Multiple OBD Errors

[udunit]

Hi all...new forum member here although I have benefitted many time as a non-member. My son bought his 1st car before Christmas. A 1995 Avalon XLS with 192,000 KM's (119,000 miles). We did all the safety work ourselves...great father/son bonding. All worked well until this week. The car started to run rough and the engine light came on. I borrowed a OBDII reader from a coworker and we got the following codes:
P0300
P0302
P0304
P0306
P0340

We cleared the codes, drove the car for about 15 minutes and they all reappeared. I have found that the P0300 is misfire and P0302, 04 & 06 refers to the specific cylinder numbers. P03400 is the cam shaft position sensor fault code. We replaced the timing belt and pulleys (idler & tension) & spark plugs when we did the safety stuff in early December. Does anyone have any idea why we would get this combination of faults? We are going to pull it into the garage this week so any help would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks,
Hank & David

[Jack Deth]

if the sensor doesn't know where the cam is at, the engine can misfire, or not run at all. read this post:
1mz- no spark
fix P0340, the others should go away, too.

[udunit]

Thanks for the info. We tested wiring, sensor, etc. Found poor compression and are current taking the heads off. Cylinder #1 has a bad valve. We will thourghly clean, install new gaskets and reassemble. We'll post the results!

[udunit]

The Avalon lives once again. We tore apart the top end of the engine down to the cylinders. Removed the valves, cleaned all the gunk & sludge out. Everything looked good ecept for the sludge build up. It was at about this time that David (son) went for othordontic surgery (broke and realigned jaw) so we lost about 3-4 weeks there. Started putting everything back together with new seals & gaskets. My son got to the cams & timing pulleys and called me to the garage. It looks like the timing pulley on the exhaust right camshaft had slipped somehow. The pin wore into the camshaft & pulley making and oblong hole and wore out the end of the camshaft. We're pretty sure this was the cause of our fault code. Called around to the local wreckers and found one 15 minutes away that would let us take out a camshaft and pulley. Put this in and the rest together and she's running like new! We just got a P0170 error and will clean the MAF sensor tomorrow. All looks happy in 1st car-dom!

[Vernon29RW]

Isn't there a way to pull engine fault codes without actually using a scanner in OBDI cars like my '95 Avalon? I've had my CEL on for a while now and have no idea what it is because I don't own a scanner that can do OBDI cars. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Steve

[bob2]

they're not backward compatible? i.e. obd2 scanner will not read obd1 codes?

wowzerz...

[Vernon29RW]

As far as I know they use different style connectors. I remember hearing that there is a way to jump two pins on the diagnostic port under the hood to get the car to flash the code with the CEL but I dont know which pins it is. Anyone know if that's true?

Steve

[BMR]

I'm pretty sure that '95 Avalons have OBD II. It was *required* in '96, but many Toyotas met the requirement earlier. The connection port is inside, to the left and down from the steering wheel. It's behind a hinged door like a fuse access panel.

If it's OBD I, to get the codes remove the cap on the diag port in the engine bay (near the firewall, passenger side, I think?) and jumper TE1 and E1. They're labeled on the underside of the port's cap. Then turn the ignition switch to the ON position, but don't start the engine. Then count the "check engine" blinking. 3 blinks, pause, 2 blinks would be code 32. Be sure to keep watching; if there's more than one, it'll go on and eventually flash 'em all. You get the idea.

[udunit]

Our was OBDII - borrowed the reader from a friend. The port was underneath the fuse panel to the left of the steering wheel.

[Vernon29RW]

ok thanks BMR. I'm gonna take another look tomorrow and see if I can find the DLC. Appreciate the help everyone!

Steve