Hello all, just purchased a 2003 Avalon this weekend. Beautiful car, fully loaded XLS with 60k on it. My last three cars were Audi's, and although I truly love them, I went with a Toyota in hopes that I wont constantly be working on it.
1.Where is the best place to buy a manual for the car? Anywhere to get a factory manual? I will buy a Chiltons on it but would also like to have the manual that the car came with.
2.Service intervals, what are they and where can I locate this information? I was hoping to find one on this site but have been unable to do so. I know of the timing belt deal at 90k (similar to the Audi turbos but much easier to replace I hope...) but don't know much else about Avalons.
3.Does this car require premium fuel or is regular ok?
congrats on the purchase. I too have a 2003 XLS I purchased used with 60k on the clock.
As for your questions: Haynes only makes a manual that combines the Avalon with the Camry of the same vintage. I purchased it and later returned it, not specific enough to the Avalon in my opinion. Toyota sells factory shop manulas for around $150. The address is in the owners manual from which you can order from.
The fuel designation in 87 octane, car runs fine on that grade, no need for premium.
As for service intervals: I change the oil every 5K with Mobile 1. I have changed the PCV valve and air filter. The timing belt is scheduled at 90k and the iridium plugs are scheduled at 120k.
You could also use Toyota's Technical Information System (TIS) that provides support service for all Toyota vehicles post-1990. You do have to subscribe and pay for the service. It's worth checking out.
TrailDust
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2008 Highlander Base 4WD
2002 Avalon XL
1987 Suzuki Samurai 4X4 - Treading where no Jeep can follow....
Ok the car runs great, I have one annoying issue though....
Under acceleration, there is a whistling/air blowing type noise. It sounds like its coming from the top of dash, almost like the defrost would on full blast. But I cant feel air coming from in there, and it always happens under throttle, at no other time.
Its annoying and I know enough about Avalons that its irregular and the cabin should be quiet.
I bet it's either some debris caught around the wipers--you know, in that ledge that hides the wipers, where the vents are. Leaves and twigs somehow get down there, I've found.
Or I'd bet that some of your weatherstripping is faulty. There's more of it on this car than I've ever seen.
In any case, I'd bet it's wind resistance causing the noise--from somewhere, but not the engine.
congrats on you purchase. it's an easy car to love. manuals can be found often on ebay. if you didnt get an owners and service manual when you bought it, you can prob find them there at a reasonable price. search ebay motors, parts and accessories, literature then put avalon in keyword search. the toyota shop manuals for this car are 2 manuals. i also bought them on ebay for about 70 bucks. they are not all they're cracked up to be. if you're not real handy or don't have alot of basic knowledge they may not help you too much. they are written from the perspective that a qualified technician will be reading them, so many procedures are not described in detail. such as it will just say....replace egr valve...without telling you where it is or how to do it. toyota calls for oil change at 7500 miles, but like hughesar says, 5k should be more like it as these engines can be prone to sludge in extreme conditions. the air sound you hear sounds like the air intake like toyo says. you may want to take it off the aircleaner end then tug on it to inspect it. sometimes it's hard to tell if it's cracked unless you do . the car will run on regular 87 octane but if performance is very important to you then you may want to use plus or premium. like most modern cars, it has knock, or "ping" sensors. if the computers detects knock, it retards the timing, eliminating the knock but also keeping it from making max horsepower. most of the time you'll never notice this, and most do run regular in them, i like to run plus. as far as timing belt labor...it is sort of intense. you need to remove right front tire, inside fender skirt, upper motor mount, a huge wire harness, the power steering and alternator, and more stuff to get to it. which makes it prob worth doing the water pump at the same time and i would alson replace the idler pulleys everytime also. i've heard that those who are experienced at this model can do all that in about an hour, would prob take me a good day to do it.
Thank you guys for the responses. I got a manual and a Chiltons finally.
The air sound is really loud on the highway. Last night I noticed that on the highway cold air was blowing in from the vents on top of the dash...strange because I had the heater turned off!?! I put a large beach towel over all the vents on the dash and the loud noise I had been hearing completely disappeared!
This is strange to me, could that be weather stripping? Is it a setting on the climate control unit?
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