2000 Avalon w/1345 - Toyota Nation Forum : Toyota Car and Truck Forums

GraphicGuru · 02-20-2009, 04:22 AM

I,m a newbe looking for some help. I have a 2000 Avalon that suddenly sent a P1345 code. This happened after I replaced the pos battery cable. It was fine before but now it idles fast (1500 rpm) and throws this code. I cannot find a vacuum leak or any cables that might have gotten unplugged. Is there any relationship between the battery and the vvt that I overlooked?

All help appreciated.

csaxon · 03-05-2009, 12:26 PM

Is this a recent car buy? Has the timing belt been changed recently? Follow the positive battery cable back to where you attached it and make sure all other wires are still connected, not loose or broken.

No relationship at all except for the possibility of a short in the vvti cam position sensor (unlikely). I suspect either an old worn belt that slipped or a new belt that was off a tooth or so or was loose and slipped. That cause the timing to change. I don't see a battery cable causing the problem. There could also be damage to the camshaft timing gear and/or vvti sensor. Again, I don't think so.

What's the mileage of the car?

csaxon · 03-05-2009, 12:34 PM

GraphicGuru, has the code gone away and everything back to normal? I just realized that in removing the battery cable that the computer brains may be trying to reset themselves once you reconnected them.

GraphicGuru · 03-06-2009, 05:53 PM

Thank you for your response. This car has over 100K miles on it with no recent engine work performed on it. As you mentioned in your second reply, when I reconnected the battery cable the car had to re-learn the system. During this phase it runs beautifully. It starts fine and idles at about 1400 RPM. After a period of time (couple of minutes) the idle drops to about 700 - 800 and will get down to 600. This all works fine and it runs great, no missing, lots of power etc. Since it runs so well I don't think it has a mechanical problem.

I am assuming it is running on the default emission settings until it "learns" the system, and then it applies the "learned" calculations. Anyway, at about 10 - 15 minutes into the test drive, the "check engine" comes on and when I stop the engine idles at 1400 -1500 RPM and is very rough. From this point on I cannot get the idle RPMs down unless I remove the battery cable. When I check the codes I get P1345, P0300, P0302, P0304, P0306, which looks like there is a problem on the right bank and since I get the P1345 first it looks like a problem with the VVTi.

The oil screens in both heads are clean and both VVT solenoids check O.K. I changed oil since it was due and it ran great for about 1.5 days. Then the symptoms reappeared. Having said all this, I really believe that the clue is in the idle. If I can find what is causing the fast idle I think that will also cure the misfire etc.

Any ideas or suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.