car I ever saw. and I was forced to buy it. How do you complain to trading standards?

Thanks,

G.

[Strangefish32]

I bought the car from a bit shrewd dealer in southall ( he tricked me into paying an advance to test drive the car and then made me buy it). I have driven about 250 miles since I purchased it, mostly during weekends.

Shrewd dealer? Conman more like. I think I know the guy you're talking about Lady Margaret Road? I went there last year to have a look at an Avensis Estate. As soon as he said I'd have to buy the car if I test-drove it or pay a "deposit", I walked. So should you. I'd complain him to Trading Standards. He has no right to make you buy a car like that. I figured he was dodgy the moment I saw him and wasn't surprised when he asked for cash to test drive the car..

Yes , thats him. I was new to the UK and this was the first car I ever saw. and I was forced to buy it. How do you complain to trading standards?

Thanks,

G.

Check this page out:

http://www.tradingstandards.gov.uk/cgi-bin...DV0003-1011.txt

Do take action against him. He's only going to go and take advantage of others and the threat of legal action may well get a refund back out of him.

[talldave]

With regard to the high idle RPM and poor fuel consumption - it sounds like your thermostat is stuck open. Does the temperature gauge get to the 'normal' halway mark after a few minutes of driving? If its much below this then it's stuck open and needs to be replaced. This would account for the high idle speed and poor fuel consumption.

See the excellent advice from gazza on how to change it here.

[GeorgeJoseph]

Hello Everybody,

I just found out that the bottom and top radiator pipes actually heat up together and hence I think as per the message I read the thermostat has malfunctioned. But , I revved the engine upto 6000 rpm(red), for about 4 seconds and the temeperature gauge raised upto half way. and the RPM fell down. my doubt is , how much time does the 1.6 4AFE engine usually take to reach half way through the temperature gauge. Anyways, I have ordered the thermostat from IEZURA cost me 12.22£ . After I drain of the radiator coolant(to replace the thermostat), any ideas as to where I could get replacement radiator fluid?

Another thing I noticed when I revved up the engine to 6k+ , water dropped out of the exhaust(couple of drops)... is this normal or is it bad?

Any help will be appreciated.

Thanks,

G.

[gazza1286]

George,

Any ethylene Glycol based antifreeze will do - £10 from any Car Parts supplier. A 50/50 mix with water is recommended. Toyota sell 'For Life' premixed. It will cost £35 from the dealer and for a car of your vintage can't really be justified.

I would recommend fully draining the system (including the engine block) Flush the system if you have the time. Anything at all could be in there at the moment and its best not to mix diferent coolant types/brands. Also If you don't FULLY drain the system and you use the Toyota stuff you'll just end up dilluting the stuff and reduce it's effectiveness.

Invest in a Haynes Manual. The procedure is fully covered.

The water seen coming out of the exhaust isn't a cause for concern. it's just the moisture in the atmosphere working its way through the system or condensation settling inside the exhaust when it cooled the previous night.

[GeorgeJoseph]

Thanks for your reply Gazza,

I do have the Haynes manual. Any idea ho wmuch it would cost to get a mechanic to do this?

Thanks,

G.

[gazza1286]

They will charge less than 1hr labour. £30-£40 Max. It is a very simple DIY job

14/10(?)mm socket to drain block/open the thermostat housing.

Give it a go.

[GeorgeJoseph]

Hi Gazza,

I am willing to do it , just that , I dont know how to drain out the coolant and clean the coolant system. Thats all.. The haynes manual does not say a lot of draining the system. If you can tell me or point me to a forum topic , I could try doing it tommorrow.

Thanks a lot for the help,

Cheers, :)

G.

[gazza1286]

See page 1.18

But you're right it's not particularly clear.

The engine is a 4A-FE which is identical to the Carina E. These links may assist:

http://toyotaownersclub.com/forums/index.p...&hl=coolant

http://toyotaownersclub.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=52895

[GeorgeJoseph]

Thanks for pointing me to that info Gazza. I couldnt do it yet, since iezura havent delivered the thermostat yet. Another problem , i face sometimes, the starter needs some time(1-2 more secs) to start the engine. Today , I parked into office, back to the wall . WHen I started the car after 5 hours , the engine showed quite a bit of hesitation to start(irregular revs).Maybe I am pressing the starter too long . I was thinking that maybe the exhaust was blocked a bit by the wall.. though not sure. But I stopped the engine and started again and then restarted , it was fine. Any idea if this is a starter problem?

[gazza1286]

Could be anything -

Might be worth checking the plugs and distributor cap for any 'obvious' problems. Otherwise I would think poor starting might be down to a failing Battery.

[GeorgeJoseph]

Any idea why saloon avensis models dont have a rear wiper? I rarely see a avensis saloon with rear wipers and most imporantly can I fit a wiper motor on my rearscreen? if avensis models do have this I am thinking of lifting one from an older avensis( from a scrap yard) , bcos my boot and rear sides have to be painted anyways...

