2013 Avalon Hybrid

GM has a 'tool' that tells the sensor to broadcast its code when the toll is held up to the tire, and a button pushed. Older systems just required a strong magnet to be held to the sensor, or the tire pressure dropped, and re-inflated.

Toyota doesn't have any such method? How do you get the car to relearn the sensor locations after a tire rotation?

 

I don't think the car knows that, just detects the four sensors, doesn't care where they are. They could all be loose wheels in the hatch, for example.

 

Which is fine for many cars, but my Camry SE displays the individual tire pressures. Kinda like to know how the sensors are set to relearn for when I finally rotate the wheels.

 

I have been playing with the Techstream program. Basically, for my 2013 Avalon at least, there are 5 registers in the ECU that can be assigned a TPMS sensor ID. Apparently the 5th is for the spare tire, and since I don't have a TPMS sensor in the spare the 5th register is all zeros. I can't remember if the car displays which tire is low. Right now it says there's a problem with the whole TPMS system. The Techstream shows individual tire pressures and temperatures, but I didn't notice any tire orientation. But I would guess the number of each register could represent a certain tire. (For an example, register 1 could be the front right tire, and register 2 the front left, etc. or something like that.) There doesn't seem to be any relearning as in other cars. Just plug in the Techstream and manually type in each ID into each register.

I have driven several miles away from my summer wheels with no sign of a TPMS system problem. Only when I'm far out of town (like 15 miles away) does the TPMS light come on. I don't know if the sensors really broadcast that far or if it just checks the TPMS sensors every half an hour or so.

PS. The snow tires are working great in the snow even with the TPMS light on. Just went over a couple snowy passes this morning.

 

Sorry for bringing this thread back from the dead. I have t seen it talked about in here or maybe i missed it. But does the hybrid avalon suffer the same issue as the 3gen prius ? Does it burn oil ? Does the intake manifold fill with oil ? Does the egr, egr pipe and egr cooler clog up ? And then suffer from head gasket issue? Sorry for all the question but i tried searching and couldnt find anything related to the hybrid avalon.

 

Hello Civiceg94, from what I have been told, the manufactured year 2015 ended the burning oil egr clog up issue. During production near the end of 2014, they changed the rings used on the pistons, which eleviated this situation. Their was an actual recall about the rings and there is a thread somewhere in here with more details about it. So depending on the year of the avalon hybrid in question, it may make a difference. Also, the engine might not be the exact same one as used in the Prius. More knowledgeable peeps in here can give you a more concise answer.

 

An important question whether the Avalon hybrid has cooled EGR. It was introduced on the gen3 Prius, but the Avalon's drive train is the one in the Camry hybrid. In the Prius, the EGR could clog because the cooling of the exhaust gases leads to stuff precipitating out. Then gen4 hopefully fixed this by taking cooler exhaust from farther down stream.

If intake manifold filling with refers to it having a coating of oil inside, that is somewhat common in many cars. During normal operation, pressure can build up in the crankcase. Once upon a time, it was allowed to vent into the air. Now it vents into the manifold through the PCV, and oil regularly gets carried along with the gases. It is only a problem if the oil manages to gunk something up, or it results in excess deposits. Long term, it could be a cause for an old car being less efficient or simply not running as well as new. If you want to fix it, a decent oil catch can installed in the PCV line will stop the heavier fluids from reaching the manifold.

 

Thank you! I was wondering if a catch can would be a good idea. I just added 20,000 miles (52,000 to 72,000) since I first bought my 2013 Avalon in the beginning of last August! I'd like to get as many miles as I can out of this car. So any tips would be a plus.

It does look like there's an EGR cooler right under the exhaust manifold. Any ideas if this is a problem that will need to be fixed? And if so, how?

 

I installed a primitive catch can on a Ranger, because the 3L was known for carbon build ups in the cylinders. Can't say if it helped with that, but it did stop some oil.

Check the gen3 forum about the EGR. From passing comments, sounds like checking for, and cleaning out, just needs to be part of regular maintenance.

 

Thanks for responding quickly. I didnt even get a notification. So this puts me in search for a 2015 then. I love doing maintence on a car but when the company doesnt design it properly i feel like i shouldnt take the extra steps ‍♂️

 

I have a catch can home depot style. I dont feel like spending alot of money on a catch thats not guarantee to catch everything. I dont think any vehicle should have a pool of oil behind the throttle body. I had a few other cars and never had issues with oil in my intake manifold. I love my prius but. This is just bothering me. I like it to be clean when i do maintence and wait for another 50k miles to clean only the throttle plate for carbon or something. I like the fact the avalon limited has cooled seats

 

I've only noticed oil in the intake with the Sable. The line between it and the PCV was 6 inches at most. Plumbing in a catch can was more effort that I wanted.

When I built my can, the only one available was around $100(I think this is t, Condensator), but several can be found on Amazon in the $20 to $30. They need some packing to improve their effectiveness, which can be done with steel wool or BBs. Glass beads would be best, but supply for them means higher price, which is part of why the Condensator is now $225.

 

Finally got a set of new tires for my Avalon after 50500 miles. The originals were Michelin and I bought the Michelin tires on sale at Costco. Not the same tires as the originals, but $170 off seemed like a good Idea. The sidewall have the name Primacy, much quieter than the first set, but at least in the beginning, I'm taking a 4 mpg hit with the new tires, will keep you posted

 

The Avalon and Camry use a different engine than the Prius, I don't know if they have the same problem, but I would doubt it. I have a 50000 mile 13 no such problems yet at least.

 

Primacy MXM4 or MXV4? I went with Primacy (MXM4) on our 2010 Prius (17" rims): took precipitous mpg drop for the first few tanks, a solid 10%. They've scrubbed off almost 1/32" now, and the mpg seems to have come back. Had Pilot HX MXM4 on before, fwiw.

X marks the spot where the new Primacy's went on, in place of X-Ice in 15" size:

I would probably have gone with those if it was 15".

 

The gen4 Prius design addresses the EGR issues of the gen3. Those fixes should be incorporated into later hybrids, like the Avalon.

 

Sidewall just says Michilen Primacy Tour A+S below it it says Michilen total performance

 

Totally different drivetrain than the Prius, but same as the Camry. My avalon has been flawless for the las 5+ years 54k miles. I do intend to change the "transmission" fluid at the 60k mark and plan to have the car for at least 110K miles. From all I have read it should be a walk in the park.

 

At 57K miles the interior on my Avalon Touring is falling apart, I remember being impressed with the look of it when new, but in time the cheap leather on the seats cracked, the "chrome" accents on the dash and cupholders started peeling off, it appears that toyota made the Avalon interior cheap to keep Lexus ES sales up, boy do I regret not stepping up the the Lexus now, but for the first time in a lot of years I may start looking at another brand. Yes, I cleaned the seats at least yearly and kept the interior clean and the car is a Southern California coastal car so no real extremes in weather, the car only has 57k and is garaged 6 months out of the year. I wonder if Toyota quality is on the downslide.