Toyota Avanza

[CWMcMurray]

I bought a Toyota Avanza last year and I have been having problems with the A/C.

About 5 months in, the A/C stopped working and went to get it checked out. The dealership said that the A/C motor needed to be replaced. They fixed it under warranty and it was good for about 3-4 months and then the A/C stopped working again.

I took it back to the dealership and they again said that the A/C motor was dead and needed to be replaced. It was covered and I didn't have to pay, but this time it took a bit longer to fix as they had to get approval from management. They said that they couldn't understand why it needed to be replaced again after only a few months. They said that the A/C motor was going to be sent back to Japan for testing...

Its been about another 3 months and it looks like the A/C motor is going again. It has been the same each time... the air starts having problems, it is about as strong on level three as it normally is on level one and there is a very faint clicking sound. I expect it to completely die in a couple of days.

One other interesting thing is each time before it completely died it would go through what seemed to be completely random changes. The air would come out very faintly and then it would kick in full strength and go weak again. Sometimes it wouldn't turn on at all and then after driving for about 10-15 minutes it would just start up for no apparent t reason. Other times it would start with the engine and there would be not problems, then turn off the car to fill up the tank, turn it back on and no A/C.

It seems unlikely that I could have just gotten 3 bad A/C motors... I am guessing that something is causing te motors to "burn out"

Any mechanics out there who could give me a clue... I need to go back in to the dealership again and I would like to have some clue about what could be causing the problem before talking to them.

Edited December 12, 2008 by CWMcMurray

[skipvice]

I bought a Toyota Avanza last year and I have been having problems with the A/C.

About 5 months in, the A/C stopped working and went to get it checked out. The dealership said that the A/C motor needed to be replaced. They fixed it under warranty and it was good for about 3-4 months and then the A/C stopped working again.

I took it back to the dealership and they again said that the A/C motor was dead and needed to be replaced. It was covered and I didn't have to pay, but this time it took a bit longer to fix as they had to get approval from management. They said that they couldn't understand why it needed to be replaced again after only a few months. They said that the A/C motor was going to be sent back to Japan for testing...

Its been about another 3 months and it looks like the A/C motor is going again. It has been the same each time... the air starts having problems, it is about as strong on level three as it normally is on level one and there is a very faint clicking sound. I expect it to completely die in a couple of days.

One other interesting thing is each time before it completely died it would go through what seemed to be completely random changes. The air would come out very faintly and then it would kick in full strength and go weak again. Sometimes it wouldn't turn on at all and then after driving for about 10-15 minutes it would just start up for no apparent t reason. Other times it would start with the engine and there would be not problems, then turn off the car to fill up the tank, turn it back on and no A/C.

It seems unlikely that I could have just gotten 3 bad A/C motors... I am guessing that something is causing te motors to "burn out"

Any mechanics out there who could give me a clue... I need to go back in to the dealership again and I would like to have some clue about what could be causing the problem before talking to them.

I would guess it would be the control module that controls door locks,lights,climate control, that is if the avanza has one.

[eljeque]

When you change it this time. DEMAND that this is going to be covered beyond the warranty, and if you need to get on the phone to Bkk while in the repair shop to do so, DO IT!!!

Get something in writing from someone in a high place in Bkk to approve that your a/c will still be covered after the warranty ( 3 years?) as this has been an on-going probelm which the company has yet to resolve.

Good luck

[skipvice]

I bought a Toyota Avanza last year and I have been having problems with the A/C.

About 5 months in, the A/C stopped working and went to get it checked out. The dealership said that the A/C motor needed to be replaced. They fixed it under warranty and it was good for about 3-4 months and then the A/C stopped working again.

I took it back to the dealership and they again said that the A/C motor was dead and needed to be replaced. It was covered and I didn't have to pay, but this time it took a bit longer to fix as they had to get approval from management. They said that they couldn't understand why it needed to be replaced again after only a few months. They said that the A/C motor was going to be sent back to Japan for testing...

