I hate my Avalon - what a money pit

[zirconx]

I've owned my 1997 Avalon for about 4 weeks. I paid more for this car then I've ever paid for a car in my life. I had heard Toyotas and Hondas were very reliable and hardly ever needed repairs. Thats not true, I think they are just like every other car out there.

I was at about $750 worth of repairs as of yesterday, and I just found out tonight that it needs about another $300 to fix the air conditioner.

Even though the car does drive like a dream, I don't think I could ever like it because of how bad I feel having about having to dump so much money into it. I'll probably sell it at a loss just to be rid of it. I've owned GMs my whole life, but I always thought owning a Totota or Honda would be great. But I've been left disappointed.

If you are thinking of buying an Avalon, do yourself a favor and get it inspected at a shop. I wish I would have. I've never done that before, and have always had good luck with my cars. Guess my good luck ran out.

If I do keep the car, I will continue to post HowTos and pictorials and such, like I did with the o2 sensor. I was planning on installing a remote starter next weekend, and documenting that, but I really don't feel up to it now....

[ASG14]

Next time give the car a better looking over when buying it. Just as any used car, if the previous owners treated it like a POS, your going to shell out money to fix it. I got my '96 Camry for $2500 cheaper then a dealer price, becuse it was lacking a few repaires. but the price I paid was reflected in the issues it had. o2 Sensors are normal on all cars to go. I just replaced my rear one at 92k miles (same engine as you have).

[zirconx]

Yes I agree. I don't think the the Avalon itself is a bad car. Just mine.

I too, got mine way under dealer retail. It was a good price based on what I knew it needed. But then its needed a whole lot more.

And having to slam the doors is just driving me nuts. My wife took the car out of town today. After she got home, I went out to fetch something from the car. And sure enough, the driver's door hadn't been slammed, so the interior lights were on. Last time it was the passenger door, a friend had used that door last and didn't know they needed to slam it.

[ASG14]

Was the car in an accident at one time?

You may want to take a look at your door alignment. I had to replace my door with one from a junkyard, and it did the same thing. Just took me a while to align it to the latch properly, and it pretty much solved the hole issue.

[zirconx]

How do you align the door? I haven't found any adjustable parts in it.

I think the car was rear ended at one time, based on what I've found in the wells at the bottom of the trunk. Looks like some if it has been pounded back out. Actually I think it was just the right rear. Its the drivers door I have the most problems with. The pin stripping lines up perfectly. It feels like something is getting pinched too tight near the front (where the hinges are) of the door.

[ASG14]

Ok, There is not an Avalon repair guide online that I know of, but the Camry one should be almost the same for the door alignment.

http://www.camrymanuals.com/

any other issues with the car?

[avalontom]

zirconx,

It's a used car; I'd be supprised if you didn't have to spend money on it.

Once you get the car running right, I think you'll be happy with it.

Good Luck!

Tom

[zirconx]

Originally Posted by ASG14

Ok, There is not an Avalon repair guide online that I know of, but the Camry one should be almost the same for the door alignment.

http://www.camrymanuals.com/

any other issues with the car?

Thanks for the link, that looks very helpful. If I could bring my striker latch out just a little bit, I think that would help.

I pulled up the body PDF, it says to loosen up the bolts on the striker latch, then hit it with a hammer to adjust it (page BO-10). I've already tried that, based on some advice someone gave me in the Camry forum. But in the end they said their latch uses phillips screws. The avalon uses a T40 Torx bit. I don't think they are the same. I pounded on mine with a hammer and couldn't get it to move. I pulled the bolts completely out and looked at them - there's just two bolt holes there, I don't see how it could move at all. No slots or anything for them to move in. Just two holes through the body, into what look like welded nuts inside the body.

The PDF also mentions using an SST (dealer only tool) to adjust the hinge bolts. Its only adjustable up/down and back/forward. Mine appears to line up perfectly based on the pinstriping, so I don't think thats the problem. I think the portion of the door near the mirror needs to be bent outward, I think its pinching too tight there. I may take it to a body shop and ask them to look at it.