Also any idea as to if I should replace the read brake drums of my car if they have rusted? My car screeches a bit when I apply brakes and this once singular flow so I am thinking of replacing the brake discs in front and drums in the back - can I replace the drums with discs ...probably not...

any feedback will be appreciated.

Cheers,

G.

[GeorgeJoseph]

Hello All,

Today my starting trouble came screaming back at me. This time with a bonus - the oil lamp,the batt lamp and valve lamp(just below the battery) remained lit and only the airbag light switched off. It did start after a couple of goes..... just that the idle rpm is now just a bit below 2000 rpm. Any ideas how I can get this fixed? I checked the oil it seems to be in the right level....

Cheers,

G.

[gazza1286]

Did you replace the coolant like you planned? Is the system completely full without any air? You need to be sure. The engine requires at least two cycles where the operating temperature has been reached (and topping up with coolant in between) to purge the system of air.

If the coolant is far too low the coolant temp sensor wont be covered at start-up this would result is excessive revs.

I'm not clear about the lights. Did they stay on after the car started?

[GeorgeJoseph]

I didnt replace the thermostat yet , bcos , the guy who sold me the car has a lot of other work on it in warranty period...once the car switches on....the lights switch off....is this an issue?

[gazza1286]

I didnt replace the thermostat yet , bcos , the guy who sold me the car has a lot of other work on it in warranty period...once the car switches on....the lights switch off....is this an issue?

That's normal

[Mrs F]

Hello Everybody, :)

I am new to this forum. I had a good browse through a quite a lot of avensis issues and here I am to pour my own set of troubles with my car.Any help or advice will be greatly appreciated.

Here goes , I bought a T reg Avensis 1.6 - non VVTi (registered April 1999) for £2000. The car had done 87097 miles when I bought it. The MOT certificate mentioned the same mileage(which was actually done 5 months before purchase). I bought the car from a bit shrewd dealer in southall ( he tricked me into paying an advance to test drive the car and then made me buy it). I have driven about 250 miles since I purchased it, mostly during weekends. I have some basic issues with the car :

1) The clutch has to be pressed to the floor , before shifting gears. The 3 rd gear is a bit hard to shift into sometimes - not all the times though. If I do it slowly, it works fine - but then I sometimes feel I might be slowing the cars behind me. Does the clutch plate require change?

2) The paint has faded off in the boot area. A paint job in this area is estimated to be £300 .

3) I am not sure if the cam belt has been changed? Is there any way to know this?

4) The car gives me about 8 miles per liter on small drives across the city. I also got 4.5 miles per liter( This is when I start the car and drive for 2.5 miles, when I go tochurch) and usually thats the best travelling I do. Is this normal for this type of car?

5) Brakes - not too effective, they have a small screech sometimes.

6) Bad heat and moisture insulation - sometimes when it is too cold outside, Its just as cold inside the car as well. The heater takes quite a lot of time to heat the inside. This is quite different from a friends car ( a 2003 mondeo) , which always seems to be warmer inside compared to the outside.

Is there anything else I need to check? I have a warranty of 3 months from the guy that sold me the car.

The mechanic mentioned that a good £800-£1000 could be spent on the car to fix it for a good 2-3 years. From the way I drive it , other than the issues mentioned before , I feel it is a good car . After reading all the avensis posts , I feel the non VVTi models have much lesser trouble compared to the newer VVTi ones.

I would like to get some expert feedback on what sort of work needs to be done on the car and if there is any point at all to service the car and put in £800. I will add at this point that the car only had a single owner , before I bought it.

Any advice would be helpful,

Thanks,

G.

Hello George

I can't help on the technical side but I bought my own T reg w. similar mileage a couple of years ago for £3000, but it was from a private single owner, and I have had v. few problems, the first one solved cheaply following some great advice from this forum, and one I'm getting help on currently.

I too have visited that dealer in Lady Margaret Road - if it's on a corner with 2 glass fronted windows - with my elderly neighbour who wanted to see a car advertised in Autotrader website. The scruffiness of the place and the rows of damaged cars in the side street plus the hard sell of a large number of staff, made us walk away. The price of the car we'd gone to see was significantly higher than advertised, and the quality did not live up to the advert. We were not though asked to give a deposit for a test drive, but we did not want one anyway. The advice from other forum members sounds good, but you need to read the small print re yr 3 month warranty, or go to a Law Centre/CAB for their advice if you think you do want to try to return the car.

