My 1996 Avalon (MCX10) restoration project thread

[xpeed]

Hey all. I'm new to the Avalon group and I recently picked up my grandma's Avalon from her as she can't drive any more without endangering her own safety. She just gave it to me, so I'm going to take this chance and try working on some of the mechanical stuff myself. I'm going to give the car to my youngest brother as he's the only one who doesn't have a car in the family. My other brother is driving my FX35 so he doesn't need one.

The last time she drove it was a few months back and she drove the car against a parking structure column, causing the front passenger side to cave in.

As you can see from the pictures, a lot of work needs to be done. Mainly the paint needs to be overhauled, but I got no money for a $800 paint job, so I'm going to slowly repaint each panel of the car that needs to be repainted at home. I'm guessing the paint is Shadow Plum Pearl, code # 927? Not sure, but I'll check.

The engine runs fine except for some minor smoke from behind the engine, near the firewall. I'm guessing there's a oil leak somewhere that causing it burn, judging from the smell of it.

The brakes need to be checked, as well as the water pump, oil, and spark plugs. Everything else seems fine. I might also need to change out all of the interior bulbs as they're burnt out or are really dim.

The area where she hit the column. If I can't fix that fender with some hammer and muscle, I might just go ahead and check out the local junkyard and if that doesn't work out, I might have to buy a new one for $170. Which I really don't want to.



Any regular problems I should know about for this gen?

[pmesfun]

Try getting the fender from the junkyard first, because if you try to hit out the dent it will look worse than before. The smoke is from the rear valve cover gasket, common on the 1mz engine, pretty intensive procedure to replace it but certainly doable.

How many miles on it? Common problems are usually squeaky, clunky suspension and sometimes the steering rack or pump. I think that's about it.

[xpeed]

I haven't checked the miles as of yet. I need to replace the battery first since it's dead. I'll look into those as well. Thanks for the info.

[fourwheeler]

just so you know, these cars have a water pump driven by the timing belt so while you are in there, inspect the timing belt too. The interval change is 90K. Other issues on these cars are mainly struts and suspension bushings/parts.

[blkavalon]

Please dont buy a new fender its only $50 or less for a used fender in a junk yard