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10.0

really awful
Typical Repair Cost:
No data
Average Mileage:
30,000 miles
Total Complaints:
1 complaints

Most Common Solutions:

  1. not sure (1 reports)
2004 Toyota Avalon engine problems

engine problem

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2004 Toyota Avalon Owner Comments

problem #1

Jan 012011

Avalon XLS 3.0L V6

  • Automatic transmission
  • 30,000 miles

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

The engine in Toyota Avalons from this year apparently have a known problem with sludge. I have taken the car to multiple Toyota dealers due to a series of problems. After years of problems it was 'discovered' that it was sludge in the engine that was causing these mysterious problems. This was of course after paying for many trips to the dealer for repairs and replacements of other things that they had I now believe mis-diagnosed.

The sludge problem now has the dealer telling me it is not worth saving (the car) because once the engine gets sludge it would be difficult to repair. That is a rather unscientific conclusion considering he did not identify the issue, but was told of it by me, as I saw the sludge when a different Toyota mechanic opened up the valve cover to take a look. This car had less than 50,000 miles when I saw the sludge, that is not normal under any circumstances.

But according to, toyotaproblems

this was and is a known problem for Avalons.

One of my main complaints is that none of the dealers told me of this known sludge issue with Avalons when I brought the car in. I had to find it on the web. It would have saved me endless hours and a lot of money if they would have told me upfront. But they kept quiet on this known issue and just kept selling other services.

Apparently it was bad luck to buy this car. But it seems deceptive for the dealers to not mention the known problem, especially seeing a customer perplexed by mysterious car problems.

- kjc, Washington, US

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