[zirconx]

After this $300 repair I'll be up to about $450 to get the air conditioner working. All because some *^!&%$# idiot didn't put the battery tie down back on!

[sickwilly]

We couldn't have had more differen't experiences zirconx than what your are reporting. Then again, I bought my 97 from a neighbor who I saw taking pretty good care of it. At least, they kept it clean and had the oil changed.

Coldest damn air I have ever had in a car on a hot Tennessee day.

The only issues I have been dealing with is I have changed the tranny fluid every 3000K tryign to get the fluid to where it looks brand spanking new (its there now) and I am facing a possible rack replacement -- as I leak a little power steering fluid.

Either hand in with this one, or sell it and get one better cared for.

[zirconx]

Mine needed a rack, too, just three days after I bought it. Not too uncommon on these cars from what I've read.

When the AC worked (it was a slow leak, so it did work after I had it charged the first time), I was impressed by how quickly it blew cold air. Almost instantly.

When I drive the car, I really think I'm going to keep it. It drives so nice. But then I get it into the garge and remember all the things left I have to do to it, and what I've had to do to it (10s of hours of my time now), and I just want to get rid of it so I can forget about it.

To top it all off, I learned about the sludge problem after I bought the car. So after I get it all fixed up nice, I always have that in the back of my head - that tomorrow the thing could need a new motor. Its got 145K on it.

And I'm really interested in having a nice stereo in my car, but from what I've read this is a huge pain in the Avalon. Not a whole lot you can do with 4" door speakers (half of mine are blown, BTW). And they aren't really 4"s anyway, they are some wierd size toyota uses and I've read it can be very difficult to get aftermarket speakers to work in there. Plus, the car has a factory amp which I've read is just a complete PITA to bypass. Then my wiring will be hacked and it will be hard if not impossible to put the factory stereo back when I sell the car. Its just one thing on top of another. It drives nice, but I don't know if thats enough to make up for everything else. It doesn't have a pass-through to the trunk either, which I've found myself missing already.

[ASG14]

I;ll take a look at my Camry todat. I think you may have to adjust the hinge in the door. It took me HOURS to figure out the last time.

Your speakers are actually 5 1/4", in all 4 doors I think.

Only way to tell about the sludge is to take off the Valve Cover. If you do it, just doo the front one. It;s an easy job. Rear one is not needed to check, and is a pain to do.

[ASG14]

Ok, so IF you decide to keep the car, this would likely be a good investment. It is for the 1996 Avalon, but I do not think there is any major differences between '96 and '97.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1996-...spagenameZWDVW

[zirconx]

Originally Posted by ASG14

Ok, so IF you decide to keep the car, this would likely be a good investment. It is for the 1996 Avalon, but I do not think there is any major differences between '96 and '97.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1996-...spagenameZWDVW

I bought a Chilton manual the day after I bought the car, and that has some in handy so far. But there were a number things I couldn't find in there, like how much freeon to put into the AC system, or a wiring diagram showing the colors/signals of the o2 sensor harness. I'm sure the factory manual is better.

It takes about 1.9 lbs of R-134a, BTW.

[toyosupra_87]

Here is the links to update your stereo system so you can added them as favorite link.

http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/t142507.html

http://www.toyotanation.com/forum/t151341.html

You can tackle the stereo system upgrade in many different ways.
Some of my buds, they got the stereo and an aftermarket amp.
ran new spreaker wire to the amp and from the stereo system, they need to find a power, ran rca cable to the amp and done. (skip a few step but you get the picture)

I went throught how the above link shows.
It was a mess in my avalon. the previous owner had its previous stereo install by best buy and all the wire were chop here chop there AHHH.
Last fall took 4 hours to clean up the wiring and install my new stereo and I'm loving it every single day!

no disrespect, next time you buy another car got to throught it. I learn my lesson the second time when I bought my second car.

Good luck on the repair and use some TLC to save some $$$$