Its been about another 3 months and it looks like the A/C motor is going again. It has been the same each time... the air starts having problems, it is about as strong on level three as it normally is on level one and there is a very faint clicking sound. I expect it to completely die in a couple of days.

One other interesting thing is each time before it completely died it would go through what seemed to be completely random changes. The air would come out very faintly and then it would kick in full strength and go weak again. Sometimes it wouldn't turn on at all and then after driving for about 10-15 minutes it would just start up for no apparent t reason. Other times it would start with the engine and there would be not problems, then turn off the car to fill up the tank, turn it back on and no A/C.

It seems unlikely that I could have just gotten 3 bad A/C motors... I am guessing that something is causing te motors to "burn out"

Any mechanics out there who could give me a clue... I need to go back in to the dealership again and I would like to have some clue about what could be causing the problem before talking to them.

Did you find out what the problem was/is yet? The wife & I were thinking about buying one or maybe the Innova some time in the near future.

[CWMcMurray]

Did you find out what the problem was/is yet? The wife & I were thinking about buying one or maybe the Innova some time in the near future.

Not yet... decided to call Toyota Thailand Headquarter office andspoke with a customer service guy.

They had their corporate "mechanic" call the dealership and have them send over all the inofmation.

Brought the car in and the dealership said they checked everything including the controller and everything was operational except for the motor. They said that they were going to change the motor aain and then send it to Toyota Thailand for testing.

I could then pick up the car and use it until they were able to take apart the motor and see if they could determine the problem. The manager advised that it seemed like the motor was burning out every three months, so they should have an answer before the motor goes again.

He said he does not believe it is a faulty motor, as it is statistically nearly impossible that I could have gotten 3 bad AC motors. He said that they will issue me a written report of the investigation.

Got a call back a few minutes later, he said Toyota Thailand wanted to send their corporate machanic to the dealership to check everything. Called the next day, the corporate mechanic could not find the problem either.

So the motor was changed and I picked up the car Tuesday....

We will see how things go from here.

[BSJ]

Your average Denso a/c compressor should last for 7 to 12 years. That's a strange one! The clicking sound can be the a/c clutch pulsing in and out of operation rapidly or, if fitted, your idle up solenoid pulsing.... but that will mean a fluctuation in idle speed.

If your electronics are faulty the climate control shouldn't work at all.... my guess is it's a wiring problem pure and simple.

[Brigante7]

I have a Renault van in the UK and had the same thing happen, turns out it was a switch on the fan motor that pack in and if i went over a bump it would kick into life then just die again. The switch can't be replaced, I had to buy a new fan motor, luckily I found a cheap one on E-bay as I would hate to think what a new one from renault would have cost, hope this helps.

A Happy New year to everybody when it comes.

[wackysleet]

I

I have a Renault van in the UK and had the same thing happen, turns out it was a switch on the fan motor that pack in and if i went over a bump it would kick into life then just die again. The switch can't be replaced, I had to buy a new fan motor, luckily I found a cheap one on E-bay as I would hate to think what a new one from renault would have cost, hope this helps.

A Happy New year to everybody when it comes.

I bought a new Avanza three years ago and the only problem I've had was with the air con, having taken the car in for a check up we were told there was nothing wrong when we said that there were strange noises coming from the unit with nasty smells and a fair amount of noise but sods law no strange sounds, smells or any other problems while it was in the dealers but a couple of days later and the same thing, when I returned we insisted they pull the air con out where upon they found a rats nest with babies and said rat still encumbent, after a clean out and several new pipes {not under warrantry} and expensive all is now well.

[BSJ]

Hi wackysleet, the compressor is a sealed unit. Rats or other pests could be in the climate control ducts but not the compressor!

[wackysleet]

Hi wackysleet, the compressor is a sealed unit. Rats or other pests could be in the climate control ducts but not the compressor!

Hi,never actually thought or said it was in the compressor just that we suffered similar effects as far as working and not working but numerous parts were eaten by the rat especially wiring and other plastic parts.