2005 Toyota Avalon Limited 200,XXX miles, automatic
OBDII codes (total of 12) P0351, P0352, P0353, P0354, P0355, P0356 (all listed twice)
So I was driving down the highway one day, cruise set at 75 mph, and all the sudden my car began to shudder quite violently and then a check engine light appeared, then it began to flash. A few seconds later, the engine died and I pulled over on the side of the road and came to a stop. Put the car in park attempted to crank it. It cranked but revved to about 4500 rpm and then died. Treied cranking a few more times and nothing. I pulled the hood latch, exited the vehicle, opened the hood, and began to look for any irregularities. I didn't notice anything right off, but I decided to attempt to crank it one more time. Same thing, high rev, then it died. I called my friend, a mobile mechanic and he said he was about 20 minutes away. So I sat and waited. after about 10-15 mins I thought, oh what the heck, I will try it again. Pressed the button, it cranked right up normally, slapped it in drive and took off. I made it all the way to work, which was about 20 miles or so, without any more issues. My mobile mechanic friend came by my work, test drove the car and said it had some codes but it was driving fine, there wasn't anything he could do. I drove the car for about 2-3 weeks after that. Then one day I was leaving work and was about 10 minutes from the house and it shuddered as it did previously, but it didn't die. It progressively got worse over the next few days and would happen in shorter distances.
Now... according to the codes, and what I have found online is that I need to replace the coils, but is it possible that all 6 coils have gone bad, then healed themselves enough to last a few weeks and then all went out again, all 6 at the same time? Or could it be a computer or wiring issue?
Please help, I can't afford a new car right now and definitely can't afford to take it to the dealership. I know the car has a lot of life left in it because it has been very well taken care of.
Thank you for your time
(love your vids btw)
GENERALLY SPEAKING when so many codes pop up its usually the ECM has gone bananas and needs to be replaced OR something like coolant or water has entered the area around the ECM and is shorting many of the pins to cause havoc to the logical operation of your car. You are right in your logic that ALL 6 of the coils would NOT short out in one simultaneous instance. Same goes for the other codes as they are all suspect. Possible ONE or Two codes may be the ones reporting the REAL problem but unknown without further diagnosis. Crude and simple thing may be to disconnect the negative battery terminal ...wait 10 minutes and connect it back up. Its not a fix but just a reset to see what happens next or what changed if anything. You might have to rely on your mobile mechanic friend to see if he has some insight about this...and also give him a bottle of Champaign in the process....
That's a great idea, thank you... The battery is also completely dead which leads me to believe I have some sort of parasitic load somewhere... oooffff
Well if the battery had gone dead...that in itself can cause many things unexplainable to happen as well. I would invest in a good battery and we will wait and see... When doing that you must verify that the car is charging the battery at min 14 volts as lets the car is not charging...but NOT displaying the not charging indicator or gauge is not accurate..your basically driving the car till it cannot continue as it can't charge. itself.
The car will not crank and run now... it has been sitting for about 3 weeks since it has last ran.
Will not crank but with the old present battery right? If so you have to get a new battery installed just for starters then go from there.