It's not only independent dealers who ask for deposits - my neighbour and I went to the proper Nissan showroom in Hanwell, and their salesman 'phoned both me and my neighbour after the visit, saying he'd found a suitable car, and was getting it delivered to the Hanwell showroom for my neighbour to have a test drive, but he wanted a £200 deposit. He tried to make out this was standard practice, and said this was to hold it, as otherwise he might have sold it before my neighbour's test drive. We said she'd take that chance. He tried very hard to get me to pay the deposit by credit card for my neighbour as she was not keen. I declined, although he was very persistent and my elderly neighbour felt unduly pressurised and nearly succumbed - although the car did not even match the brief! I had to 'phone back for her and cancel the appointment as she felt he would persuade her into agreeing something she didn't want to. In the end, the hard sell just put us off going back to that showroom, so it was counter productive.

[GeorgeJoseph]

Hello Everybody, :)

I am new to this forum. I had a good browse through a quite a lot of avensis issues and here I am to pour my own set of troubles with my car.Any help or advice will be greatly appreciated.

Here goes , I bought a T reg Avensis 1.6 - non VVTi (registered April 1999) for £2000. The car had done 87097 miles when I bought it. The MOT certificate mentioned the same mileage(which was actually done 5 months before purchase). I bought the car from a bit shrewd dealer in southall ( he tricked me into paying an advance to test drive the car and then made me buy it). I have driven about 250 miles since I purchased it, mostly during weekends. I have some basic issues with the car :

1) The clutch has to be pressed to the floor , before shifting gears. The 3 rd gear is a bit hard to shift into sometimes - not all the times though. If I do it slowly, it works fine - but then I sometimes feel I might be slowing the cars behind me. Does the clutch plate require change?

2) The paint has faded off in the boot area. A paint job in this area is estimated to be £300 .

3) I am not sure if the cam belt has been changed? Is there any way to know this?

4) The car gives me about 8 miles per liter on small drives across the city. I also got 4.5 miles per liter( This is when I start the car and drive for 2.5 miles, when I go tochurch) and usually thats the best travelling I do. Is this normal for this type of car?

5) Brakes - not too effective, they have a small screech sometimes.

6) Bad heat and moisture insulation - sometimes when it is too cold outside, Its just as cold inside the car as well. The heater takes quite a lot of time to heat the inside. This is quite different from a friends car ( a 2003 mondeo) , which always seems to be warmer inside compared to the outside.

Is there anything else I need to check? I have a warranty of 3 months from the guy that sold me the car.

The mechanic mentioned that a good £800-£1000 could be spent on the car to fix it for a good 2-3 years. From the way I drive it , other than the issues mentioned before , I feel it is a good car . After reading all the avensis posts , I feel the non VVTi models have much lesser trouble compared to the newer VVTi ones.

I would like to get some expert feedback on what sort of work needs to be done on the car and if there is any point at all to service the car and put in £800. I will add at this point that the car only had a single owner , before I bought it.

Any advice would be helpful,

Thanks,

G.

Hello George

I can't help on the technical side but I bought my own T reg w. similar mileage a couple of years ago for £3000, but it was from a private single owner, and I have had v. few problems, the first one solved cheaply following some great advice from this forum, and one I'm getting help on currently.

I too have visited that dealer in Lady Margaret Road - if it's on a corner with 2 glass fronted windows - with my elderly neighbour who wanted to see a car advertised in Autotrader website. The scruffiness of the place and the rows of damaged cars in the side street plus the hard sell of a large number of staff, made us walk away. The price of the car we'd gone to see was significantly higher than advertised, and the quality did not live up to the advert. We were not though asked to give a deposit for a test drive, but we did not want one anyway. The advice from other forum members sounds good, but you need to read the small print re yr 3 month warranty, or go to a Law Centre/CAB for their advice if you think you do want to try to return the car.

It's not only independent dealers who ask for deposits - my neighbour and I went to the proper Nissan showroom in Hanwell, and their salesman 'phoned both me and my neighbour after the visit, saying he'd found a suitable car, and was getting it delivered to the Hanwell showroom for my neighbour to have a test drive, but he wanted a £200 deposit. He tried to make out this was standard practice, and said this was to hold it, as otherwise he might have sold it before my neighbour's test drive. We said she'd take that chance. He tried very hard to get me to pay the deposit by credit card for my neighbour as she was not keen. I declined, although he was very persistent and my elderly neighbour felt unduly pressurised and nearly succumbed - although the car did not even match the brief! I had to 'phone back for her and cancel the appointment as she felt he would persuade her into agreeing something she didn't want to. In the end, the hard sell just put us off going back to that showroom, so it was counter productive.

Hello Mrs F,

You are talking about the same person whom I bought the car from. My car doesnt have a lot of trouble so I think I am ok . Anyways, I have started off a complaint with trading standards to investigate his standards. Whoever it be , whether it be nissan or a local car dealer , no one has the right to influence of any person's freedom of choice. Thank you for the advice , I will do the needful to follow up with trading standards.

Cheers,

G.