2007 Avalon Issue Resolved

I thought this might be interesting enough to pass on.

Our Avalon has 80K miles, and suddenly the check engine light came on, vehicle stability control light came on, and the cruise controls (both laser and standard) stopped working.

Testing indicated the MAF might be bad (low airflow indicated), and that was replaced. Tests showed airflow back to specs, fault lights went away for a while, but returned within 100 miles of driving.

MAF was replaced as "faulty", and air filter was replaced. This time, mechanic noted that there is a filter in the housing above the regular air filter and it was cleaned (seems to be integral with housing).

This fixed all the problems.

Thought this might help someone.

Reply to
hls
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As a general rule of thumb, never do anything before pulling codes when the Check Engine light is on. That is the first step. It is ALWAYS the first step.

Then, when discussing the symptom set in a newsgroup/automotive repair forum, give the OBD II Code that was extracted when you pulled codes.

Reply to
Jeff Strickland

The codes were pulled first of all, but I do not have them available.

Since the problem was already solved, I wanted to show how one symptom or problem can trigger other apparently nonrelated warning lights.

Reply to
hls

That's all well and good, and it is certainly true that what appear to be unrelated systems can affect one another. I was not following along very closely, and maybe I missed the original posting (this appears to be a follow up), but just in case the codes were not mentioned, my point is that they are important. Some people tend to troublshoot with a shot gun, and this costs lots of extra money sometimes. The codes help one change the troubleshooting techinque from a shotgun to a scalpel.

Many times there are no drivability problems, and it is a reasonable diagnostic technique to pull the codes and jot them down, then clear them and wait for the Check Engine light to come up again, then pull codes and fix the ones that are on both lists. Occasionally CODE1 will be posted that is not important, but it is held for a long time. You clear it when CODE2 comes along, and then you drive around for a while and CODE2 comes back, you know that's the one you need to address.

Reply to
Jeff Strickland

Your testing points are well taken.

In this particular case, one item which Avalon owners need to focus on is the "mystery" filter. It was possible to blow this clean(er) but it could not be removed and cleaned, nor could it be simply replaced.

Apparently one would have to replace the housing and filter as a unit.

If anyone has done this, or has found a replacement method, I would be keen to hear about it.

Reply to
hls

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