Rollasrus Posted January 16, 2012 Report Posted January 16, 2012 Hey guys. My beloved Avalon is really playing up. It may happen once a month yet today happened about 20 times just driving around the block. Until today you would start the car, let it warm up in the driveway and it would ramdomly switch off while idling, another 15amp efi fuse blown. I eventually got a self resetting circuit breaker that just stopped me replacing fuses roughly once every 2 weeks, untill today. Started the car up, the fuel guage registered just under E and the fuel light on (filled it up just yesterday) car drove for about 200m and the motor switched off while running, lost power brakes and power steering, as it was rolling, put it into neutral, cranked it over, motor started and kept going, another 2-300m and same bloody thing again. took it straight home about 1km away and it did the same thing at least 3 more times. 3 hours later took it for another test run, drove about 5km and did not shut off at all, like nothing ever happened, except the fuel guage would register zero, then spike up to the actual reading and so on. I am assuming the engine computer (ecu) is stuffed somewhere, causing some sort of electrical short and therefore tripping the circuit breaker. Any help guys on what to do. and if it needs a new computer how easily/cheaply could this be done regarding a new ecu and probably having to recode the keys etc. Quote
Trev Posted January 16, 2012 Report Posted January 16, 2012 Mrs 82 was doing the same thing but it was more so when you put it into reverse, I ended up finding that the insulation on the power wire from the EFI fuse was worn away from the pod and every time it would go into reverse the engine would jump forward and short the wire between the pod and earth. You may have a faulty sensor on the engine, maybe take it somewhere and get it scanned. Quote
Rollasrus Posted January 18, 2012 Author Report Posted January 18, 2012 Got the car to be booked in with Penrith Toyota just to identify what the prob is and give me a quote to fix it, although I find it unlikely I will pay their strupid prices to actually fix it. In the meantime I did some of my own research cause I am getting impatient. Got quotes from a few other toyota dealers for the price of a new ecu, would you believe $2280 plus gst. Oh and toyota actually has none in stock anywhere in australia. I bought a 2nd hand one for 120 bucks today and fitted it, car starts and did not blow an EFI fuse after a 30 min drive. I will drive it till monday with the new ecu in it to see how it goes. I will still take it to the toyota dealer on monday but will reinstall the original ecu before dropping it off to see if that actually is the problem but if it doesnt blow another fuse by then I think that is it. Other reason to take it in, unrelated to the ecu prob, the fuel guage registers empty with fuel light on when tank is full, registers correctly when you start it then after about 5 secs of driving goes straight to empty. Also the odometer works fine when ignition is on, but once you turn the starter motor and run the car the lcd lust shows 88888 all the time. Quote
Trev Posted January 18, 2012 Report Posted January 18, 2012 Other reason to take it in, unrelated to the ecu prob, the fuel guage registers empty with fuel light on when tank is full, registers correctly when you start it then after about 5 secs of driving goes straight to empty. Also the odometer works fine when ignition is on, but once you turn the starter motor and run the car the lcd lust shows 88888 all the time. Was this before or after the other ecu install? I don't know if the avalon has a BCM but if it does then I would say it would need to be reset by toyota. Quote
Teddy Posted January 18, 2012 Report Posted January 18, 2012 The price you pay for a modern vehicle. Want: comfy, smooth, power, electric everything, reliable Result: to pay money somewhere along the line. :wink: Quote
7shades Posted January 18, 2012 Report Posted January 18, 2012 The price you pay for a modern vehicle. Want: comfy, smooth, power, electric everything, reliable Result: to pay money somewhere along the line. :wink: Only if it was glued together by Australians Quote
Teddy Posted January 18, 2012 Report Posted January 18, 2012 you want to know the old saying we had at work? "Av-along drive to another dealership and please don't come the F*** back" hahahahah Quote
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