Avalon 97-99 Suspension Problems, Premium Fuel?

I've been seriously thinking about a used Avalon as an alternative to a more expensive Lexus E300 or an Acura TL of about the same vintage. Two issues: major--the suspension and minor-is premium fuel necessary?

Consumer Reports, based on its recent reader survey, reports conerns about the suspension system in these late 90s Avalons. A couple of dealers have quoted me around $1,300 to install new struts. How common is this problem? Is this an issue that would have shown up early in the cars' lives and probably have been fixed by now, or is it one that happens with, say, 60,000 to 80,000 miles of use?

I like the small additional bit of room in the Avalon (I'm moving from a fairly roomy Buick LeSabre) and would like to retain the Buick amenties I enjoy now, e.g., leathers seats, etc., so I'd probably pop for the XLS if this suspension problem can be addressed satisfactorily (the 2000 Avalon is a huge leap in price and out of my budget); otherwise a Camry XLE of similar vintage and mileage is my fallback (there are many more of them, of course).

While Consumer Guide (Consumer Reports is silent on the fuel issue) advises premium fuel for the Toyota V6, used car salemen all say that regular unleaded is fine (naturally).

Thoughts from experienced 1997-99 Avalon owners out there?

Reply to
Jim Mohundro
Loading thread data ...

I have a 2001 Avalon. If you were satisfied with your Buick, why not buy another. The Avalon is simply not up to the quality of other Toyota's in my opinion and the opinion of other friends who owned them. It is my fourth and last Toyota. The other 3 were Tercels and excellent cars.

Reply to
Art

Jim Mohundro wrote the following on 5/1/2005 8:51 PM:

I have driven a '98 Avalon for several years that I found on autotrader.com. I bought it with 20K on it, and it now has 63K. I consistently get 27 mpg or higher, around town. I bought this as a replacement of an Acura Legend, which I thought had a sweet drivetrain, but I like the Avalon's better. That 3.0L 1MZ-FE V6 is the smoothest I've experienced, and the transmission has the kind of gearing that makes sense. It doesn't force you to over-rev the engine just to get up to normal speeds, and doesn't hunt and downshift unnecessarily..

When my car had about 30K on it, I encountered the front suspension issue for which Toyota issued a technical service bulletin. They redesigned the strut top mounts, to alleviate a situation where one would hear a rattle under the right conditions (usually certain minor bumps in cooler weather). The service manager, at least at that time, was authorized to cover half the cost of the repair. So it cost me $170. I griped a little, but then decided it was no big deal. Ask for this dealer assistance on this repair. If necessary, call Toyota customer service.

My advice would be don't get sucked into any kind of strut replacement. The issue was the top strut mounts, the plates you can see when you open the hood, not the struts. The bushings in those strut mounts were redesigned. It fixed the issue.

That is the absolute only problem I have had with the car.

I have never run anything other than regular 87 octane. The owner's manual recommends regular. It runs great on it. Never heard any hint of ping.

The A/C is ice cold. The rear seat room is hard to beat. I drained and filled the transmission fluid once. I have the oil and filter changed every 5K. Brake pads and rotors haven't needed anything, and rotors have stayed true. That's it so far. The car still has its original battery.

The '98 and '99 had an appearance "refresh" over the '95 to '97, with different front end and rear treatments.

I specifically wanted an Avalon with cloth seats as I live in a warm climate and wanted to try taking a break from leather's heat retention characteristics that I got tired of on the Legend and other cars. So I got the XL model. I don't think you can go wrong with a '98 or '99 Avalon.

Good luck.

Reply to
Z

We had a 97 XL bot new and ran it on 89 octane, simply becaue of the performance increase over 87. We had problems with the front struts at just under 60,000 miles. The dealer wouldn't cover, so I called 1-800 and Toyo said they'd cover it. (My argument was that I did not see why I should have to pay for their design deficiency.) Had to wait a month for the parts, and the repair worked for about three months when the front end started weaving directionally on its own. At that point we traded the car for something larger as we decided at that time that perhaps this was not a safe car. It was a pleasant enough car to drive, but I think you'll find your Buick more robust in the structure department. That gen Avalon was a bit light and thin, and had unpleasant ride characteristics over roads with rapid series of smallish bumps. It took us a while to realize that, and if you buy one you may discover it also. Otherwise, it was without fault.

Also be mindful that a timing belt replacement is due on that engine I believe at 60,000 miles.

Reply to
Bob H

If you don't like your Avalon, then do yourself a favour and get rid of it.

And then you could do us a favour and stop your whining on this newsgroup.

Reply to
Imminent Vengeance

Did you get a wheel alignment done after this repair was done? Typically, a car needs an alignment after having significant suspension work done on it. The weaving may have been a sign of the car being out of alignment.

Reply to
Imminent Vengeance

The weaving was like a tierod end was allowed one inch of play to go where it wanted. Or maybe that the tops of the struts were "loose" and allowed the front end to roam. That was the effect.

I've owned over 30 vehicles so far and can state unequivocally that this was not an alignment issue. It was so serious we simply traded the car for something fully loaded, new, and a bit bigger. We did not want to wed the Avalon by paying for front-end work and a belt change. It was time to say goodbye. It was one of the better vehicles we've had, excepting the suspension problems.

Reply to
Bob H

Timing and other belts need nothing until 90,000 miles. I had a 98 with

85,000 and never did anything to it. The 99's and up had some problems however. I did have the 'scrunk' sound over dips it it was a little bit cold from the front shocks, but I lived with it.

...Allen

Reply to
Allen L.

Once again, I believe the recommended timing belt change interval on that year was 60M miles.

Reply to
Bob H

The recommended timing belt change interval on the '97 and '98 is 90K, only if the vehicle was used in Special Operating Conditions. For '99, they began recommending replacing it at 90K regardless of operating conditions.

Reply to
amdb7

MotorsForum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.