Sitrosan

I've been a longtime lurker of CL and after a while of driving a toyota avalon i figured okay time to step into the club. I bought a 2001 unfortunately amid my families "its a toyota those things last forever" the seller was only really able to tell me "we know it starts" as they didn't have a key. So i called a locksmith who said he would reset the (ECU?) and laser cut the key.
I purchased her from the owner who was sitting there in the 108 degree heat with me filling out the title with my cash in his hand and no assurances but WHOA she started right up after 6 months of sitting. for a week i was in heaven. i sold my old Avalon with 273k miles and devoted myself to my beautiful new baby.driving her to work every day. the check engine light came on. and i was like oh.. will this sucks, pulled into O'rileys and had them do a scan. Oh nothing big its the O2 Sensors bought them at 173 each and figured hey, i should probably have the mechanic change the oil as well. after the knock sensors where replaced. i drove for a couple of hours and the check engine light came on again. this time knock sensors needed to be replaced said the trouble code.. so i ordered them online. Original sensors and waited for the mechanic to install them. after 10 hours of waiting on him i had a friend drop me off at home and he said he would drive the car back to me as long as i dropped him back off at the shop. this way i could make it to work in the morning. he asked me "have you ever noticed any issue with the car hard shifting?" he said that while he was in there he saw that the other knock sensor was just "unplugged" that i may not have even needed the knock sensors but he wasn't willing to risk putting it back together only to have to take it back apart on a hunch.

I told him no i didn't notice anything crazy just a tiny shift jump here and there but not always.
when i got in the car and started driving from 0-20 BOOM hard shift so much so that i grabbed the dashboard in a what the F was that motion. he said yeah it did that with me too but once you get it going faster it is okay, it may just be a filter but we will see.

at that time there was NO check engine light on so i was happy. i drove to work despite the weird jerking and slow acceleration.

fast forward.. i get off of work and go to start the car, it shudders when i stick the key in and it feels like its going to stall. but it doesn't. i drive home with my hazard on, the acceleration is dangerously slow. and i went to start the car this morning (108 degrees outside)

I was reading about the acceleration possibly being the VVT solenoid+Shift Solenoid A and B throwing error codes..

so i got in the ready to go over to auto zone/orileys

and get this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwC8...ature=youtu.be



then

Z07

Please take the following post in the spirit in which it is intended and not as any attempted slight toward you or anyone else. I'm not trying to be an internet bully or a jerk when I tell you that DTCs do not point to parts they instead point to diagnostic steps.

When the security light goes out right after the key is inserted that looks like the ECU is seeing it as a master.

Your crank no start condition seems also that the starter is spinning the engine over at normal speed.

So you're missing either spark or fuel at this point. You can check for spark with a spark test tool ($5) even with coilovers. You can also attempt to start with a few seconds spray of starter fluid.

You need to verify:
spark
injector pulse (noid light ~$25)
fuel pressure (a good gauge with side discharge tube can be had for $60 with Toyota fittings)
fusible links (the big fuses in the box behind the battery on the DS fender)
fuses

Were it mine, I would turn on the headlights and disconnect the battery for about 10 minutes then turn them off and reconnect the battery. Then I'd try to start it again.

If you have a smart phone you can get your own Bluetooth ELM337 off of ebay for

Z07

Forum is cutting off my post mid sentence

continued...

less than $10 and get more data than most code readers

Sitrosan

I totally didn't take it as a slight. I'm not a mechanic and I'm pretty new to the area. the codes are really the only thing i can use in tandem with identifix. to figure out roughly how much money I'm going to be spending on parts. and or labor. since this is my only form of transportation I'm grasping at straws hoping i can narrow it down enough where to i can really get a realistic picture of how much its going to cost to get this car up to daily driver status (= she only has 173k miles on her so hopefully we can have a great relationship

Sitrosan

So we went through all the steps you outlined and found two things out of the ordinary. firstly the car had a GPS immobilizer on it that it didn't have on when i purchased it.. which was stopping the car from starting, finding that out took 2 days and 900 dollars in mechanics replacing things on my car that may not have needed to be replaced.

right now the next thing seeing to be replaced is the speed sensor

but another weird issue that I'm having to live with right now. is that the car won't start unless it has an OBD-II programmer plugged in.. the minute that its disconnected the car shuts off.
the locksmith who took the ECU out to refresh for a new master key is saying it wasn't his doing and for some reason he kept a master copy of my key since i wouldn't pay him an additional 200 dollars for a second key the lexus dealer said that a new ignition cylinder would have cost me 291 dollars after tax. and this guy has already charged me 540 total. and i only have one key and an ignition cylinder with no tumblers in it (he knocked them out when his key broke the wafers inside.)

Z07

I was able to buy an ECU, master key with remote, passenger door lock, ignition key cylinder and shipping for same for $200 on eBay. IMHO I'd recommend you do the same.

I'm sorry to learn of the great expense up to this point. BTW did they put the speed sensor on an oscilloscope and determine that it is not producing the correct wave form? I'm sure they do fail but I have been fortunate enough never to have seen it first hand.

Sitrosan

Holy crap i would give my left and right for that sort of deal.. No unfortunately i didn't see them put a speed sensor on there. just that they saw that it wasn't working anymore and in some roundabout way i guess it was tied to the shift solenoid A code that keeps popping up. honestly at this point I'm just investing what i can because i really hope that if i love this car properly that she will last me for 5-6 years